Bo Carter: ‘Forgotten Leeds’

In the couple of years I’ve been writing this blog, Bo Carter‘s name has cropped up several times as one of the leading lights in Leeds fashion.

She was born in Poland, had a spell in Holland, but moved to the UK 14 years ago and now calls Yorkshire home.

“I would definitely call myself Cosmopolitan,” she told me. “I love travelling, discovering and learning new cultures and getting to know people from different parts of the world.

“However Leeds has become my home and when I started my experiments with fashion it was in this city, with this culture and with people of Leeds. I fell in love and I do feel much attached to this place.”

Bo has shared with me her new collection, captured in this recent photoshoot called ‘Forgotten Leeds’.

She said: “We wanted to discover the hidden, forgotten spots of Leeds. There is lots happening lately in Leeds, lots of changes, new independent business trying to break through and make themselves visible while big investors are coming and shaking the city.

“This is all very positive and it’s exciting to see what the next few months are going to bring. But Leeds has got so much history, the architecture of this city is amazing and sometimes I feel it’s getting missed and slowly forgotten with the big new things.

“When me and Steve (shoot photographer and Bo's boyfriend Steve Gabbett) went to rec some locations we were spoiled for choice and we knew straight away that one day was not going to be enough to show all the great spots, so we had be selective.”

I love the wearability of Bo’s designs and the slightly gritty backdrop of this shoot, with its chipped paint, moss-covered brick and flyposters. These streets are where you find Leeds’ character, learn about its history and look into its heart and soul – not in its shiny new shopping centres and skyscrapers.

// photography by Steve Gabbett / model is Nikki Hafter / hair and make-up by Rosie Powers //

Bo opened her boutique in Central Arcade two years ago, priding herself on ethical fashion and stocking her own designs and those of other designers she likes.

She was an accountant in the NHS before going into fashion full-time. But growing up in Poland she would spend hours making paper dresses for her dolls and it was clear clothes were her passion.

Her break came when she entered her designs into a competition run by Leeds Fashion Week in 2010. She made the final, and the same year went on to show her designs in America.

What do you think to this shoot?