For Tinka Weener, returning to London Fashion Week for the Fall 2025 season as a designer — rather than as a backstage photographer — represented the ultimate full-circle moment. “Even though I’d only launched my brand two months before that, I was like, ‘OK, I have to do this,'” she tells Fashionista.

Before founding her clothing and accessories label Songs of Siren in late 2024, Weener stacked her résumé with various roles in the fashion industry spanning retail, lookbook and backstage photography, working with Dutch designer Marlies Dekkers, freelance styling for Alexander McQueen and, most recently, freelancing for a fashion public relations agency in Los Angeles. Though she initially obtained an economics degree in pursuit of a “safer career path,” Weener couldn’t shake her lifelong love of fashion and earned degrees at Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) and the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) in L.A.

Weener’s early career moves also took her to various global fashion hubs: She moved from Amsterdam to London, then to Tokyo (specifically Harajuku, home to the famously maximalist uber-colorful street style), and finally to L.A. “I think it’s the Dutch in me,” Weener jokes. “The Dutch people, we travel a lot.”

Though Weener used to design and customize her clothing while growing up, her motivation to officially launch her own label came from working alongside fashion designers on the PR side.

“In all honesty, I was always a little bit jealous of them because I felt like I’m helping them grow brands, and I love it for them, but what they’re doing is actually what I would like to be doing,” she says. “I think eventually after speaking with so many designers, all of them are like, ‘You should just do it.’ I was like, OK, you know what? I’m just going to start designing a couple of dresses, some bags, and I will just see where it goes.”

With her inspiration stemming from museums and art galleries, Weener grounded Songs of Siren in Greek mythology. Modern depictions of sirens conjure images of captivating, mermaid-like women luring unsuspecting sailors to their deaths by song, but original Greek myth diverges from this portrayal. Instead, it casts sirens as “bird-women,” or otherworldly creatures with a woman’s head atop winged, bird-like bodies. Regardless of which translation you’re reading, the archetypal siren is enchanting, which Weener notes is “very feminine, but also a feminist, and it’s very inspired by power and allure.”

Songs of Siren’s eye-catching garments feature intricate hand beading and sculptural silhouettes. For the label’s debut collection, Weener designed five mini dress silhouettes, one matching set and three triangular bags which spotlight various astrological and aquatic motifs. Songs of Siren’s luxury garments range in price from $895 to $1,250, with its bags ranging from $525 to $695.

Though Greek mythology plays a prominent role in Songs of Siren’s brand ethos, it isn’t the only historical reference incorporated into the label’s first collection. Weener also pays homage to the Great Pyramid of Giza via structured Pyramid Bags, and to biblical imagery with its Serpent Dress, which depicts the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with an apple between its fangs. (We’re manifesting Taylor Swift in the Serpent Dress post-“Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” announcement.)

“A lot of the dresses have the sun in it, which I’m very heavily influenced [by] because back in the days, also in religion, the sun is of course the start of life, so I have a lot of symbolism towards that,” Weener says. “And then we have The Zodiac Dress, which has a lot of astrology beaded into it. I just try to approach a lot of different religions, mythologies, everything combined in one brand so there’s something that everybody can find themselves in.”

When crafting a Songs of Siren piece, Weener starts by drawing the designs and producing the patterns before sending them off to the atelier she works with in India. There, each garment is handcrafted and hand-beaded by local artisans and then sent back to Weener to conduct fittings for any precise alterations. Weener first experienced this level of high-end couture craftsmanship while working with Alexander McQueen, and she describes wanting to recreate that expertise as one of her inspirations for Songs of Siren.

“Every piece takes so long to make, so I think that definitely makes [Songs of Siren] stand out, that the quality is just incredibly high,” she notes. “In addition, I try to use designs and patterns that are quite timeless. I don’t follow direct fashion trends because if somebody buys a Songs of Siren dress, they can still wear it in three or four or five years and still feel as happy and glamorous in it and still get as many compliments hopefully as they would when they initially bought it.”

Shortly after launching in December 2024, Songs of Siren debuted its first collection during London Fashion Week at the Fashion Crossover London Presents: The Rising Stars event. The brand was only two months old when Weener got the call about showing, and she had a month to arrange everything for the event.

“I used to be just a backstage photographer, just an assistant, and now I can go back [to London Fashion Week] having my own show,” Weener reflects. “That just seemed overwhelmingly exciting.”

When it comes to marketing an emerging luxury brand, Songs of Siren utilizes “slightly out of the ordinary” content to catch the fashion world’s attention. The brand’s first campaign (photographed by Dion Bal and creative directed by Indiana Vos) features models clad in its shimmering garments falling backwards into an indoor pool in Amsterdam, leaning into a common theme of sirens inhabiting water. For its second marketing campaign, the label continued its storytelling with a playful “Tinka twist”: A model is seen cheekily disrupting a London King’s Guard by dancing around him and even licking his face.

“Of course fashion is a serious business, but I also want to approach things in a funny way [and] in a humorous way to not be too serious and also to draw attention online, of course, which is why most of my campaigns have some kind of funny, silly aspect in it,” Weener shares.

In an era where luxury conglomerates increasingly dominate the market and independent labels struggle to stay afloat, Songs of Siren hopes to achieve growth by “staying true to the core message of the brand” — celebrating femininity, self-expression and redefining the siren myth. The label is entirely self-funded by Weener, who always knew she wanted to launch a company one day and saved up over the years. As for retail, the brand is currently only available on its direct-to-consumer website, but Weener notes she is exploring partnering with specialty boutiques. Entering a larger department store is also a future goal for the Dutch-American designer.

Looking ahead, Weener has her sights set on participating in another fashion week, including, potentially, New York. In the meantime, she’s focused on thoughtfully expanding her product range with new shapes, different bag designs, corsets and tights all while continuing to explore the brand’s Greek mythology and religious motifs.

“I want to bring in that super detailed level of a piece that you can wear for many, many years, that is timeless,” she adds, “that if you wear it in three years or four years, it’s still going to be cool, it’s still going to be beautiful.”

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