Meet the original MEAT Babes – Alis Pelleschi and Bo Claridge

Despite the fact that MEAT hasn’t even reached its first birthday, it’s already getting a lot of attention from the press. The collaborative work of Bradford born Alis Pelleschi, 24, and Bo Claridge, 25 from Tamworth is brazenly original and has begun to splash a new sense of boldness and colour across magazines such as Elle and Bullett Magazine. All of the MEAT designs are hand cut and made in England, giving the brand a strong edge. Alis writes: “We’re really proud to be able to say we are a completely 100% British brand.”

Their journey began in the wild fetish clubs of London, for which Alis and Bo would get dressed up in their own latex creations. Although there are plenty of latex and rubber fashion brands, the MEAT Babes felt it wasn’t quite to their tastes. “We started to get a lot of love back on the designs, off and online, which was followed by Nicola Formichetti commissioning a piece for Azealia Banks to wear in Elle magazine. With our two brains mashed together, we knew we were on to a good thing.”

Alis and Bo have a lot planned for the future of their young brand, keeping up with their MEAT aim to never limit themselves. The brand is in a state of constant evolution to keep us on our toes and to present the world with new collections riddled with striking concepts and fresh ideas. “I think people will be shocked at how different our next collection will be.”

Given the opportunity, Alis wrote that they’d LOVE to make unique pieces for the likes of musicians DIE ANTWOORD and Lil’ Kim, or to collaborate with Givenchy, Ferrari or Xbox. Seeing as MEAT designs stalked the runways of London Fashion Week with their PR company Blow after only four months, hopefully they will add to their growing list of celebrity customers. Rita Ora has been spotted wearing several items from MEAT, including a black flame-printed skirt and crop top set; a split seam cream maxi skirt and a completely stunning cream bodycon maxi dress, all from their A/W ’12 I Luv You collection.

So, which piece from the new S/S ’13 collection is their favourite? “The green Fantasy Girl outfit. It really shows the direction/philosophy behind our brand: that although we are working with a material associated with the fetish world, we want it to transcend this and use the beautiful material to create items for daywear.” Having auditioned via Facebook and Twitter for models earlier this year, MEAT have already launched their new 4D Fantasy collection, which certainly does not fail to please.

It’s vibrant, bold and above all things – new. Alis is right when she says that times of economic downfall create exciting times for young British fashion. “Where the bigger brands are perhaps being more careful and cautious, the younger brands are willing to experiment and push new ideas.” MEAT signifies an era in fashion when experimentation with different looks and materials in order to express yourself can only be encouraged, and everyone is excited for the 4D Fantasy collection to become available for purchase.

Visit the MEAT Clothing website here.

Elizabeth Finney