Published by SEVENSTORE for ARCS
Author: Millie Throp
Photography: Ali Foroughi
For a world that is increasingly holding longevity above commodity, where functionality is at the crux of the new wave of luxury, ARCS accessories speak to the vanguards of this era. Revelling in the brand’s slow-made psyche, Director and Designer Alice Carvill-White has been redefining responsible design since her south London brand’s sprightly genesis in 2021. Yet while ARCS bags are often synthesized from waste materials, its outputs are ever contemporary. Sparking its recent fever pitch, the brand’s rebellious arrest has deemed the ARCS bag a transcendent necessity for spring, with an ideology to last a lifetime.
As SEVENSTORE sits down with Alice, her tone is calm while we mill over her nascent success. “When I got to about 16, I started getting into fashion a lot. It got to this point where I was like…‘what am I most passionate about?’. I took the plunge and went for it in quite a hard way”. Taking a leap of faith, the designer eventually immersed herself in a metropolis of making. “I moved to London a month after I turned 18”, she explains. But while the capital provided backdrop to an influx of creative growth, it also built the foundations for a label finessed for the hurried commutes of inner-city living.
At present, London remains home to ARCS’ small batch making process, ever contrasting the city’s bustle in reflective and careful processes. Alice assumes the role of observer while expressing her foray into the functional design sector. “I have been an accessories designer for a long time working for other brands. I could find clothing that represented my lifestyle and taste, but never accessories. They were either too high fashion, not technical enough, or not conscious”. Consequently, her label was founded to marry everyday usability with elevated craft, commendable in its slow-fashion sourcing.
Evidently, the designer’s experiences have too been felt beyond her own four walls. “I think bags seem to be having a moment post-Covid when everyone’s commuting again, and they seem desirable,” she explains. “My main aim for ARCS is to create a rotation of bags that will fit you for every purpose”. ARCS, then, was born within a market gap. Where utilitarian design has nestled itself within the fundamentals of a must-have item, for Alice the motives have always begun at home. “I wanted to make an in between bag which would fit mine and all my friend’s lifestyles, which is how ARCS was organically born”.
The brand’s approach is ultimately transparent, with Alice’s aspirations a steady and honest back force. “All our fabrics are recycled; our supply chain are our friends and would never be compromised”. Amongst a circular system, their production is coherent with Alice’s avid passion and tapestry of experience. A boon to this transparency is their piece-dying process, a method where fabric is dyed in small batches prior to being stitched into its final form. Idiosyncrasies are the fruits of this approach, identified in minor pigmentation patches, handing each bag its own unique identity. “I love when a piece is both unique and ages with you,” she says. Channelling the relationship between product and wearer, her bags began in spaces as intimate as these experiences. “I pattern cut and sewed every style for the first collection in my kitchen,” she continues. “I have a green HEY I kept hung on my door last season, and it’s slightly lighter than one I kept in the dark. I love that both of these reflect a little part of my life. They’re my full bag rotation,” she notes. Her creations come tried and tested, with an allure that is to be donned wholeheartedly. “I have never ever fallen out of love with design. I absolutely love it”, she admits. Her adoration is a drive, going hand in hand with the paced approach she has quietly honed.
With lifestyle an integral element in which ARCS bags are minded, Alice calls upon those she shares hers with. Ever humbled, her south London family is present at every stage. “On my last shoot I had one of my friends styling, my friend doing the hair, my friend photographing it,” she laughs. Beyond her close-knit circle, the area shares mutual influence with her collections, whilst providing a space for deftly design.
Just one muse within this is ARCS ambassador and soulful music artist Joy Crookes. “Joy is a total inspiration; a South London girl and ARCS is a south London brand. Couldn’t ask for a better ambassador to be honest”, she continues. With Alice’s bags spearheading a new wave of British craft from a modest base, the ARCS consumer is undoubtedly as hybrid as its designer, with hard work the choice ensemble of any season. For local and global identities grafting in daylight hours before emerging into nightlife, they are assisted by bags as equally lux and well-equipped.
With a conscious, collective ethos resolute in Carvill-White’s mind, the SS23 line is an extension of her charm and authenticity. Displaying adaptable accents in the form of drawcords and strap units, it fulfils a modern demand for versatility. Product titles come plucked from the lived experiences of her south London cohort, referencing the likes of exes and ex-landlords. It is sharp like her wit, but also serene, with fabric that whispers of its responsible genetics and silhouettes whose outlines have bite.
Its tones are appropriated from repurposed bottles, showcasing heavenly tones of Sea and Cub beside the ever-versatile Patchwork Black and Black. The HEY Sling Bag is a hero piece, larger than life in its presence, but compactable via adjacent drawstrings, tucking under the arm with a ruched finish. Utilising a mindful methodology whilst wielding technical advantages, it is a bag that truly has it all. Meanwhile, the SHARP Cross Body Bag hosts a drawstring main compartment secured with an athletic drawcord. Its clandestine slip front pocket is an adornment the brand assures “you probably didn't realise how much you'd need”. Yet while the GHOSTING Pouch’s small, statement silhouette is no exception to Carvill-White’s attention to detail, its name is a testament to her spirited outlook.
This latest roster is slow in its approach, feeding into the hand of intricate detailing with engraved silver hardware. The zealous SEA fabric reflects light in prismatic cerulean and mauve, a fresh feat for recycled polyester and nylon. “It's a new fabric development for us and a step forward for the brand. I’ve been wearing the samples since the SS23 photoshoot and really can’t wait to have them for sale”. The two-tone textile is dizzying, akin to ARCS’ evolving design procedure.
ARCS accessories are at the seedbed of something special. A reflection of the sartorial zeitgeist, the label unites conscience, utility, and modernity. It is with these in mind that Alice has secured a unique system through close friends and like-minded consumers. “Being a small business gives you very small clout when trying to do the best. But I’m with the view that in the future we’ll be able to develop even further and create more circular fabrications and pieces”. There is youthful freedom within ARCS, allowing ideas to flourish besides the task of which bag to wear. As with each all-encompassing investment piece that Alice crafts, an ARCS bag exists to mirror the occasion, proving that true luxury is not an ultimatum between honesty and versatility, but a product of them both.