Katie Grand helps make a splash with Hogan

Katie Grand is trying to draw a skirt on a pink Article -it be aware. 'I am awful at drawing,' Grand, the editor-in- main of Really like magazine, says. 'But then Miuccia are unable to draw both, so that's good.'

We are sitting in her office environment in Clerkenwell, east London, talking about the capsule selection she has intended for the Italian components manufacturer Hogan. 'Luckily Hogan were not judgmental. They only wanted a spec drawing, pointing out good stitching, for occasion. From time to time I've had to attract a skirt for Marc or Miuccia and which is mortifying. If I do draw anything it really is only an A-line, with a pleat in the front or the back. Miuccia and I do related drawings. I reckon that's why the Prada skirts are so primary.'

Grand's behavior of name -dropping fashion designers - Marc is Marc Jacobs, Miuccia is Mrs Prada - is the only trace of her super -stylist status. Significantly from the polished style editor stereotype, Grand is gap-toothed, make-up free of charge and a little shambolic. Sitting in an business office largely occupied by toys, like an 8ft plush flower cushion, it is challenging to believe that she has collaborated with the most glamorous manufacturers in excess of the training course of her job. As a stylist and specialist she has worked with Armani, Miu Miu, Bottega Veneta and Loewe, and edited magazines these kinds of as Dazed & Baffled , Pop and now Like .

Abbey Clancy with large purse, £355

Grand, 41, grew up in Birmingham. It was her father, a scientist, who released her to style magazines, acquiring her The Encounter , i-D and Vogue when she was thirteen. 'In the nineteen seventies he dressed a bit like Bob Geldof when he was in the Boomtown Rats,' she claims. 'Now he is an avid purchaser of Comme des Garçons. He received grumpy previous period simply because he wished their pink nylon biker jacket but they had marketed out.' Soon after school she went to Central Saint Martins Faculty of Artwork in London which, she says, was horrible. 'They didnt get me, I failed to get it.' She still left to discovered Dazed & Puzzled with the photograph -grapher Rankin and journalist Jefferson Hack.

Past 12 months she turned to creating, an avenue that had earlier terrified her. Grand established the occupation of imaginative director at Mulberry in 2007, but lasted only about three hrs. 'I had a finish worry assault. I just couldn't cease crying. I considered, "Oh f***, everyone's heading to say how awful I am and [the fashion writer ] Sarah Mower's going to rip me to shreds." It was like becoming 5 several years outdated.' She remaining her workplace at lunchtime and under no circumstances went back again.

How, then, did she get over her anxiety to layout a 23-piece capsule selection for Hogan? She appearance momentarily baffled, then says, 'With Hogan, it is not a manner display it can be operating within just what their product or service is. With Mulberry I sat there thinking, "Oh my god, who is she?" While I variety of know who the Hogan lady is. She's youthful, she's interesting.'

Hogan is a comfortable fit for Grand. She began operating with the business as a specialist in 2008, and continued for four seasons, in advance of Karl Lagerfeld collaborated with Hogan for its spring/ summer season 2011 collection. Following bumping into Diego Della Valle, the CEO of Tod's, the corporation that owns Hogan, in July last 12 months, she was taken aback when he asked her to layout some items. 'I believe he was drunk. Or perhaps they couldn't feel of any individual else.'

Sunglasses, £252 big purse, £355 Beautiful sneakers, £355

Grand's self-deprecation masks a comprehensive specialised comprehending of add-ons. Brand collaborations in the course of her profession have exposed her to the trivialities of handbags and footwear. 'I consider they [Hogan] have been astonished by how hands -on I was,' she states. 'I've sat in so many style conferences that I know about edge painting and sew duration.'

The assortment, entitled Gang, at first comprised a pair of sneakers and just one handbag, but expanded to include sunglasses, slippers and three designs of trainer, which are all manufactured in Italy. Grand's establishing level was pink - her favorite color. 'I started off with a fluoro color known as Pantone 8 - twelve, which is the pink that I've utilised more than and in excess of. It was the initial symbol colour for Pop.'

Trainers from the Hogan archive have been reworked in bright patent leathers, and the slippers and purses, new patterns by Grand, are protected in hearts. 'I can attract hearts!' she says. Above all, she needed the items to be functional. She insists that 'you can walk 4 miles' in the ballet slippers, and that the purse was created to carry a BlackBerry, Apple iphone, credit score card and key. 'The collection isn't going to faux to be large trend. I required to do some thing super - useful.'

Mini purse, £275, significant purse, £355

The roll- get in touch with of versions who agreed to function with her is extraordinary, and consists of Linda Evangelista, Edie Campbell, Dree Hemingway, Cara Delevingne and Jessica Stam. Grand has been signed up to make a second selection for the brand, which she states will be 'less patent, a lot less fluoro' and consist of modest leather-based products, these as iPad and Iphone scenarios. She's adamant, while, that this is her restrict when it will come to layout. 'The plan of undertaking outfits fills me with fear. I would dislike to compete with folks I know who do it so significantly superior.'

Katie Grand. Image : Rex

Gang by Katie Grand for Hogan is offered from Hogan, ten Sloane Road, London SW1 (020-7245 6363 hogan.com )