This west London couple are designing the swimwear that Instagram can’t get enough of

Hannagh Rose has a wrist full of jingling gold bracelets that shimmy up and down her forearm as she excitedly waves them around while virtually singing her life story in a sparkling timbre.

Sparkling is the precise word you’d use to describe both 32-year-old Rose and her brand, Just Sauced, which she launched as a vintage site back in 2016 with her fiancé of five years, 38-year-old Alex MacIlwaine.

Fast forward three years and the brand, which is run out of the couple’s home in Notting Hill which they share with their two-year-old daughter Goldie, has evolved from its genesis and is about to launch its third collection of the vintage-esque, miniscule bikinis for which it’s become renowned.

So renowned in fact are Just Sauced’s bikinis, that they fell victim to the cull of fast fashion, after one of their most popular designs, “The Mimi” was replicated by a notable streetwear label which sold their copies for a fraction of the price that Just Sauced sell theirs for.

After all, £120 for a very small bikini, no matter how sartorially on-the-money it may be, is a considerable investment, particularly in London,  where your bikini can only make a handful of appearances each year.

The price of the bikinis is down to the fact that they’re all handmade in London, meaning the brand’s carbon footprint is virtually non-existent.

Instagram is a double-edged sword for Just Sauced – the brand currently boasts 13,000 followers – not only is the platform, and the influencers it fosters, the main driver behind Just Sauced’s success, it’s also the reason that these fast fashion brands are able to assess the popularity of styles worn by a myriad of blue tick-verified users, and duplicate them to a far less eye-watering price.

“Instagram’s such an amazing platform and really imitation is the fondest form of flattery, but so many of our followers who are so loyal to us, had put the pictures on their stories, tagged us and written, you know, ‘Just Sauced – the real McCoy,'” Rose laughs.

But you’re paying for something much more than just swimwear when you buy from Just Sauced. Rose has designed all of the brands’ offerings herself – including its most-popular “Lula” bikini which is catnip for cool-girls on the ‘gram – and has personally sourced the material for them from fabric stores across the UK, from Dalston to Shepherd’s Bush to Manchester.

It would also appear that Just Sauced is growing up. The third collection, which comprises 15 pieces, represents their first foray in to ready to wear, and there’s a full clothing collection set to launch next year, which Rose has already made in her studio.

In the latest drop, their first in a year, there are soft cotton-velvet genderless tracksuits circa 1990 (the only design input MacIlwaine had in to the collection); sheer pink kimonos à la 1980’s Barbie, and ruffle-hemmed trousers that are so Playboy Mansion-chic it’s uncanny.

Yet it all still manages to stay very in keeping with Just Sauced’s feminine and coquettish DNA; bikinis this time round are made of Broderie Anglaise and Missoni-esque metallic thread Rose found while hunting through vintage materials in Shepherd’s Bush.

“We like the idea that you never really have to get out of Just Sauced clothes, because throw this tracksuit over one of our bikinis and you can literally go from the beach to the club,” MacIlwaine explains.

Clearly heavily influenced by bygone eras, Rose lists her inspiration as flamenco, her mum, the actress Sharon Rose (who starred in the first ever black British sitcom), The Fosters and vintage films – her current favourite genre is Blaxploitation – while MacIlwaine, who is admittedly the ‘brains’ behind the operation, lists Rose – “the star of his show” – and music as his inspiration (he has amassed an impressive collection of 10, 000 vinyl’s since his teens.)

Despite the nature of their home life, which has transformed from party central to nappy nights, the couple, who have known each other since their teens, remain sanguine about their partnership, both professionally and romantically.

“We’re glued to the hip, so working together is hard work. It’s up and down. It’s either amazing, or it’s horrific to be completely honest,” MacIlwaine candidly says.

Rose summarises: “This collection is the re-birth of Just Sauced, we’ve gone to sleep for a bit, the ‘gram’s still going, but this is us coming back to what we are at our core.”

Just Sauced’s third collection is available for pre-order from November 5 at justsauced.com