‘I like to make a statement’: How Hannah Attalah set up Oceanus to create glamour swimwear

Sometimes you have to be a dropout to get anywhere. Hannah Attalah dropped out of school aged 17. She had a vision that she would one day create her own fashion brand,  which turned out to be prophetic. Rather than finish her A-levels, she went and set up Oceanus, her line of glamour swimwear for women.

Brought up in London, she was encouraged by her Irish mother to be creative and take risks. Her great-grandmother once sold sewing machines in Tipperary. But it was her Auntie Shirley who really initiated her into fashion around the age of 12 or 13. She introduced her to classic designers, mainly in vintage shops. One Of A Kind on Portobello Road was a regular haunt. “It has this amazing archive of the best designers of the past,” says Attalah. “The creme de la creme, Versace and Vivienne Westwood – I couldn’t afford any of it, but it was good research. For me it was like going to the library. I learned so much.”

A child of the Nineties, she fell in love with the Eighties. She saw it as a great, glittering golden age she had missed out on. “The clothes were better, the television programmes were better – even the TV ads were better.” She trawled the internet and eBay for vintage bargains and looked to the wardrobe of Sharon Stone in Casino and assorted mob wives (of the filmic variety) for inspiration. She embraced the style of “excess”.

While she was still at school, Attalah was already doing window displays for vintage mecca The Girl Can’t Help It, then on Church Street in Marylebone (now transplanted to San Diego). She recalls Kate Moss coming in one day and no end of film stars sourcing the outfits for their next movie.

At 18, Attalah went to work for Jenny Packham, the bridal designer. “That’s when I started to learn about embroidery,” she says. At 19 she was working in New York’s garment district for Donna Karan (or “DK”), assisting on bespoke “red carpet dresses” for high-end celebrity clients. When she went back to London, they gave her some of their embroidery swatches to take with her.

She opened her first embroidery office aged 20. She was suddenly in demand, collaborating with the likes of Jean-Paul Gaultier and Christian Dior and flying off to Milan and Paris, armed with a suitcaseful of her own embroidery swatches. It was the first time she had ever done an invoice. “You’re always going to do something for the first time once,” she says. “You just have to throw yourself in at the deep end and, in my experience, it will work out.”

But collaborating with the top fashion houses was not enough. Staying true to her vision, Attalah knew she had to start her own brand. But she realised it was going to have to be niche to be able to compete. At the same time she noticed that there were new textiles coming in, such as velvet, that you could wear in the pool. “I realised that I could combine my experience in evening wear with swimwear – and bring in my love for vintage at the same time.”

She was only 24 when Oceanus first made a splash in 2018. Her ultra-chic designs break free from the minimalist, functionalist style. She prefers what she calls the “more is more” ethos. “I like to make a statement,” she says. Her hand-embroidered, elaborately detailed swimwear is an “unapologetic” homage to her vision of Eighties glitz and glamour. If there were such a thing as red-carpet swimwear, this would be it. No wonder it has featured in the pages of American Vogue and Grazia and Tatler. I was particularly taken by a neon green leopard-style one-piece. This is haute couture hits the beach.

She launched in Harrods in July and is about to launch with Flannels. “I like to fuse unusual things together, creating a textile that hasn’t been done before.” Attalah says she is not aiming at competitive swimmers, who will probably be sticking with plain lycra. “We’re catering for the Instagram girls. They want to look good even if they’re not going to be in the Olympics. Oceanus swimwear is for women who want to tan at the side of the pool and maybe go for a dip. You can go in the sea with my stuff, but it’s more for the pool.”

The pandemic forced her to shut up shop and do a lot of work from home, but it has also been the mother of invention. She has come up with what has a claim to being the world’s most glamorous face masks, using some of the signature features of her designs – lots of embroidery and sequins and beads. “We’re hoping they’re the perfect Xmas stocking filler,” she says. And she has produced a line of sleepwear too: pyjamas with hand-drawn tropical images, inspired by a childhood holiday in Antigua. They’re the kind of PJs you actually want to be seen in. “There aren’t enough cool pyjamas,” she says. “Why not have fun?”

Attalah credits the School of Art at the University of Brighton, where she did a degree in fashion and business, with educating her in sustainability. Her face masks are made out of recycled fishing nets from Italy. They aim for zero waste and use all their scraps for accessories. Even her beads are biodegradable.

Hannah Attalah has advice for anyone thinking of starting their own brand. “The market is so saturated. If you want to make your mark, you have to find your niche and make it strong. You have to make it different from anything else.” She’s done that.

@andymartinink