Ballad Of…’s Monika Zgoda catches up with the divine Hannah Mets & talks The Loved One, crinoline, period costume & Anne of Green Gables…

Monika: You are a very creative girl, you write a blog, you’re an illustrator and a photographer. What made you want to launch a vintage-inspired lingerie?

Hannah: Thank you! My partner Elvia Lahman and I have spent so much time digging through vintage underpants that we decided why not produce our own line? Vintage undergarments are so much more fun and playful than contemporary!

M: How would you describe the aesthetic of The Loved One?

H: Cheeky broads from the 40s to the 60s (is that an aesthetic? I think it is). We’re definitely inspired by our own vintage wardrobes and Elvia’s extensive collection of vintage girly mags.

M: How did you come up with the name?

H: The Loved One is one of Elvia’s favourite movies (also a book by Evelyn Waugh). We felt it fit perfectly as we deal in pre-loved attire and often find ourselves falling in love with the pieces we dig up!

M: What sort of a girl do you imagine wearing your designs?

H: A girl with a sense of humour! A girl who puts on fancy under-things for herself (and perhaps dances around alone in her apartment to Le Tigre in it).

M: Did you have favourite clothes as a child?
H: Oh yes! There was a crinoline that I had that I’m wearing in almost every single picture of me when I was about six or seven.

M: Do you have any fashion heroes? Who do you find more inspiring? Ordinary people or celebrities?

H: I’m absolutely enamoured with Nicole Eymard of fashionforestry.blogspot.com! She is truly one-of-a-kind and never ceases to inspire or make me hungry as she often looks like a perfect little pastry!

M: What’s your favourite source of inspiration and ideas?
H: Movies and pre-20th century European art! I’m a bit mad for period films and even madder for screen capturing and saving them in an ever expanding folder on my computer of inspiring period costumes! I love the fabrics and the textures and colours and volume and accessorizing and HAIR, oh gosh. I love it all! If I was gifted in the theatrical arts I would definitely have run away to pursue a career on the masterpiece theater productions!

M: Is there a specific song or film that inspires you?

H: My favourite inspiring films are: Valerie and her Week of Wonders, Anne of Green Gables, Sense and Sensibility, The Secret Garden, A Room with a View and Picnic at Hanging Rock!

M: Do you have to be in a specific mood to create a specific piece of work? Be it an illustration, a photography or a new design.

H: Hmm, yes, I would say so. I need music, and calm and preferably privacy. I have a terrible time drawing or taking pictures when there are loads of people about. As for design? I need Elvia, a couple cups of coffee and a lot of laughs to really get things rolling.

M: Can you remember the first piece of art that you created?

H: Oh gosh, no! I do recall one night when I was seven laying in bed with my eyes closed and drawing perfectly my Raggedy Anne and Andy dolls in my head and then trying to do it in the morning and not understanding why I couldn’t make it as perfect as it looked in my head. I still struggle with this concept! Hah! My first drawing that I was truly impressed by was a Pre-Raphaelite inspired babe holding a jug that I drew in sixth grade. I thought myself well on my way to the national gallery (have not yet made it there).

M: If you could pick any historical character to wear your designs who would it be and why?

H: Dare Wright! She was pure magic. A perfect combination of independent, entrepreneurial woman and dreamy and imaginative. She was such a unique treasure of a being.

M: Whenever you create something does it always turn out the way you expected it to?
H: Rarely, haha. I try not to have expectations when I set out to create. It’s much easier on the ego that way.

M: Do you see yourself as more of an illustrator, a photographer or a designer?

H: Perhaps an illustrator first as it’s the one that torments me most!

M: If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?

H: I’m quite happy right here in my living room with Landon and the promise of food delivered soon! It’s rainy and over-cast and we’re both wearing sweaters and hats and doubled up socks. Perfect.

M: How would you describe your perfect day?
H: Outdoors, it’s fall on the east coast and the leaves are bright and crunchy and I’ve got hot cider and maybe we’re on some sort of hay ride to go apple picking? When we get home we make apple crisp and snuggle in by some glorious giant fireplace and play boardgames or read. My family and friends are all there and we laugh and eat copious amounts of delicious goods.

M: Name 3 things you absolutely cannot imagine your life without.
H: Landon, travel and music! I feel incredibly fortunate to have all three and indeed cannot imagine myself into a life without them.

M: What did you want to be when you grow up?

H: When I was seven I would have told you “an actress, a singer and a dancer”, when I was fourteen I would have told you “a missionary”, when I was seventeen I would have told you “a fashion designer” and now I think I’d like to be a mum, maker of fun things and doer of kind things.

M: Who’s your favourite fictional character and why?

H: Anne of Green Gables! She was my first connection to a fictional character - I imagined our ginger hair braided together and always thought that she belonged to me alone! I had a weird territorial thing about her, “she’s mine all mine you can have the other ginger haired orphans like Annie and Pippi but leave Anne for me!” (to be fair I realize Pippi was just a very independent child of a single father.) Anne had an imagination as big and romantic as my own!

M: If you had to chose between the ability to fly and the ability to be invisible which one would you pick?

H: Fly!

M: Name your favourite fashion decade and tell us why it’s your favourite.

H: I really like right now because I get to pick from all the decades before!

M: What’s next in store for the lovely Hannah Metz?

H: Gosh, who knows? I’m a one day at a time type of person. The present is all I know!