Louise Markey started her eponymous label in 2008 after completing a master’s degree at the prestigious Central Saint Martins in London. It remained a side project for years while Markey worked as a designer for other brands, including Burberry. But when she was made redundant (“and found out I was pregnant on the same day”), the project moved into another gear.

Now, nearly two decades later, the Australian-born, London-based designer is opening her first international store in Sydney, where she grew up. “It feels like a homecoming,” Markey says. “We have a small but loyal cohort of customers [here], but growing the label in Australia feels like the early days of growing LF Markey in east London.”

Opening on King Street in Newtown, in what Markey hopes should be two months, the store will feature the label’s collection of workwear-inspired clothing designed for busy, creative women.

Dressed in baggy grey jeans and a well-worn T-shirt, Markey shows us into her London studio at Netil House, right by London Fields in Hackney. “We’ve just made the finishing touches for [this year’s collection],” she says, flicking through a rail of pieces: bright cobalt trousers, a tailored trench coat, a heavy cotton T-shirt with thick white and green stripes.

Drawing inspiration from the likes of Bauhaus, Helen Frankenthaler and nature, Markey now does most of the design work at her home studio in Stroud, where she moved after 20 years in east London. “I’m on a bit of an ’80s tip at the moment,” she says, gesturing to the shoulders on a shirt.

Focusing on bold prints, big colour and function, LF Markey as we know it was born. Something about the vision resonated with Londoners and, by homing in on core styles – like the Danny boilersuit, chore coat and various wide-legged trouser silhouettes – Markey cemented the brand’s success.

“These are pieces designed to be worn every day – a staple part of somebody’s wardrobe that they’ll pull out without thinking,” she says. “It speaks to the way I dress personally. I wear things until they’re dead and I have to repair them. I’d like to get to a point where clothes can just be fully composted.”

In that same ethos, LF Markey clothes are seasonless, use non-toxic dyes and are free from synthetic fibres. They also have a weight and durability that feeds into the timeless aesthetic, using cotton drill and canvas fabrics, and feature workwear-style details like double stitching and cotton webbing.

In 2019 Markey opened her store on Dalston Lane in east London. “That was a major turning point for us – we were able to show people our world,” she says. That same year, Markey launched sister brand Meadows. In contrast to the utility and colour blocks of her namesake line, it was all florals, embroidery and prairie-style blouses. “That’s how I was dressing at the time: ultra femme. I was into Victoriana, folklore and paganism,” she says.

“I didn’t want to dilute the DNA of this brand in any way, and things grew super quickly. But it also meant growing the team massively, and it was just too much for me in the end: four kids and two labels.”

She wound down Meadows in September 2024 and refocused on LF Markey. Up next, menswear will also be reintroduced due to popular demand. And then there’s the business back home.

LF Markey is set to open at 569 King Street, Newtown, this winter.

This article was first published in Broadsheet London and has been updated for the Australian audience.