BA&SH

Two friends and an ampersand

I adore ba&sh. It is one of my absolute favourites and I go back to it every season, across more of the floor than almost any other label we carry. Knitwear, tailoring, shirts, dresses, bags and belts, all from the same two women, and all of it wears together.

Barbara Boccara and Sharon Krief met at school in Paris. Barbara went into press. Sharon studied law. Neither of them went to fashion school, and they did not start the label until they had both had a second child.

They put the first letters of their names on it and set out to make the wardrobe they wanted for themselves. Barbara dressed bohemian and romantic. Sharon dressed rock and roll. ba&sh is where the two of them met in the middle. In 2003 they opened their first boutique at 80 rue des Saints-Pères, and their monogram, the Sign, is still a B and an S joined by the ampersand.

Before every season the whole design team goes to their house in Ibiza. They have done it for years and they hold to it, because the collection has to be imagined somewhere other than Paris.

Jane Birkin, Romy Schneider and Vanessa Paradis are the women they keep returning to. You can see all three in a ba&sh dress if you look for them.

What I love most is that nothing in it is precious. The slip dress goes to lunch and stays for dinner. The Isaac knit folds into the bottom of a beach bag. The Sign bag keeps its line through a whole day. It is French dressing without the rules, and it is how I like to dress.

ba&sh labels in its own sizes. A 0 is an AU 6, 1 an AU 8 and 2 an AU 10. Bust, waist and hip measurements are in our ba&sh size guide.

Explore the full ba&sh collection.