our assistant buyers and one of our planners wearing their favorite shoes from fp at the moment!
from left to right: the rambler hi moccasin, the bullet boot, the lea fringe boot and the roper field boot.
i love them all but those rambler mocs…man i want them!
as a vegetarian, i often find myself in a bit of a conundrum when it comes to some clothing. i love the look and feel of leather jackets, and lately i’ve been thinking about purchasing one, but a part of me always feels guilty. am i a true vegetarian if i wear a leather jacket? is that hypocritical? sure i could buy a fake leather jacket…but they never seem to look as cool as the real ones.
the battalion has come along and solved my problem, by creating “vegan” leather pants and jackets that look just as good as, or better than, the real thing. i decided to find out a little bit more about the company and wow…i am in love.
the battalion specializes in knits and woven fabrics that are eco-friendly, primarily rayon, bamboo, organic cotton, promodal, recycled polyester, veggie fur, veggie leather, and cruelty free “peace” silk.
here’s a brief interview with battalion founder linda wong!
What inspired you to start the battalion?
I see clothes as something more than adornment of oneself but as the foundation of one’s creativity and personal expression. I started The Battalion as a vehicle to communicate that vision.
Have you always been passionate about fashion and designing? How would you describe your personal style?
My first love is drawing and creating. As I acquired the technical skills of clothes making, I fell in love with fashion design. My style is exactly like how I design. It has to be comfortable but not boring. It is relevant to popular and sub cultures, and full of narratives
What environmental issue are you most passionate about?
The Battalion is a member of The Nature Conservancy and 1% for the Planet. We are passionate about preserving nature. We also recognize that in order to make a fundamental difference with environmental issues, we have to encourage the right environmental policies to be in place. We mobilize our fans via twitter, facebook to get out the vote for all issues that will better our environment. Lastly and most importantly, we are promoting the benefits of wearing faux fur. It is not only ethical, but it is more beautiful and alluring to wear something where no animals were hurt in the process.
Battalion AW10 inspiration board
I read that the inspiration for the AW10 collection is landscape, desert and a wolf named Indio. Can you explain this a little bit more?
Years ago, my design partner worked in the costume department of one of Wim Wenders movies. His movies were known for it’s beautiful imageries of Americana. Recently I found a road atlas he left behind with detailed notes of routes he had taken during the scout. So we went on a road trip, following the routes from Los Angeles, to Palm Desert, through Las Vegas, up to Monument Valley in Utah and down to Sedona, Arizona. The collection is the reflection of our epic trip. And yes, we met a wolf name Indio in the desert whom inspired our expanded faux fur collection.
What’s next for the battalion? Is there anything you can share that you’re working on now and are really excited about?
For Spring 2011 we have some beautiful hand crochet pieces that are made in a very new way. Instead if using yarns, we crochet our ultra soft and light weight jersey fabrics.
The results are beautiful and delicate looking tops and dresses with self-crochet details. We are also making new versions of our best seller, The Battalion knit pants with buckle trims, motorcycle details, and some secret ingredients. More to come!
view the battalion items available at freepeople.com here.
thank you linda!
i’m normally not a big heels person but we have some amazing party shoes right now that i would absolutely wear if i could walk in them… which ones do you like best?
the sicily lace up heels:
the luna pump:
the foxy fabric platform:
or the victorian lace ankle bootie:
time to vote!
last week’s party lookbook poll had a huge turnout- i think the largest for any thursday poll! it was close between looks three and five, but five took it with 25% – i wonder if the cute pup had something to do with it? :)
one of our interns from the summer (in the blue shirt and floppy hat) has done some modeling for us, and she was in the studio last week to do some special shots for our website. she asked her college roommate to come along and we just so happened to be doing a how to style session and thought… why not use both of them? they looked adorable and had such great energy together :) here they are showing different ways to wear the directions in lace maxi slip!
left: here the lace slip is worn over top of the point d’esprit maxi slip, with the familiar chambray shirt and disordered fur vest over top. accessorized with the janis brimmed wool tall hat (which our stylists added some feathers to – i love!), sullivan suede belt and roper field boot.
right: for a more “lou” look, pair the skirt with a plaid shirt and some stripes tied around the waist for an added clash. she’s also wearing the thriller moto boot and slouchy beanie. pile on some cuffs on the wrists to toughen up the look!
left: the lace maxi is worn over top of the patterned diamonds dress, accessorized with the beaded beanie, vintage obi belt and fatale platform boots.
right: you can never have too much lace! pair the maxi with the lace mock neck top and treasured days cardigan, with the lacey layering skort under the slip. she’s also wearing the sovereign crystal pendant. boots coming soon.
here the slip is again worn over the point d’espirit maxi slip, with the seamless tupelo honey top and fp one season’s sparkle bralette, topped off with the fp one shimmers of holiday vest. she’s also wearing the lennon topper hat, sullivan suede belt, all dolled up anklet and solvang clog.
and last but not least, the slip looks amazing as a dress! worn here over top of a seamless tube, with the twisted in chains necklace, adjustable admiral belt and velvet crusher peeptoe.
can you believe these girls aren’t real models? they look gorgeous!
I’m loving this trend right now. It’s perfect for crispy Fall days, over the knee riding boots, plaid shirts and knitted fitted jackets; I like the idea of smartening it up with velvet jackets and ruffle skirts in lace and paisley prints.
Now all I need is a horse!
chapter four of our november catalog features our new line for little girls, wee people! as mentioned, this line is the baby of our director of design, who wanted to create a line of clothing for her daughter with free people’s unique aesthetic. her daughter was her muse, and is also one of the models in our catalog. Read More
if you’ve been on our website lately you may have noticed these really cute little hand drawn frames that our graphic designers did. i love how they look, and then today i saw this post on design sponge and i was inspired! these hand drawn frames are a cute and cheap alternative to the real thing.
what you need: scissors, a glue stick, a black pen, paper and cardboard or a thicker type of paper (i used a manila folder).
i glued a piece of paper to the manila folder – this will be the frame – so it would be a little sturdier. take another piece of paper and fold it in half, then fold in half again, as pictured on the right. this is what you’ll use to make the frame shape.
the frame can be any shape you want – i wanted it to be round, so i used a paper plate and traced the edges onto the folded paper, about an inch or so apart.
cut along the black lines and unfold the paper to reveal the frame shape. tape it to the manila folder, or whatever you use, and cut around it so you’re left with your frame.
now for the fun part! put on some music and start doodling.
i used it to frame an image from our catalog and i think it looks really cute! i definitely want to experiment with this some more though – i think it would be really fun to do for christmas cards :)
one of our fans reached out to us on facebook to share her connection with free people, and had this to say:
“I just wanted to say that I personally love the free people philosophies. Not many clothing brands tend to inspire you as a “person” but free people does a great job at inspiring their consumers, daily. Through the art and photography in the catalogs, to the clothing materials themselves, they allow you to DREAM to be the person you feel you are to be, without restraint, without holding back, to have the FREEdom to be who you are, and for that to be a beautiful thing. To live and love in the moment. To dare to be more with your life and to not worry about what others may perceive. Be you, be beautiful (that is my personal motto) and I believe free people does a wonderful job capturing that specific essence. Great job. Much love, Candice.”
that is what it’s all about! thank you for the inspiring words, candice, it means so much to us. xoxo.
She rides like a frontier… lady like and romantic she aims for the sunset, the dusk glow casts a story over her Victorian ruffles.
Her silhouette is striking, riding pants, layered maxi skirts and leather waisted belts. She becomes a rider of romance with power in her eyes. Read More
“i used to admire believers”, tomas continued. “i thought they had an odd transcendental way of perceiving things which was closed to me. like clairvoyants, you might say.”
“it is completely selfless love: tereza did not want anything of karenin; she did not ever ask him to love her back. nor has she ever asked herself the questions that plague human couples: does he love me? does he love anybody more than me? does he love me more than i love him? perhaps all the questions we ask of love, to measure, test, probe, and save it, have the additional effect of cutting it short. perhaps the reason we are unable to love is that we yearn to be loved, that is, we demand something (love) from our partner instead of delivering ourselves to him demand-free and asking for nothing but his company.”
“what about the country…we’d be alone there. the people there are different. and we’d be getting back to nature. nature is the same as it always was.”
“missions are stupid, tereza. i have no mission, no one has. and it’s a a terrific relief to realize you’re free, free of all missions.”
“we all need someone to look at us. we can be divided into four categories according to the kind of look we wish to live under:”
“the first category longs for the look of an infinite number of anonymous eyes, in other words, for the look of the public. that is the case with the german singer, the american actress.”
“the second category is made up of people who have a vital need to be looked at by many known eyes. they are the tireless hosts of cocktail parties and dinners.”
“then there is the third category, the category of people who need to be constantly before the eyes of the person they love.”
and finally there is the fourth category, the rarest, the category of people who live in the imaginary eyes of those who are not present. they are the dreamers.”
click on images for sources.
i really enjoyed reading this book – i think kundera has a beautiful way with words and some great insight into the human pursuit of happiness and that ever elusive “lightness.” those of you who read it, what did you think?
