Emma Watson weaves fashion magic as she unveils her new clothing range

‘Rather than give cash to charities you can help people in poorer countries by buying the clothes they make,’ says Harry Potter star Emma Watson, who’s lending her considerable fashion savvy – and the modelling talents of family and friends – to a covetable new fair-trade clothing range.

Designs on our wardrobes: Emma Watson's latest venture supports some of the poorest people in the world.

Glance at a recent copy of Vogue, any of 2009’s best-dressed lists or front row at the shows, and one fact is unmistakable: the fashion world just can’t get enough of Harry Potter star Emma Watson. She may have grown up in a Hogwarts uniform, but she’s blossomed into everyone’s favourite British starlet and looks set to spend her 20s dressed top-to-toe in Burberry and Chanel (she has contracts with both brands).

Frankly we wouldn’t blame Miss Watson if she chose to spend her Harry Potter afterlife as a full-time clotheshorse, but instead she has chosen to flex her considerable fashion flair creating a range for the ethical clothing brand People Tree. This is in between studying English literature at America’s Brown University and filming the final Harry Potter movie.

It’s a savvy move by Emma – People Tree has some serious fashion cred, having teamed up with designers Richard Nicoll and Thakoon (a favourite of both Michelle Obama and Anna Wintour), and never before has clothing with a conscience felt quite so on trend.

But before you roll your eyes at the thought of yet another pretty celebrity face putting her name and a few hours’ work to an of-the-moment brand, believe us, this really is a collaboration of creativity rather than convenience. The People Tree team tell us that they were wowed by Emma’s commitment to the project: ‘I was amazed at how many hours Emma put into this collection,’ explains founder of the brand Safia Minney.

‘We’d often go to her home in the evening after she finished filming to go through ideas, or she’d come to the studio laden with her own artwork – it was extremely impressive.’

A gaggle of bright young things hang out behind the scenes.

Emma and her model brother Alex.

The aim was to create a range for teenagers that appealed to their consciences as well as their sense of cool. ‘We’re not asking for the sympathy vote,’ says Safia. ‘Our designs need to hold up against the high street but also have that level of quality and integrity that you just don’t get from fast fashion.

Emma may not be your average teenager – I’ve not come across many 19-year-olds who have a work ethic like hers – but her eye for what teenagers want has been invaluable and it shows in the range. She got all her friends involved in the ideas process and was serious about getting everything right.’

We visited the brochure shoot for Emma’s spring/summer People Tree collection to chat to her and give you an exclusive preview of the range and a glimpse behind the scenes. You can almost smell the summer…

You’ve done acting, modelling, and now you’re designing. Is this the future for Emma Watson?

Oh, I don’t have any plans to be a designer. I’m doing this range because I really care about fair-trade and ethical fashion. I’m so pleased that I got involved, but I don’t want to take all the credit for being the designer because I haven’t trained as a designer or even gone to art college – in fact, I had no idea about the amount of work involved at the outset!

So this is not an Emma Watson clothing line?

I didn’t want this collection to be all about me. This is not a celebrity endorsement, it is about creating something that is genuinely a great idea and about making a difference through fashion.

How did the collaboration come about?

It was all because my friend, Alex Nicholls, was wearing this great People Tree T-shirt one day, which I liked. He then told me all about the company – he knows Safia and said that I should meet her. He set up an introduction and Safia and I just clicked. A couple of weeks later she got in touch with the idea of a teen range – they were doing older ranges and baby clothes but nothing in between – and asked if I’d like to help put it together. I said yes straight away.