New York Fashion and Market Week

So last week I headed East. NYC in particular. I fly direct from work with a MASSIVE bag and far too many cameras, handbags and general tat hanging off my bod - pack horse / bag lady would be fitting. Panicking as usual that I was late, I arrived an hour early, as usual and boarding a 747 plane with only 30 people on the WHOLE thing. Now im not the best of flyers and this freaked me out a touch.


Anyway - A chicken dinner, 4 glasses of apple juice, half of "Drive" (it got cut off), "How does she do it" and "The Notebook" (thank god the plane was empty for my incessant sobbing) and i arrive at JKF. I drag my dead body / bag into a cab and am greeted by a news reader on the cab tele wearing one of my Charlotte by Charlotte Taylro skirts for Anthropologie! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - no one to tell or show. So i took a picture.


This freak coincidence I figured MUST be a sign of good things to come in the states :) AND the fact that we passed a hotel on the way to Brooklyn called "The Jamaica Inn" (the title of our new collection).

So the D and A exhibition was great. Beautiful venue and elegantly displayed. If I were a buyer it would be an ideal shopping ground in my eyes. AND they gave us breakfast, a constant supply of tea and cake, strawberries and ice cream and meatballs??!?! in the afternoon. WIN WIN.


There was great traffic and we met some awesome boutiques from across the States and Japan.



Having now finished the exhibition, Ben and I are following up on our meeting and also meeting with sales agents for the States. The questions you face with new territories is whether it is best to manage sales and distribution in House or sub let it out to someone who know the market better and can place you in the correct stores without burning bridges. On the flip side, it means that you lose a personal interactive contact with buyers whist in the early days of your brand.

Tricky.

Ill let you know what we decide when we decide.

Tonight will be our first proper night out in NYC - how sad is that. Too tired all week. Never mind. We shall make up for it tonight. I have my uncoordinated dance legs ripe and ready to go. Watch out New York - Im coming!

AUTUMN / WINTER 2012

“JAMAICA INN”

AUTUMN / WINTER 2012

AUTUMN / WINTER 2012 ILLUSTRATES A JOURNEY OF TWO TALES UNITED. TWO TALES THAT SPAN 76 YEARS BUT SHARE A WILD, UNINHIBITED LOVE FOR THE DEPTH, VARIETY, ASTOUNDING BEAUTY AND FASCINATING HISTORY OF MAGNIFICENT CORNWALL.

THE JOURNEY BEGAN IN OCTOBER 2011 WITH A BANJO PLAYING OLD TIMER, HIS DAUGHTER AND THEIR DOG, THROUGH WILD WEATHER, COASTAL WALKS, MUSICAL JAZZ EVENINGS AND PINTS OF CIDER.

THEIR TRAVELS BY DAY CONTINUE THROUGH VILLAGES OF DISCONTINUED TIN MINING TOWERS, THE BEAUTY OF THESE LONE BUILDINGS, WHICH SCATTER THE CORNISH LANDSCAPE, ARE ENHANCED WITH THE INDUSTRIAL PROWESS OF THEIR MAGNIFICENT ARCHITECTURAL INTERIORS.

THE STORM RAVAGED COASTS, LITTERED WITH THE CARCASSES OF ONCE FINE SHIPS, IGNITES THEIR IMAGINATIONS AND FUELS STORIES OF SMUGGLERS, PIRATES AND BATTLES.

ONE EVENING, A SALTY SEA DOG ROUSES FROM HIS CORNER AND BEGINS TO TELL THE TALE OF “JAMAICA INN”. WRITTEN BY DAPHNE DU MAURIER IN 1939 IT IS THE LEGEND OF THE SMUGGLING HIVE THAT WAS THE JAMAICA INN. NARRATIVE OF A YOUNG LADY, UNEXPECTEDLY THROWN INTO THIS DARK, SINISTER WORLD IN THE FOOTHILLS OF BODMIN MOOR.

HOPE YOU LIKE IT! X

The adventure begins

NYC followed by Paris Fashion Week - not too shabby at all!

So the last bit of our lives has been spent designing and sampling the new AW12 collection to the delightful sound of Ray La Montagne.

Well they're done - they are finished - and....I think they are pretty cool. Lush even.

We shot the lookbook a couple of weeks ago with a mega team.

Harriman Steel were Art Directing

Claire Pepper took the snaps (she can't get rid of me)

Camilla Hewitt on the make-up

David Wadlow magnificently puffing and curling hair

Hayley Simmons styled it up

and the divine Roz Jana was breathtaking, graceful and divine as our model / intellectual literary expert.

Ben did the tea and I flapped around like a chicken. The pressure is getting to me in my old age!

So that all went swimmingly - you'll see the pics and short movies from this in a couple of days.

Ill tell you one secret..... We used a REAL owl - Alfie in fact. Handsome young man he was and so well behaved.

Oh ok here's a sneak preview of the set and young Alfie...

So I'm off to NYC tomorrow for market week. We are exhibiting at the D and A which is a very exciting first for us. Fingers crossed everyone that it goes well. We are very lucky that the American public has taken well to these odd prints I design so we are hoping for a good reaction.

Ill keep you posted on twitter once I manage how to figure it out on my phone grrr

Then off to Paris for fashion week. We are showing at Atmosphere so pop by if you're about. We will have tea to offer that is for sure.

Anyway I hope you all like the collection. Im not going to say its my favourite as I don't want to offend the lobster, ant, Bonsai, Bumble Bee etc of old but....it kind of is.

Let me know what you think as always. Ill take it on the chin, then hunt you down.

xx