Douglas designer's Manx folklore collection featured in British Vogue

A designer from Douglas has taken inspiration from Manx history, folklore and heritage for a 16-piece collection that has been featured in British Vogue, BBC News Isle of Man reported.

Bethany Williams’s collection, The Light We Carry, reworks unwanted clothes into pieces intended as wearable art. According to the BBC, she paired her own paintings with patchwork, crochet and traditional craft methods from the island.

Williams, 36, made her name in London working in sustainable fashion. She moved back to the island while ill. The BBC reported that she was diagnosed in 2013 with new daily persistent headache, a condition causing severe pain in the head and face. After a period of remission, the illness came back worse in 2022 and left her bedbound.

While recovering, she picked up her brushes to paint the Manx landscape again. She had not done so since her foundation degree at University College Isle of Man. “I felt like the landscape of the Isle of Man really brought me back to myself,” she told the BBC.

Family history also shaped the designs. Williams based some of the cuts and outlines on garments that had come down from her great-great-grandparents, among them a dress from the 1920s.

She told the BBC the theme was light: how it shifts from season to season, and the light each person holds inside. “Light exists within all of us, even if sometimes it feels distant or dimmed,” she said.

The collection marks her return to fashion. Williams said she had previously lived in “two separate worlds”, adding: “It’s been really nice with this project to bring them both together.”