Talia Byre is no lone artist. An MA graduate of Central Saint Martins, Byre celebrated the completion of her Spring/Summer 2021 collection by inviting collaborators, family, and friends to the former home of flamenco dancer Ron Hitchins for an open house to toast to community and to the future of art.

Byre’s design process always seems to return to what she refers to as “the shop”—a clothing boutique owned by her grandparents and situated in Liverpool. Now an institution, it’s an omniscient site for Byre’s designs. Back home during lockdown, Byre’s grandmother would send her clippings from old issues of fashion magazines and newspapers, priming her for garment-making. Even in the death of elder family members amidst COVID-19, the legacy of the shop is still deeply intertwined with Byre’s work. “My grandma had a lot of close friends that were related with the shop. They all had an opinion on clothes, and would share their opinion. It was ingrained [in] that generation,” she recalls.

Byre’s designs naturally incorporate the identities of women around her—a testament to her own philosophy, in which personal relationships are prized above all. Her teenage cousin Paige often comes by to assist in the studio, trying on clothes or nailing down color palettes along with Byre’s fit model—the same one she’s employed since being in her master’s program. There’s an intimate energy to her clothes, as well as a kinetic one, brought on by the influence of dance. It’s an inspiration that can be seen in her Fall 2022 collection, Duet, which referenced two dance performances of that same name: Yvonne Rainier and Trisha Brown’s from 1963, and Merce Cunningham’s from 1980. The collection featured knits in dancewear silhouettes, born from a family friend’s dance background, whose posing helped Byre recognize new possibilities for lines and shapes Byre admits, “I guess a lot of references stem from women I know—women in the family or women I’m close with.”

Director David Richardson and Fashion Editor Alice Lefons imagine Byre’s codes through the timeline of a mother and daughter, drawn apart and together by stray memories. Byre surrenders to the creative tension between grief and gratitude, makes it as everyday a practice as waking up in the morning and getting dressed. In a new video by Document, we’re invited to do the same.

Models Alex B at Grey; Nina Kunzendorf. Hair Anna Cofone. Make-up Erin Green. Set Design Ida Hedqvist. Assistant Director Sophie Buchwald. Stylist Assistant Jahnavi Sharma. Music Aga Ujma – When Under Ether (PJ Harvey cover). Casting Director Simone Schofer.