Meet the young Reading fashion designer who has opened an Oxford Street pop up and whose clothes are worn by celebrities

Cherise is wearing a purple suit and standing outside her new shop.
Cherise is wearing a purple suit and standing outside her new shop.
The first Trimingham pop up fashion store has opened in London

Five years ago, Reading designer Cherise Trimingham was taking orders from friends and was excited if she spotted one of her designs in a pub in town.

Now her clothes are worn by celebrities, she has shown in London and New York and she is celebrating the success of her first store in London.

Fans came from all over the UK to the high-end, luxury sportswear pop-up in Oxford Street on May 18. Her next plan is to bring her luxury sportswear brand Trimingham home to Reading in a pop-up in the town centre next month.

Details are being finalised but the store will showcase pieces from her diffusion line TR-M as well as examples of her bespoke creations.

Cherise, a former Bulmershe School pupil, trained at Central St Martin’s – whose alumni include Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen – and the London School of Fashion where she specialised in sportswear.

After a stint in Milan where she learned about “luxury, quality over quantity” followed by an internship at legendary label Tom Ford, the 25-year-old set up Trimingham.

Six male models wearing dark clothes stand around Cherise who is sitting cross leg in a chair.
Models showing off some of the Trimingham range (Image: Cherise Trimingham)

The London pop-up was a chance to meet her online customers and fans who were entertained by social media comedian and prankster Mr Boris Becker, who has two million Instagram followers.

She said: “The store was busy throughout the day with new customers who found us on the day and current clients that travelled from all over the UK to come and visit.”

Fans will have discovered her clothes online but Cherise believes “pop-up are the way to go” to allow customers to feel the quality, meet the designer and check out sizing.

She said: “I really believe bricks and mortar stores will not die.

“We had a changing room, customers can feel the fabric, it is super-important to have a real-life connection.

“Not all young people want to look like everyone else, they are gravitating towards independent brands.”

Her clothes start at £80 for a T-shirt, puffa jackets made in her favourite fabric of waterproof nylon are from £700. The diffusion line is cheaper and it is ‘price on application’ for her bespoke range.

Celebrity clients include DJ and musician Popcaan, who wore one of her reflective spacesuits at the Unruly Fest in Jamaica in 2019 and artists Rick Ross and Tion Wayne as well as Reading FC’s own John Swift.

Plans to show in New York last year were felled by the pandemic but her fans and friends came to the rescue, staging their own virtual catwalks to showcase her work.

So far, Cherise has funded Trimingham herself from earnings and savings. She has used the past pandemic year to learn about ‘luxury strategies’ and business infrastructure from her home in Fords Farm, Calcot.

She said: “It’s been quite a journey but it’s not a race for me.

“As one of my mentors told me ‘a fence that is built fast will fall down fast” and that’s the rule I live by.”

After the Reading pop-up she wants to open more across the UK in Milan and she hopes it won’t be long before her line is stocked in Selfridges.