Ashlyn Lawrence Doesn't Make Basics: Founder Friday .009
By Caroline Finelli
August 7, 2026
Read on Substack: Bias Cut
When I came across Centre Piece for the first time, it was nothing but a moodboard and a chic font choice. Ashlyn was posting branding materials on TikTok, with no product yet and no launch date. But I remember thinking: I just found something really good, and I get to watch it happen before anyone else does.
I wasn’t wrong.
Her first collection landed and it was gorgeous. Every one since has been better. I haven't gotten my hands on a piece yet, but I've seen her collections up close, and the fabrics pass every test. I've had my eye on a butter yellow leather headscarf and skirt set for a while now. I think it's time to buy before summer ends, so I can carry it with me into fall.
The Centre Piece aesthetic is instantly recognizable. The Veil Top proves that sheer is a closet staple, not an accent piece. The Julia Mini is ethereal. It gives an effortless drape because someone spent months getting the fabric to fall exactly right. And the Alaya Maxi is a showstopper, full stop.
The Julia Mini Dress
What strikes me most about Ashlyn is how little distance there is between her and the brand. She is not performing Centre Piece. Every design choice she makes, down to the fabric selection, reads like an extension of how she moves through the world.
A few months ago I introduced Ashlyn to PJ, another founder I featured here for Bias Cut. Watching two women I admire find each other, and knowing I had a small hand in it, is one of my favorite parts of doing this series. It’s proof that this whole thing, this network of women building things they believe in, actually works the way I hope it does.
So here she is. In her own words for Bias Cut: Ashlyn Lawrence, founder of Centre Piece.
C: You left your fashion career in early 2024 and had Centre Piece launched by the end of that same year. What was the turning point? Was there a specific moment that made the decision, or had you already been building Centre Piece privately before you left your job?
L: It wasn’t one defining moment, but it also wasn’t something that happened overnight. Looking back, I think I had been searching for a different path before I was fully ready to admit it to myself.
Toward the end of 2023, I started taking the idea of building a business more seriously. I wrote my first business plan, spent evenings developing the visual world around the brand and even got my real estate license because I genuinely wasn’t sure what the next chapter would look like or which direction was right for me. I just knew I was craving something that felt like my own.
Then, in early 2024, the brand I was working for closed unexpectedly and I was laid off. It was a huge shock, but it also removed the excuse of “maybe one day.” I remember thinking, if not now, when? Looking back, I almost think I needed that push.
I gave myself eight months to launch Centre Piece, which, in hindsight, was incredibly ambitious. The first version of the brand was far from perfect. The packaging wasn’t fully refined, and I modeled the first collection myself to save money wherever I could, which also confirmed that I should probably stick to being behind the camera. But I’m grateful it wasn’t perfect. It taught me that a business doesn’t begin when every detail is polished. It begins when you are willing to put something into the world, learn from it, and keep improving.
C: Your philosophy revolves around “no more basics.” You’ve said no to the white button-down, the classic black trouser, because the market’s saturated. How do you know when an idea clears your bar of “different enough”?
L: If someone wants a classic white button-up shirt, they already have incredible options. They can buy one from The Row, COS, Zara, and almost every price point in between. As a small independent brand, I don’t think our role is to compete in categories that are already saturated unless we have something genuinely new to contribute.
I’d rather ask a harder question: what doesn’t widely exist yet, particularly at a contemporary price point? I am always looking for opportunities to create something distinctive that still feels wearable and attainable.
I actually think one of the biggest parts of designing is editing. People imagine a designer’s job is coming up with ideas, but for me it’s often deciding which ideas are not worth making. There are plenty of ideas I like that never make it into a collection because they don’t feel like they’re adding anything meaningful.
That doesn’t mean every piece has to be dramatic. Sometimes it’s a subtle shift in proportion, an unexpected fabrication or a unique construction detail. The goal is always the same: to create something that feels familiar enough to wear every day, but different enough to give someone a real reason to choose ours.
C: Someone lands on your site, sees a $650 skirt, and thinks “that’s a nice piece with a markup.” Walk me through what they’re not seeing.
L: I completely understand why someone might have that reaction. If all you see is the finished garment on a website, it is almost impossible to know everything that came before it. Fashion is also incredibly personal, and I do not expect every piece to be for everyone.
For me, the value starts long before production, with deciding what is worth creating in the first place. Every piece has to feel distinctive enough to earn its place in the collection. Once a design is approved, months of development begin, including sourcing the right material, patternmaking, multiple rounds of sampling, fit corrections and construction changes. Sometimes a measurement shifts by only a few centimetres.
I also think people are often taught to judge quality mainly by fabric composition. Composition matters, but it does not tell the full story. Two garments can use similar materials and still be completely different in how they are cut, constructed, finished and how they wear over time.
The calf hair skirt is a good example. The material itself is expensive and difficult to work with. The hides have to be selected carefully, the panels need to be matched, and mistakes during cutting or construction are much more costly than with a standard woven fabric. Similar styles from established designer brands often retail for two or three times our price.
There are also the costs of bringing a piece to market, including freight, import duties, photography, packaging and fulfilment. Because Centre Piece is direct to consumer, we are able to invest more of the price into the garment itself rather than building in the additional margins required for wholesale and department-store retail.
Ultimately, I do not expect someone to buy a Centre Piece piece simply because I can explain how much work went into it. I hope they buy it because they see something that feels genuinely worth owning.
C: You wrote that even on your honeymoon the business was “in your inbox, your camera roll, your suitcase.” If Centre Piece hit a scale where you had to actually let go of the daily UPS runs and the packing, would you? Or is staying that hands-on the whole point?
L: We grew faster than I expected last year, which was very exciting! In the fall, we transitioned to outside fulfillment, so I am no longer doing every UPS run or packing every order myself, although I still step in from time to time. Packing those first orders is something I will always be grateful for. It was one of the most rewarding parts of the early days, and I learned so much by being involved in every step of the process. I remember the first time orders went out without me packing them. It felt surprisingly strange because those little rituals had become such a meaningful part of building the business.
I have learned that being hands-on does not have to mean doing everything. I still stay very close to the areas where I feel I add the most value, especially design, brand presentation, social and the analytical side of the business, which I think comes from my wholesale background.
The harder part has been learning what to let go of. I have tried to build support around the things that are either too time-consuming or outside my expertise. This summer, I hired a full-time production assistant, and she has been a big help. I do not have a formal design background, so having someone with deeper experience in fabric sourcing, fit and development has made the product stronger.
For me, staying hands-on is not about holding onto every task. It is about knowing where I can contribute the most and being honest about where someone else can do it better.
C: Who is Centre Piece? Is she a character you’ve built with her own taste and rules, separate from you?
L: I do not think of Centre Piece as a fictional character with a completely separate identity. She is definitely an extension of me, but not only a direct reflection of me. I always wanted the brand to stand on its own and have a clear point of view without relying entirely on me to hold it together.
Even before I started the brand, I was often the person who built an outfit around one distinctive piece and kept everything else simple. I have always admired when someone wears something unexpected, yet it feels perfectly natural on them. It is rarely the most complicated outfit in the room. Sometimes it is an oversized pair of sunglasses, a statement coat or one detail that makes the whole look feel expressive and memorable. That instinct has shaped the way I design.
The Centre Piece woman notices details. She would rather own fewer pieces she genuinely loves than constantly replace things. She appreciates quality, but she is also thoughtful about where she spends her money. She is not chasing trends. She wants clothes that feel memorable long after the moment she first wears them.
I have always been naturally more observant and reserved, and style has always felt like another form of communication to me. That is why Iris Apfel’s quote has always resonated with me: “Fashion you can buy, but style you possess.” Great style is personal. It is about knowing who you are and expressing that in your own way.
The Eden Scarf Top and the Rowan Fringe Jacket
C: How has becoming a founder shaped your life? And even though every day looks different, what’s the one thing that always stays constant in your routine?
L: Becoming a founder has shaped almost every area of my life, but perhaps the biggest shift has been in how I think about my time and relationships. Building a business, especially while planning a wedding over the past year, left very little free time and made me much more intentional about who I spent it with. Some friendships grew much deeper, while others naturally fell away. It made me value the relationships that feel supportive, reciprocal and genuinely grounding.
My days rarely look the same, but the one constant is that I am always looking for inspiration. My camera roll probably makes very little sense to anyone else. It is full of things like fringe trim on the curtains at a hotel, the typography on a restaurant menu, an installation I saw at a gallery in Santa Fe, interesting door handles, beautiful fabrics and small details I notice in daily life. I am constantly saving things without always knowing exactly how they will be used.
Months later, I will often go back through those photos and realize that a particular element or feeling has found its way into a collection, an event detail, or another part of the Centre Piece world. Even when I am technically away from work, I am still observing. I think that curiosity has become less of a routine and more of a way of seeing the world.
I took the time to reflect on Ashlyn’s responses to my questions.
I was told that my own designs were too different and too intricate to take on. I almost talked myself into a “core collection” of basics I already liked wearing instead. Something safer to start with. I’m so glad I didn’t. Ashlyn said it better than I could have: “As a small independent brand, I don’t think our role is to compete in categories that are already saturated unless we have something genuinely new to contribute.” This exact perspective is why you don’t shrink your idea to fit the market.
But if I’m honest, the thing that’s going to stay with me longer is the imperfection. I can get so tangled up trying to make everything right before I let anyone see it, and Ashlyn is proof that this instinct will hold you back more than it protects you. Nothing is ever perfect. Centre Piece looks like it did everything right from the outside, and even she’ll tell you the packaging wasn’t refined and she modeled the first collection herself because there was no other option. The customer never sees the version you wish you’d done better. They see the piece. Launching, actually putting the work into the world, is the thing that matters. Everything else gets fixed later, or it doesn’t, and either way you’re still building.
I think our industry has a habit that’s going to take a while to unlearn. We’re wired for new and now, for the thing no one’s seen yet, for something fresh to link on ShopMy. Nobody claps for you wearing the same piece three years in a row. But I think that’s shifting, slowly. I think we’re circling back toward buying things with the intention of keeping them. Centre Piece is built for that shift, whether or not that was ever the plan.
There’s something in this interview for whoever’s reading it. If you’re a future founder who hasn’t started yet, I hope this is your permission to stop waiting. If you’re building right now and stuck on your next launch, I hope Ashlyn’s framework, what earns its place and what doesn’t, gives you a clearer way to decide. And if you’re just here because you love clothes and the women who make them, I hope you walk away wanting to build an outfit around one thing you actually love, instead of ten things you don’t.
