AKYN feels like a new chapter in fashion, one written with purpose. Rooted in poise. When Amy Powney — after nearly two decades as creative director at Mother of Pearl — chose to step into something of her own, she didn’t just launch a label; she launched something of a manifesto. AKYN is just that, a contemporary womenswear embedded in integrity, heightened by detail. Moving beyond the lure of trends + turnover, it is centred on integrity, craft, + purpose.
Growing up off-grid on a farm in rural Lancashire, without electricity, running water, or material excess, Powney developed an early reverence for nature + its simplicity along with the intelligent power it possesses when lived amid a world of excess + intemperance. That upbringing is now the very soil from which AKYN grows: a brand committed to transparency, regenerative materials, + ethical traceability, not forgetting the value held in, similarly to nature, it’s timelessness + grace.
No stranger to challenging the system, at Mother of Pearl, Powney launched No Frills, a fully transparent, sustainably made line using organic materials + radical supply‑chain honesty. Her journey + struggles were documented in Fashion Reimagined, + in 2024 she delivered a TED talk titled How to Fix Fashion and Protect the Planet. Now though, with AKYN, Amy is doing what she’s always tried to do — but freer + with her own unlimited vision. She’s quietly radical in all that she does: eschewing fashion week spectacle, focusing instead on material integrity — think organic/regenerative cotton, flax, hemp, certified wool, TENCEL™, as she forges a traceable, purpose-driven path in an industry fraught with greenwashing . At its heart, AKYN is minimalism that breathes, it is alive. Never boring, it’s clean silhouettes, refined fabrics, + quiet gestures of distinction possess an energy often eliminated by other minimalist aesthetics. Here, simplicity doesn’t feel empty — it feels intentional. You could say there is a quiet optimism behind AKYN: that fashion can be beautiful + responsible, yet you won’t find preachy slogans — just soft statements (like subtle embroidery or a “Soil not oil” thread) + design that feels considered down to the finest of seams.
In designing AKYN, Powney carries her past with her — her love of minimalism, the silences beyond noise, the activism beyond slogans — asking of her customer + her longterm admirers to believe that responsible fashion doesn’t need to shout. It simply needs to be made better. Designed with intention. And in what AKYn offers the world, it affords us the invitation that in wearing it, you become part of that story.
If Mother of Pearl was where Powney honed her convictions and craft, AKYN is where she distills them. This is a new language of dressing—one where elegance meets earth, where clothes don’t just adorn but resonate, and where a wardrobe becomes a quiet locus of belief and beauty.
Discover more at AKYN.com
All imagery via AKYN
