Batgirl stylist from Perthshire Sophie McGown designs ‘earrings with sass’

By Gayle Ritchie

July 24 2022, 11:15am

Perthshire stylist Sophie McGown. Image: Supplied

Perthshire’s Sophie McGown, who worked as a stylist on Batgirl, has launched a new earring collection. Gayle Ritchie finds out more.

It’s been a whirlwind 2022 so far for Pitlochry stylist and designer Sophie McGown.

Fresh from having worked in the style department of the latest Batgirl film, with shooting taking place in Glasgow, she’s taken the fashion world by storm with her new earring collection, EarSass.

Sophie launched EarSass smack bang in the middle of lockdown, drawing inspiration from her friend Isabella ‘Issy’ Blow, the fashion icon who discovered Alexander McQueen.

When everyday life ground to a halt during the pandemic, Sophie didn’t sit around moping.

Instead, she decided to use her time to create something fabulous to brighten up the long anxious days for her friends who were struggling with looming redundancy, sick family members, endless Zoom meetings, and home schooling.

Strong influential women

Each design is named after strong, influential women in Sophie’s life, who have gone through tough times but found fashion and jewellery helped to bring little hits of joy into their lives.

The signature design ‘The Issy’ sold out on the first day of the collection’s launch.

“The earrings are such a statement, and they can say such an awful lot,” says Sophie.

“I’ve always loved making jewellery and used to make charm bracelets with semi-precious stones when I was younger. Earrings have always been my favourite jewellery item – the bigger and bolder the better!

“I think the ones in this collection give everyone a sparkle, and some colour.”

Bright, bold earrings with sass

The earrings – which are amazingly lightweight – are aimed at “absolutely anyone who loves bright, bold earrings with sass – and all genders!” says Sophie.

A glance at the EarSass website is a real feast for the eyes.

Earrings hand-crafted by Sophie are like pieces of artwork, boasting all the colours of the rainbow and beyond.

There are super-cute pastel swirl colours, funky shapes, marble effects, sparkles… they’re all seriously sassy show-stoppers!

Love of design

Born in Brighton and raised in Perthshire (her dad is a Scot), Sophie’s love of design and styling started from a young age when her parents sold their restaurant and moved the family to Pitlochry after finding their dream house which they then converted into a country hotel – East Haugh House.

“They went on a to create an incredibly successful family-run hotel and restaurant, renowned for its food with my dad at the helm as head chef,” says Sophie.

“I became very involved in the business from a young age and went on to operate the hotel for some time with my parents in between my Fashion Technology and Millinery course at Cardonald College in Glasgow.

“I’ve always loved to dress up and as a child I would have many outfit changes in one day, especially if people came over to visit. The more flamboyant and colourful the better!

“I got more into the interior side of things within the family hotel business when we were refurbishing the rooms, and I just love to always have different things – art colour, objects, and wallpapers – in my house. I even gold-leafed my boiler once and painted my stairs bright green and pink! I just love anything that stands out and is fun.”

Isabella Blow

Sophie says the late Isabella Blow helped shaped who she is today.

“When Isabella came to stay at our family hotel it truly an inspiring experience,” she recalls.

“We clicked and she took me, at the age of 17, under her wing, and invited me to work with her assisting on top milliner Philip Treacy’s fashion show at the V&A Museum in London.

Isabella Blow, fashion director of Tatler Magazine at London Fashion Week in 2006. Picture: Shutterstock.

“I was working alongside one of the most iconic woman in fashion who had founded Sophie Dahl, Alexander McQueen, Philip Treacy, Stella Tennant and Honor Fraser just to name a few.

“She was also Fashion Director at Tatler! She was amazing and I feel she really did make her mark on who I am today with my work.”

Batgirl

After the sale of her family business, Sophie moved to Glasgow with her partner who owns a special effects company.

Here, she was given the opportunity to work in the special effects department for the Batgirl film and she absolutely loved it.

“It inspired me every day. I worked on so many different areas making snow sets, blowing things up, model making and so much more.

“Leslie Grace who played Batgirl is wonderful and a truly lovely woman.

“And Glasgow as a location for a film is just awesome. I literally ate my way around the city with so many fabulous places on our doorstep.

“Doing that film kept me on the creative path and meant I could continue to build the EarSass brand as well.”

Full-time business

Sophie hopes to make EarSass full-time as it grows in popularity. Apart from the fact the earring designs are stunning, they’re ergonomically friendly, too.

“I’ve redesigned the typical statement earring to focus on lightweight creations that feel comfortable all day, without the typical earlobe pain from a big earring,” she says.

“My ethos of ‘Get Your Sass On’ is to encourage people to be proud of their sassiness, whatever shape, size, gender, and form, both physically and mentally.

“Launching EarSass at home in Pitlochry in lockdown really kept me going when times were so uncertain, and we were all apart.

“I would send EarSass creations to my friends and family, many who wore them during Zoom meetings, quizzes and virtual parties which helped spread the word and I got a lot of orders during that time.

My ethos of ‘Get Your Sass On’ is to encourage people to be proud of their sassiness, whatever shape, size, gender, and form, both physically and mentally.”

SOPHIE MCGOWN

“I started off making all the design myself but it was taking too long and they were in such demand that I had to find someone who could help me. So now I have all my designs now made, sent back to me and then I construct each pair myself.”