Born on the Dancefloor

Fashion label Solace London is worn by some of the most famous women in the world. But it would never have happened without formative nights spent on the dancefloor

Words SEAN GRIFFITHS

“Oh, definitely The Spice Girls!” says Ryan Holliday-Stevens, when asked what the highlight has been from a decade of running his own fashion label, Solace London.

“Mel B just went out and bought one of our pieces and then I saw her wearing it during the promo for the last Spice Girls tour. We’ve dressed some of the world’s most famous and influential women but the 15-year-old me would have been absolutely pinching myself.”

If Mel B’s life had taken a different turn and she hadn’t joined the world’s most successful girl group, there’s every chance her and Ryan would have found themselves shoulder to shoulder on the dancefloor of Back to Basics at The Warehouse or one of the other Leeds nightclubs Ryan found himself frequenting every weekend from the age of 15. 

“I think that’s what made it special,” he says. “Her being from Leeds and wearing one of our pieces on a global stage.”

The clothing brand Ryan runs with friend and co-founder Laura Taylor has dressed everyone from Beyonce (“her management team have come to us a few times to ask for bespoke work for a video she’s doing,” Ryan tells us.), to Jennifer Lopez - who is a repeat customer - and Lady Gaga, who wore a Solace London outfit for a recent photoshoot with The Hollywood Reporter.

But none of this might have happened if it wasn’t for formative experiences and friendships forged on the dancefloors of Yorkshire in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. Starting to sneak into clubs when he was still under age, Ryan found a whole new world opened up to him. 

“I was starting to experiment with my sexuality and club culture and there were all these things I was excited by that I just hadn’t been exposed to before,” he tells us. “Dance music and club culture gives people a lot of opportunities to create their own personalities and experiment and cross-pollinate with other creative people. I felt really at home in that environment straight away.”

With getting dressed up and standing out being a massive part of club culture in the late ‘90s, and door pickers often turning away those who hadn’t quite made the effort, Ryan was desperate to look the part. But as a late teen and student, he couldn’t quite fork out the kind of money needed to invest in clubwear from boutiques in the Leeds Corn Exchange. 

“There’d be tops for a hundred quid and it wasn’t the kind of thing you could wear anywhere but a club,” he says. “The clothes were bold, bright and graphic back then. Often using materials like latex and rubber as a reference to fetish wear.”

Inspired by the club scene’s DIY spirit and armed with sewing skills passed down to him by his Grandmother, Ryan decided to begin making the clothes he wanted himself. 

Soon he had an army of club goers asking where he was getting his clothes from and began creating for other people before starting to work with select independent retailers in the city. 

“I was sewing like mad! He tells us. “I started to make quite a lot of cash and when I started selling in shops I toned the designs down a little so they could appeal to a wider audience.”

And it was while selling to a city centre boutique that his and Laura’s paths first crossed a few years later in the mid-2000s. 

“I’m not sure if he told you this, laughs Laura. “But we didn’t get on at first. I thought he was quite arrogant and I think he thought the same of me.”

A night out at a friend's bar changed all that, however, and the pair found themselves ‘pretty much inseparable’ according to Laura with Ryan beginning to design outfits for Laura to wear out on a weekly basis. 

“We’d design things for me to wear on a night out and he’d make them just for me,” explains Laura. “Sometimes he’d have to sew me into them and then cut me out of them at the end of the night! It would be things like leather, often strapless black dresses, with cross detail on the back and really interesting shapes and details.”

 Moving to London at the tail-end of the 2000s, the pair worked together on a store in Carnaby Street before launching Solace London in 2013. 

“While we don’t shout about the ‘90s club influences in the designs,” says Ryan. “There’s definitely a subtle influence there and we specialise in making ‘event’ clothing, which goes back to us making clothes for the dancefloor originally.”

Running a clothing label worn by everyone from Janelle Monae to Bella Hadid and sold in Harvey Nichols stores around the world is a busy job by anyone’s standards. But the pair still make sure they get back to the dancefloor as often as they can. 

“We find ourselves out together on a big night once or twice a year now,” says Laura. “Running a company together can be stressful but it’s important to get back to the core of where that friendship began as [being in clubs] was so formative for us. We always have a brilliant time.”