india

from jemma: dear diary…the V&A

March 31st, 2011 / Posted by fp julia / Permalink

I headed to the V&A today (Victoria and Albert museum), but before I arrived there I stopped off in Angel. Angel is a great place to go for breakfast and quiet stroll in the mornings. It’s not too crazy, but the right amount of busy-ness to keep you stimulated. They have cute, old world charm restaurants and great vintage stores. The vintage stores are a little more on the pricey side here, the selection is unique and a bit more carefully curated. I adore Annie’s for its reference to the Victorian era. I can’t get enough of the delicate Victorian lace.

 from jemma: dear diary...the V&A

The V&A fascinates me every time. I love the location. Situated in the more upper class area of London – South Kensington – you can expect to see a vast majority of pleasant “sloanes” walking about, well dressed and full of charm.

As you walk into the grand entrance of the museum you instantly feel ready to get soaked in culture. I headed straight to the Asia and India section. I was drawn there due to the familiarity of the Free People aesthetic.

 from jemma: dear diary...the V&A

Seeing the chintz costumes of the 1600 was mind blowing. A fashion made from Indian painted cotton. In the 1600s, Chintz fabric was a huge fashion statement amongst women  — dresses constructed in England made from beautiful hand painted fabric in south east India was the main “fashion” of this era.

 from jemma: dear diary...the V&A

I was in awe of the fine Bengali muslin praised as “woven air”, painted so beautifully, they looked so delicate and light. I stood for hours admiring the beautiful aesthetics from Asia and India. Every time I leave the V&A I always feel like I’ve travelled a little around the world and that enlightens me.

 from jemma: dear diary...the V&A

around the South Kensington/Chelsea area you get some pretty well dressed people. One of the best Art collages around is situated here “the royal academy of Art”, so you get the incredibly unique art students strolling around. You have a lot of celebrities and models living here. Here are some details that I enjoyed while walking around Kensington. ( above)

 from jemma: dear diary...the V&A

After the day was over I met up with my two BFF’s for a drink at Jaguar Shoes Old city. This area is far too cool for school it often hurts my head thinking where all the absurdly “cool” people came from. It’s pretty entertaining. We had a glass of wine and a great catch up then headed home. The day was perfect!

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summer store displays

May 12th, 2010 / Posted by fp julia / Permalink

 summer store displays

our new summer store displays are up and i am in awe!

for the garlands, our visual team drew inspiration from holiday decorations they saw in india:

garlands summer store displays

here are some pics of the displays going up in our king of prussia, pa store!

sd5 summer store displays

plexi dots 001 summer store displays

the plexi art was done by hand by our display team members…stay tuned because we have a video of that for you!

 summer store displays

sd6 summer store displays

the bikes are by far my favorite…they were designed by one of our visual display team members while she was in india.

sd7 summer store displays

sd9 summer store displays

aren’t they beautiful? i want one to ride around at the beach this summer!

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  • Robin says:

    I love the bikes how can I get one

  • beryl says:

    we are in love with the visual art displays always,(i’m an old interior designer)… my daughter is begging for the flower garlands,she wants to live under them… where can i find them in the states?

  • kay says:

    OMG the display is so so amazing! never seen anything like it! the bikes! the plexi installation ! it like going to an art gallery. super talented artists. beautiful job.

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patches from india

November 6th, 2009 / Posted by fp julia / Permalink

i love the one-of-a-kind patched bf jeans we just got in, but i love ‘em even more now that i know the story behind them. read on for merrie’s story about the inspiration behind these unique, one-of-a-kind jeans.
patched%20denim patches from india
“we recently met a young woman from kutch, a desert area in the state of gujarat in india. she had a huge collection of tribal embroideries, which we bought to piece with delicate embroidered net from a market in Delhi and patch onto vintage denim.
we have always loved making clothes out of vintage pieces, cutting them up and adding bits of trims from another era, some tribal embroidery or some old denim. we had already created a small workshop in india where we make most of our store fixtures…embroidered hangers, cane stools, dressing room curtains, beaded chandeliers…etc. adding a few sewing machines to that set-up seemed the next step.
now we are able to find assorted fabrics in the markets, collect trims we love, and put them in the newest silhouettes for the stores within a month or so of the initial inspiration. the assorted fabrics keep that one-of-a-kind feel, while making several of the same silhouette allows us to keep the prices reasonable.
we’ll send a photo of our happy workshop soon. on any given day, there might be: men sitting under the mango trees, hand weaving cane stools for the showroom in new york…tailors sewing prototypes for our next fp one season…wood carvers making doors for our newest fp store…pinwheel makers sitting in the grass making hundreds of paper pinwheels for our next display…anshu the gardener’s son studying his abc’s…it is quite a group effort!”
thanks merrie! can’t wait to see some photos!

  • Rashmi Guruprasad says:

    I have walked the markets of Delhi and Gujrat and always felt that these artisans deserve more attention. These patches on jeans is just ingenious. Trust FP to come up with unique stuff like this. Every FP store feels like a home away from home for me. Truly inspiring.

  • I really think that clothing patches in general are going to be an emerging trend over the next couple of years, and there are very few limits to how many/how large they can be. It’s definitely an inspiring story.

  • tina says:

    makes me want to cover a whole pair of jeans with patches!

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