Our inspiration for our early spring collection is called Landed Gentry. The designers were looking at a lot of dandy menswear and liked mixing it with super romantic femininity. The amazing illustration above was done by one of our designers.
Check your mailboxes! The newest catalog has dropped and should be getting to you any day now. See it on our website here and check out all the new product on the site.
The creative team played off of the romance of the collection and started gathering all sort of romantic ephemera, like old books and sheet music. The book above was inscribed “from Alfred to Kate” and they went with that theme, changing the theme to “from Kate to Alfred”.
The creative team found an old feather quill pen in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and brought it back for our graphic designer to play with. Here she is practicing her lettering. She ended up mastering the quill as you can witness in beautiful lettering in the Landed Gentry catalog. The pen itself even inspired the cover…
At freepeople.com we have quite a few flirty trapeze women’s tops (as you might have noticed from yesterday’s fp email). So I decided to do some research on how this silhouette originally came into fashion. Here are my discoveries…
Yves Saint Laurent was just 21 years old when he took over for Christian Dior in 1958. YSL blew Paris away with his first collection, the Trapeze Line. The innovative silhouette was characterized by very narrow shoulders and a fitted upper bodice that widened as it extended to a swinging triangular shape to the hem. The controversial collection was accepted by the most fashionable and the trapeze proved to be the biggest change in fashion since Christian Dior’s own “New Look” in 1947. Above photo found here.
So in my research I came upon an archived article of Time magazine from 1958 explaining how the Trapeze Line had hit the US. It’s pretty cool how it’s documented on the internet like that.
Another fun discovery I made are these YSL paper dolls, with the looks well researched and featuring a rendering of one of his day dresses in the trapeze style. Get your own here.
We are really excited about these vintage belts we just put up on our website. The buckles are made from these incredible vintage compacts. If you bought a beautiful vintage compact, nobody would even see it except when you were powdering your nose. On a belt ( of Italian leather) everyone can see your great find. Each belt is one of a kind, designed and crafted by Jacqueline Rose.
This is Bruce. Bruce wasn’t getting enough exercise in his South Philly apartment, so he came to run around the Free People building.
So in the name of the new year, we’d like to share some of what’s to come in 07. First of all, our website is in the process of being totally redesigned. A major visual overhaul will coexist with better navigation, better search tools, improved product images and an easier checkout process. Yay!
Another exciting thing to look forward to is our catalogs. We plan on doing some experimenting and maybe even producing more books than just once a season. So if you’re not on the catalog list yet, now is the time!
And hopefully we can make some improvements to the blog, but we need your help! Leave us a comment and let us know what you’d like to see! What are you curious about, what can we do more of??
So Bruce learned a lesson. If you wander to the back corner, home of the creative team, you could emerge covered in bows and feathers…
It’s always a little suprising to see celebrities wearing Free People. These were posted on People’s off the rack blog as part of a “fashion faceoff” where readers debate over who looks better in the same clothes. So silly…
PS I’m pretty sure we are sold out on this. It was from fall.
Free People is having a serious post holiday sale. Check it out here… Continue the spirit of gift giving, or give something to yourself! Happy shopping!
Just wanted to point out how cute our vintage needle cards turned out! Our graphic designer did the whimsical watercolors inspired by (I guess their name gives this away…) vintage needle cards. Some of the girls picked up a few originals last year at the Brimfield flea market in Massachusetts, and we’ve been waiting for Holiday to come so we could do a Free People version. Inside you’ll find a single sewing needle.
We sent the cards out to wish happy holidays upon our extended Free People family (all of the other companies that support us or we partner with). In the photo, you can see Elizabeth in customer service has added her own hand touch to the envelopes as well!
The third issue of girly British mag lula is out! I know this is a magazine that has definitely been talked about among the designers at FP. The content is fashion mixed with beautiful whimsical fantasy and nostalgia. A magazine you’ll want to book mark rather than tear out the pages…
It kind of amazes me when I take the time to actually read a magazine from cover to cover, and it becomes clear how connected everything is. Like in the interview with the designers from clothing line Lover, they talked about being inspired by Marianne Faithfull’s biography. And then toward the back, there is an interview with Marianne Faithfull herself. How suddenly certain trends, interests, people, just emerge as important to a place in time…
Congratulations to Aileen for winning her wishlist on freepeople.com! She was the lucky girl that won $1000 worth of items on her FP wishlist. One item she couldn’t wait to get was the Re-In-Vented Coat. She said she fell in love with the unique details, like the buttons and the vent. Other favorites on her list…the Soft Military Pocket Slim Pant in Indigo, Yoke Cowl Dropwaist in Strawberry and Deep Plum… basics with an edge she says.
Aileen’s choices were influenced by a recent move to San Fransisco, “so I went for pieces that would help keep me toasty throughout the winter months.” She said she loves Free People for the “Detailed pieces that are unique and fun. They help me retain my youthful glow.” Enjoy all of you new clothes, Aileen!
I also want to congratulate the following who won $100 gift cards!
Danielle, Jordan, Natalie, Sarah, and Skye!!!!!!!
Click here to learn about creating your own Free People wishlist. (This is an awesome way to let relatives know what you have your eye on for holiday gifts…)
The one shoulder dress was shown all over the runways for spring, but it seems like fashion is moving so fast that the trend has arrived before the season! Here is the Free People version in an easy to wear knit embellished with embroidery and beading.
Also wanted to give a bit of info on this beautiful yellow background our creative assistant painted. It was inspired by our Bali concept, so she looked at lots of different batik sarongs for pattern ideas. The way she executed it kind of relates to the batik technique as well. She layed down a bunch of sticks and draped string all around and taped these down. She then rolled paint over these textures and pulled them off after painting. She used the pattern created by the resist to embellish with more color. She admits the process took her more time than necessary, but she has truly made a work of art!
This post is in response to a few comments posted about the holiday catalog… We got an overwhelming response to our first holiday catalog. Way better than we had expected. Unfortunately, the second catalog (Holiday in Bali) was planned and shot at the same time as the first, and featured some of the same products. We had no way to edit the second catalog once items unexpectedly sold out.
Please forgive us! We are really excited we received such a great response, and will definitely be able to learn from this for future catalogs. If there is an item you just can’t live without, you can contact our call center @ 800-309-1500. They may be able to locate the item in one of our store locations.
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