One part of mother-daughter design duo, Studio VSPRCO, Ilah Watson is a seamstress, designer and content creator with an keen eye for understated detail
One part of mother-daughter design duo, Studio VSPRCO, Ilah Watson is a seamstress, designer and content creator with an keen eye for understated detail.
Like most creatives, she's a passionate, self confessed workaholic with a die-hard love for beautiful intricacies, finding inspiration for her designs in all of life's pretty little things.
We chatted with Ilah to get a behind the scenes look into how she creates her thoughtful staples, and of course, how she styles her Monte slippers.
Ilah Watson Monte Memo
In a few sentences, give us the Ilah Watson elevator pitch. What makes you, you?
I’m a 21-year-old control freak, workaholic, and my brand Studio Vsprco runs through pretty much every aspect of my life. My most treasured possessions are ‘Zeus’, my one-year-old German Shepard, my laptop and although I hate to admit it, my phone. Down time from work is a concept that is more than foreign to me (but I'm working on it) and I have a love-hate relationship with my sleep schedule. Funnily enough, growing up I had always wanted to be a lawyer, and yet here I am four years out of high school working in an industry that could not be more adjacent.
What inspires your Studio VSPRCO designs the most?
It’s hard to pinpoint just one thing that inspires me. I spend hours combing through Pinterest and runway archives for colour combinations and small intricate detailing. I have endless albums on my phone’s photo gallery, filled with eclectic images of strangers on the street, architecture and artwork that I find locally around Melbourne, and on my travels abroad.
Your label is mother-daughter run. What’s it like working with your mum on something you’re both so passionate about?
Like any mother-daughter relationship, we definitely have our moments, but I honestly couldn’t imagine working alongside anyone else. And to be frank, I don’t think there’s anyone that would be as equipped to put up with my impulsive and sometimes manic ideas that I refuse to let go of.
Where do you go when you need to get grounded?
As I’m sure anyone else who runs their own business can understand, switching off from work is a constant battle, so when I need to just get away and ground myself, I drive down to my family farm that we’ve had since I was two. This is the place that I actually first learnt to sew, and I have some of my fondest memories down there, plus the reception sucks so it makes it almost impossible to work!
Fave way to style your new Monte Slippers?
My favourite way to style my Monte Slippers is with my Studio Vsprco Winter Heart Set, of course!