WRAPPED UP: Scottish cashmere brand Begg x Co has tapped Vanessa Seward as creative director, WWD has learned exclusively.
“We are thrilled to welcome Vanessa to Begg x Co,” Bruno Guillon, chief executive officer of Alex Begg, the 159-year-old Scottish manufacturer behind the label, said on Wednesday. “Her values align perfectly with those we aspire to embody, and her unique perspective is sure to enrich our creative vision.”
Seward’s first offering for the brand will be a capsule spanning its women, men and home lines bowing for fall 2025. From spring 2026, she’ll be working across all categories.
The Paris-based designer was enthusiastic about her new position, particularly for the close collaborations it entails with the company’s knitwear and woven textiles mills.
“I love the philosophy of the brand — they have the B-corp certification — and I like going to work directly at the mills because [it means] working directly with craftspeople and the teams there,” she told WWD. “It’s fashion the way I dream of it.”
Headquartered in Ayr, Scotland, Alex Begg was founded in 1866 and manufactures for high-end brands as well as its own Begg x Co label. According to its parent group Lindéngruppen, the company reported sales of 287 million Swedish kroner, or $25.6 million, in 2023 and employed 230 people.
The designer said she planned to leverage Begg x Co’s extensive know-how into a range of investment buys meant to last a lifetime.
“The idea was for me to bring my fashion experience and my obsession for these kind of templates for a wardrobe,” she continued. “I want to fit all the dream shapes in cashmere and work on colors to create these flattering wardrobe [staples].”
There are also plans for artistic collaborations, a direction she felt segued nicely with her own work on portraits in recent years.
The fall 2025 capsule will mark Seward’s first time working on home goods, a new challenge she was particularly excited about.
Her new role cements a return to fashion for the Argentina-born Parisian designer, whose eponymous label is on hiatus.
Seward has been concentrating on her career as a painter, a second act she picked up during the COVID-19 lockdown after designing her final collection for French online retailer La Redoute. Most recently, she collaborated with Bonpoint on womenswear capsules for spring and fall 2025.
