I’m not one to jump ahead into fall – we get more then enough time to celebrate the cooler weather in Minnesota! But I do love fall shopping and always find that I end up wearing the items I invest in each fall all year-round.
Some made-in-America goodness from Otte, one of my favorite shops in New York that happens to carry quite a few American-made brands. And! get 20% off your order with the code Fall 20 until EOD tonight… that’s a nice little perk now that the weather is starting to turn!
Kate’s a fellow Minnesotan that I have yet to meet… but her post this week on Slow Fashion resonated with me. In my ideal world, last week’s post on the inspiration behind TAE would have been written with 1/10 the eloquence as this one.
I find myself overwhelmed, once again, by the speed at which new trends, ideas and information are coming at me. This dizzying, never-ending slideshow is referred to as the (1)“New Speed of Fashion,” by T Magazine, and as I watched my Twitter feed become engulfed with photos and videos tagged #NYFW over the past week, I reached a point where I had to turn to a handful of slow movement designers and curators for meditation.
Former Fashion Director of Barneys, Amanda Brooks now lives on a farm in England with her family and shares her sartorial musings on her blog, I Love Your Style.
“We all have this idea that fashion is ephemeral. And in some regards it absolutely is. We buy something that catches our eye in a magazine, in a store, on style.com, we wear it a few times, and then it goes into fashion purgatory never to be worn again. Or never to be worn until it gains some vintage cred or stages a comeback a decade later.
But when I was working at Barneys I knew I would be spending a large proportion of my disposable income on clothes, and I wanted to be smart about it. If I was going to splurge, it had to be on things I would wear for a long time, not just a season.”
My amazing friend Meg works at Fallon and shared this post with me this week – while written for the advertising world, I think it holds true in any creative realm.
So, while we Planners may not be working with Radiohead on its next studio effort, we are creating something for the people of this world. We’re leaving something creative behind, and we’re (hopefully) making an impact. Art doesn’t have a right answer so don’t be content with smart. Smart is just the starting line, and the journey doesn’t have to be difficult. Or, as one very enlightened creative explained to me, “The creative process isn’t a struggle, it’s a wiggle.”
With that, THANK YOU. Thank you for reading, emailing, tweeting, commenting, and supporting TAE over the last two weeks. I’m flabbergasted and just disgustingly, incredibly excited. Also, I’m terrified that I won’t live up to your expectations. But I promise to do my best. Please, please, please let me know what you love, what you hate, and of course, what you think. And thank you, thank you, thank you!!! xx
I am so excited to share today’s collaboration with you! A few weeks ago, Wing and I got together with Lisa Hackwith of Hackwith Design House and Thao Nguyen of Parc Boutique to learn more about their upcoming trunk show.
Thao is the amazing owner of Minneapolis’ Parc Boutique. Parc carries an incredible mix of accessible quality brands and unique handmade exclusive items and Thao does a fantastic job curating an assortment of products by local makers (luckily for you, everything is available online!) and providing exceptional service. (Parc was probably my very first introduction to boutique shopping… so it’s safe to say that Thao created a monster:)
Lisa is the equally amazing designer and maker behind Hackwith Design House. Lisa just re-launched her line after a brief hiatus and focuses on her belief that one’s favorite item of clothing is special and unique. Given that belief, she makes less than 25 of each item so that you always know that you are wearing a unique piece (and releases one item a week – oh the anticipation!)
Again, good people making good things… that could be the new tagline for TAE.
Lisa and Thao met while Lisa was shopping at Parc, and over time decided to create a collaborative collection. The Spring collection sold out almost immediately so they have expanded the line and are introducing it at a trunk show – tonight!
This sweater is amazing. Thao and Lisa hand-selected the fabrics and then Lisa sewed it – by hand! – in her studio. It’s unique, soft, and versatile. We got so excited over the sweaters that they decided to make additional options – I can’t wait to see those! That’s the amazing thing about working with American-made, local designers – product is not only thoughtfully made, but it can often be turned around incredibly quickly.
Lisa sits at this sunny desk in her studio and sews all day! When we visited, she was finishing up production of her fall line which launched last week and working on samples of her spring line for Minneapolis Fashion Week.
I’m such a sucker for cohesive branding – particularly when I’m shopping online because it’s one of the few ways that the shop can really connect with me as a customer – and Lisa’s is amazing.
If you are in Minneapolis, I hope to see you tonight! If not, be sure to check out instagram as I’m sure we’ll all be ‘gramming up a storm!
Thank you to Lisa and Thao for collaborating to create such an amazing line! And of course to Wing for the amazing photos!
Christin’s blog, with a ch, is one of my very favorites – we became friends through our mutual obsession with cleanses and natural beauty, and I adore her sense of style. No surprise, I love all of her picks and can’t wait to check out SW Basics when I’m in New York next month!
