Women Who Launch: Suzannah Crabb of Suzannah London

Please can you tell us more about the origins of your brand? When did you know you wanted to create your own label?

I launched Suzannah London as a deeply personal vision rooted in a love of classic elegance and meticulous craftsmanship. I had been a high-end vintage clothing collector for years and wanted to transform and capture the allure and nostalgia of those pieces, alongside my passion and skill set for creating beautiful textiles and designing flattering silhouettes.

I am a very creative person and have a strong intuition for how women want to feel when they wear my clothes, and how to make them feel beautiful, elegant and flattered. I had always wanted to have my own business; it is in my DNA, as both my parents were self-employed.

After working in the fashion industry for 15 years prior to starting my brand, I had built incredible relationships and gained invaluable grounding, learnings and skills in design, tailoring, trend forecasting, sourcing, producing, and marketing. I built my business from the ground up, with my fashion journey starting in the Vogue fashion cupboard and on the cutting-room floors and design rooms of British brands.

My favourite part of my design experience was developing textiles and sourcing unique prints from Italian cloth mills. I combined my own experiences and skills together with my vintage couture research and designed my first collection of pieces which were highly intuitive pieces - dresses to flatter and designed to be worn for special occasions.

What's your earliest fashion memory?

My earliest fashion memory was sitting at my mum’s sewing machine at the kitchen table creating a shirt and floor length really cool skirt for a 14th birthday party. It was mostly customised from two vintage garments fused together. I grew up in the North of England and fashion and shopping was limited so I used to create my outfits from customising clothing from vintage shops. My mum always had spare cloth as she used to sew herself.

Your designs effortlessly fuse together vintage elements with contemporary cuts - where do you seek inspiration?

Most recently I seek inspiration through travel, art galleries, vintage archives (both here and overseas), antique collections and endless daily observational research, coupled with a genuine love of observing what people wear and look good in, and their unique style combinations.

What's the biggest challenge you've had to overcome?

The biggest challenge has been to run the business entirely self-funded and organically. A lot of my competitors had huge investment so the challenge has had to be keeping grounded and going at the pace and journey I could manage whilst always pushing forward and taking calculated risks to grow my business.

Authenticity has, and continues, to be key. I have been through so many challenges, I’m not sure which comes first or highest. Navigating a high-end luxury occasionwear business through COVID was significant that’s for sure. Although the biggest was bringing my own self and soul back during and after a serious illness.

I was locked in survival mode I guess, and I struggled creatively. My mind was locked. I did not know where to begin and lost my endless mental energy to create be inspired, to inspire and my capacity to think at 100 mph totally disappeared.

Fortunately, it all came back, and now even after another challenging life-quake I feel stronger than ever before, my mind feels effervescent again. I am absolutely loving my work, and my team are definitely with me, and 100% behind me on the journey. They are a talented fashion army for sure, and it is all possible because of them too. But I guess that’s what comes with being a founder and business owner, and the driving force. There are absolutely no days off EVER. That is not a complaint, I feel blessed, and relentless graft is hardwired in my DNA.

What has been the most rewarding part of running your own business?

There are many rewarding aspects; two of the distinct areas that are the most rewarding part of my business is the utter joy of creating and developing textiles. Creating cloth from artists' work, weavings, prints, colours, silks, and threads. Working with true artisans and family run mills in Italy who were born to do what they do, and love their craft as much as I do, and of course then ultimately turning these into beautiful slick striking flattering designs.

The other aspect is hearing feedback and seeing client’s photos. On special occasions they have chosen to wear Suzannah London. Alongside, often handwritten letters of total appreciation of my team, the service they received, the skill of the tailor, and the garments themselves that have totally worked for them.

The likes of Princess Kate and Duchess Sophie have worn Suzannah London over the years - how has this impacted your brand? Did it feel like a major pinch-me moment?

Major pinch me moments of course, it is not something I can ever get used to. However, in the moment I am not jumping up and down, I am scouring the photos checking everything looked perfect and worked and it was a totally positive experience for them, and the millions of instant reviews are good ones!

It is my work on display for all to see. It is a mark of me, it is very much ‘out there' which is the complete opposite with who I am as a person. I am very reserved.

I am super proud of it all though, my family are too, it’s brilliant for my daughter, and it brings huge elation for my team, my extended work force, and everyone who works for us, with us, and of course my clients old and new. It is both validation and affirmation, a mark of trust and respect. It adds to the organic growth.

What three bits of advice would you give to women looking to start their own fashion label?

The advice I would give is, to start small. To have as much experience, knowledge and contacts as possible. To do a solid and honest business plan. AND to only do it, if it is your true, true passion. As this will be woven throughout your life. When the chips are down that is what brings you through. It is relentless, sheer hard work which needs drive, focus and integrity. Do not cut corners.

Reflecting on your own designs, do you have a silhouette/garment that you're most proud of?

I am most proud of our beautiful silk tea dress. It has been a signature dress throughout our collections since we began. It has had style evolution, but it has always remained the piece that seems to flatter and be loved by almost everyone who shops with us.

You've been working in the fashion industry for over 25 years - what have been some of the biggest changes you've witnessed?

There have been many challenges in fashion over the last 20 years. Major ones have been COVID, recessions, and the removable of Duty Free shopping here in London. What a nightmare. We lost so much traffic from visitors and tourists; walk by shoppers and those who were solely coming to London to shop - they now go to Paris! I mean, what a disaster for luxury shopping! What on earth?

You're committed to slow fashion - how do you ensure that your brand is as sustainable and responsible as possible?

We are absolutely committed to slow fashion; it’s a natural process for us all now. First of all, I always design with intention, creating investment pieces which are versatile and made to last, both in style and craft.

I am designing and producing classics that are things of outstanding beauty and made with authenticity and integrity. They all have so much thought about end use, wearability and functionality. Giving huge thought to the care and life cycle of the garments.

We source responsibly, I know and visit our makers, they have like-minded businesses and practises. We do not throw away, we re-use, up-cycle and what we cannot make use of we donate to charity or fashion universities.

Which trends do you think will dominate in 2026?

The trend for the authentic. Long may it continue.

What's next for Suzannah London, and how would you like to see your label evolve?

We are evolving into more versatile separates and accessories which are super special. Again, unique pieces which are made with passion, with reason and with true authenticity.