Jonathan with Dolly Jones

He’s a Scottish designer hailed for his use of prints and colours. She is the editor behind Vogue.com, one of the most authoritative fashion websites in the UK. At the last Fashion Business Club of 2009, Jonathan Saunders and Dolly Jones discussed the power of the fashion press, of fashion buyers and the wonder generation of Scottish créateurs in a season-appropriate Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED Lounge. Saunders’ relationship with the press started with a rather encouraging January 2004 Vogue UK cover, which came “out of the blue” and was “a bit of a shock”.

Since then, the press has been very encouraging, a fact he attributes to UK journalists liking “the idea of creative your own business straight out of college”. Saunders’ business grew in parallel with the explosion of the internet fashion sphere. Rather than being wary of the evolution, which makes “everything attainable by everyone”, Saunders has embraced it. He will launch his own transactional website in ten days. At the moment, Net-a-Porter is one of his most successful stockists.

One of the most impressive things about Saunders is how quickly he rose from Central Saint Martins graduate to having his own label, a collaboration with Topshop and designing for Pollini. Whereas many in the profession look down on high-street lines, Saunders considers that “making the product accessible is important” and even more crucially that his work for Topshop taught him skills he reused in his own business and collections.

Saunders with FBC members

Of course, Saunders isn’t the only talented Scottish designer on the fashion scene at the moment. When asked by Jones why they didn’t seem in competition, he explained that: “Christopher Kane is amazing at what he does,” Saunders said. “He and I came to London and set up our businesses without the financial support from our parents that some designers have. We all come to what we do with a love to fashion. Richard Nicoll was in my class at university, Chris was two years below, Louise Gray I’ve known since we were in Scotland. We all support each other.”

The Fashion Business Club was founded by Alison Whelan and Courtney Blackman. The idea was to create “a global business club where fashion professionals can meet, listen, talk, connect, inspire, laugh and support each other”.

The club meets six times a year at prestigious venues to network and listen to an industry speaker. Past speakers have included Michael Herz, Aquascutum’s head of womenswear, Malika Dalamal, London Editor for Daily Candy and Nathan Jenden.