This is Kate's desk. Kate is the Web Production Manager. That means she makes the website go. She is the keeper of all things website related. One of Kate's favorite objects on her desk is this Hawaii "snowglobe" that doubles as a calendar. This is not to remind her of a fabulous time she had on vacation. She actually received it as a gift from a friend that got it at an Urban Outfitters sample sale.
Kate also loves this mug. Her college roommate moved out and forgot to bring it along. Who's the #1 Jerk now???
Thought I'd give you guys the inside scoop...Free People is looking for creative talent for intimates design and accessories. Wanna work for Free People? Apply online here.
P.S. Keep in mind we are based in Philadelphia.
The new store display was designed around 3 different materials: a mix of bamboo, cotton rope, and grass mats. The grass mats are from India and made of strips of bamboo. The patterns were inspired by fabrics our Visual Director bought in Tanzinia on a safari and some fabrics the accessories team designed with. The display team reinterpreted the prints into these big crazy versions and hand painted the mats.
The rope was ordered in bulk (72,000 feet!) and half was hand dyed by the display team in their workspace. You should see the floor now, it's turned green from all the dyeing! They got smart and had the other half professionally dyed by a company in Philly.
They had the bamboo delivered from India, and when it arrived it was totally covered in mold! The display team hand bleached and scrubbed every piece. These girls work hard for their displays...
And they get thirsty while they work, so don't mind the mess. But their work totally pays off, right? It looks so beautiful.
First read about the Cheap Date Guide to Style on stylebubble, and quickly decided Susie was probably right. If you're attracted to this book, you probably already have a pretty good idea about your personal style and they are just preaching to the choir. Susie felt it was more of a "style affirmation". Then I saw the above article in March's Dazed & Confused, and now I'm thinking twice. It looks more interesting the way they highlighted the funny tips and inspirations. So I think I might just pick it up! Let me know if anyone has it already, and what you think.....
Cassie is 12 years old and a huge fan of Free People. Lucky for her, she also happens to be the cousin of our Art Director, Doub, who welcomed her to spend a day with the FP design team. Check out how talented she is! Using bits of things around the office for inspiration, her ideas started flowing. These are just a few... Doub better watch out, Cassie might take over!
So I thought I'd give you readers the heads up. Freepeople.com is offering free shipping today through Thursday the 29th, and to make it even better, there are lots of new sale items. So get to shopping! ...and enter "springshipping" in the promo field at checkout...
I mentioned how friends and gifts seemed to be major themes for the FP crew when it comes to their workspace. These objects are favorites of Elsa, the Free People Direct Assistant Image Coordinator. That means she works on the creative team for the website, coordinating the photographers, the models, the photos, etc.
The picture above is a gift from a Free People employee. Elsa uses it to store her business cards. The dog is chalkware, a common object in the 1930's given away as prizes at the circus and carnivals.
She also keeps these goggles that were a gift brought back from Tibet. They were supposedly used for climbing mountains.
And the best part is, they fold up into this amazing little leather case!
This week marks the first of Spring!!! Can't wait until it's warm enough to ditch the socks and slip on these Havaianas, so perfect with our Indian inspirations...
Is anyone down with IQONS* yet?? For those of you that haven't heard the buzz, it's a social networking site developed spefically to help connect those in the fashion industry. Whether you're a stylist, photographer, designer, whatever. Check out the about page. I think the idea is really great, connecting serious designers and those just starting out, inspiring further relationships between art and fashion, and hosting competitions to get your name out there. And I guess it's still in it's soft launch phase, so it's hard to tell how effective it is for all you creators out there. But I'm loving the idea. So, should we all get to it and sign up for IQONS???
Check out March's of KnitKnit . This month features the "Knitting Nation Manifesto" by Liz Collins. Remeber the radical lace & subversive knitting exhibit I posted about? Well, word has it, some of the girls here at Free People will be involved in a knitting performance/installation conceived by Liz Collins. It happens the last day of the exhibit in June. Check out the Museum of Art & Design calendar for details.
Check out this short film by Nick Knight. Caught on video during a photoshoot he did for Visionaire, it reminds me of the way we make the "behind the scenes" FP videos. Ice Cream, however, doesn't look very behind the scenes at all, just very beautiful.
Check out these two web-only magazines. I posted about NEET before, and Amour just launched this month. Of course both of these are from the UK. Anyone know any crafty DIY fashion zines produced in the US???
This week's employee desk is that of Ana, our Design Manager. She helps to oversee the entire design team and the direction of each collection. Ana likes to surround herself with photos of her children. She says, when you work crazy hours like she does, it's important to keep her family close.
We would like to introduce you to the talented photography team that has recently been working with us on both our website and catalogs. They call themselves Cracker Farm and they are super fun to work with! We asked them to tell us their five most favorite things, and this is what they had to say...
1-Daz, their poor doggie that is no longer with them.
It's all about the handpainted accessories! Check out our Pool Party Nailpolish with cute color names like Rockets are Red and Shocker in Pinktown. Handpainted hairclamps and sunglasses too! Both the nailpolish and sunglasses were handpainted by local Philly artists. Remember when I asked for crafty girls in the Philly area?
Wanted to show you a little "behind the scenes" on the photography process from our India shoot. A bunch of the photos were actually taken with a Polaroid camera. The film had this really cool black black border with punctured holes. Stay tuned for more info on the photography, as I will introduce you to our photographers!
In preparation for our March catalog, the creative team gathered tons of images for inpiration from India. The book drops this week, so check your mailboxes and stay tuned to the web for the digital version. Check out the "behind the scenes" video!
"Hi, I'm Fifi. Fifi Lapin. I was born one of 257 brothers and sisters but sadly there was an outbreak of myxamatosis when I was one year old and I was the only one that survived. My parents are therefore incredibly protective of me and spoil me rotten. I'm an haress to my fathers fortune which he made playing fast and loose with carrot and lettuce shares on the international stock market. There are a lot of rabbits out there so I guess he just struck gold (or orange you might say). Some people think I’m just a socialite but I think there is more to me than just an extremely stylish clotheshorse! "
Found this on love forever. Purl Patchwork, the fabric store in NY, created this to display some new Liberty prints. This is a genius way to diplay your favorite printed fabrics and an inexpensive wall decoration. I know I have boxes of fabrics I can't let go of, but don't know what else to do with. Just get some embroidery hoops and get to hanging!
Two of our Free People designers were just in India vistiting one of our factories. Our friends at the factory prepared a special Holi celebration for them, as they were leaving the country on the day of Holi. This is known as the "festival of colors" celebrating the start of Spring as well as marking ancient religious events. As they dance, they cover each other in colored powders, symbolically letting go of their differences while they wash each other in this color. So check out the video, it looks like the girls had an incredible experience!
On a side note, you'll see a lot more info about India in the next week. Who's ready for the new FP catalog?
These are the perfect tights for when the weather starts getting warm (if that ever happens). The big open crochet will keep you cool, and they're made of mostly cotton so they will breathe nicely. Won't be hot and sticky like nylon tights...
We like these worn as regular footless tights, or styled pulled down over your heels. It continues the line of your legs and makes them look longer, instead of being cut off at the ankle. We're calling this look the "open toe" tights. Sounds better than "toeless" tights, right?
Are you looking for some career advice? Whether you want to live off your art, enter a new industry or find enough time to rock climb everyday, I recommend this book, The Anti 9 to 5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube written by Michelle Goodman. It's not really anti 9 to 5. It's more about figuring out what you really want to do with your life, and how to get it. Full of useful references, it is totally current and definitely funny. I feel like the crew at FP is really lucky to have found a place that pays them for being crafty and creative, and everyone should be so lucky as to find a job that makes them happy. Check out Michelle's website...
So this is the desk of our lovely accessories intern, Callie. Notice any theme in her photos? She seems to be stuck on the color orange, right down to her fingernails. She believes it's because she was sick and was thinking of vitamin C. Look out, Callie's orange crochet might end up on some piece of Free People accessory wonder.
This sounds like an exotic camping trip. Rent one of these vintage Airstream trailers on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England. The five girls that run vintage vacations are operating 5 trailers and counting on a working rural farm out there. And each trailer is decorated and stocked with vintage accoutrements, complete with old school reading material tidley winks.
