Launching exclusively in Selfridges on August 17, the union was born out of toy manufacturer Mattel's mission to tap into the trend zeitgeist ahead of Polly Pocket's relaunch later this year. Wade couldn’t resist a trip down memory lane and said yes to the brand, which made its compacts comprising miniature worlds available to the UK in 1989.
“I remember owning a fairy in a toadstool house, a cowgirl in her stables, a mermaid in a shell, a waitress in her own diner…” Wade recalls of her '90s playroom favourites. “I was always designing my fantasy home based on the different compacts Polly lived in. Being able to carry around a pastel dream world in your pocket still remains a charming concept."
Wade has reimagined Polly for now with an adult clothing capsule collection, which includes a graphic slip dress, babydoll dress and lace-trim T-shirts, and a jewellery line created with help from Vicki Sarge. “The garments are printed with my own drawings of a reinterpreted Polly Pocket in different scenarios,” the Central Saint Martins graduate, who presented her first collection in February 2016 with Fashion East, explained. Each piece of jewellery is unique, and has been designed to look almost edible, despite its construction from fresh water and baroque pearls, Swarovski crystals, heavy silk satin, velvet ribbon and lace. “I wanted them to look like the plastic jewellery you wore as a kid, and the ‘grown up’ jewellery you secretly tried on in your granny’s bedroom.”
Wade hopes “the collection will be bought by adventurous women who have remained young at heart,” and doesn't believe that the industry has a particular proclivity with nostalgia. “Fashion always references the historical to create the new. No matter how progressive and exciting fashion is, there's always a nod to something that came before it, and it's naïve not to recognise that,” she justifies.
“When creating the collection, I was thinking about films from the same era that play with perspective, like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Taste of Tea, The Borrowers and Thumbelina," Wade elaborates. "There’s something about being tiny and seeing the world from a whole new angle that has always really captured my imagination. I like putting the emphasis on character and bravery over physical stature."
A collaboration for girls with big ideas? Suddenly Mimi Wade x Polly Pocket doesn't seem so random at all.
A collaboration for girls with big ideas? Suddenly Mimi Wade x Polly Pocket doesn't seem so random at all.
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