Last week I received an email from one of our readers, Molly, who sent me a link to photos she took on a recent solo trip to Big Sur and a trip to Ojai, and I immediately knew I had to share. Big Sur is one of the most incredible, magical places I’ve ever been and these photos bring back a longing I can’t quite describe.
Check out her tumblr and flickr for more inspiration. Thank you so much for sharing Molly!
Meet this week’s style inspiration – the design assistant for New Romantics here at Free People. I was immediately attracted by her laid back and beautiful – yet approachable – look. I checked in on her daily to get to know her better and bring you her week in style file.
In her romantic, somewhat demure, way of dressing she reflects her personality perfectly. She seems quiet and shy at first, but is then sweet beyond words as soon as you approach her. This is a girl who doesn’t wear outfits that shout “look at me,” but rather, “come closer.” Pay attention and you’ll notice a dainty necklace or a gorgeous etched bracelet.
As assistant designer for the Free People New Romantics, she will be given a fabric chosen by her boss, the head designer for New Romantics, and then has to come up with styles using what she is given. The process usually starts with a sketch. Her sketches themselves are amazingly inspirational to look at. She will then drape the piece – usually doing about one a day. After she’s done draping, she will pass everything along to tech who takes it from there. This week she was already working on things for next summer.
And now for a peek into her personal life =)
Tucked discretely among Austin’s best restaurants and vintage shops on South Congress, the Hotel San Jose is a peaceful oasis either to stay for a vacation or just to pop in for a drink on the patio. Self-described as a hotel with soul, the San Jose’s décor includes vintage concert posters, cacti, animal printed-throws, crawling ivy plants and lots of sun-dappled shade. It’s extremely zen-like, and makes you feel very much at home – from the tray of Texas-style snacks awaiting guests in the rooms to kitchen in the lobby that serves cocktails and cold water. If you’re on South Congress, you must check it out.
nice touch – a pair of tom’s in the bathroom that you can purchase if interested.
DO: have a drink at the outdoor patio (open to public)
Also – stop next door for coffee at Jo’s – home to the famous “i love you so much” wall, and you may even run into Leslie (an Austin celeb)!
I am beyond excited about the fact that Free People is now launching its very own line of vegan leather pieces! As I mentioned in the video, I am a vegetarian and although it doesn’t bother me when other people wear leather products, it’s not something I can bring myself to do. Which is torture, because working here I see so many amazing leather items that I love – but it seemed only natural that we would do this, being a company that loves animals so much! After months of anticipation, vegan leather is here, and I’m happy to say that my search for the perfect vegan leather jacket has ended :)
In addition to the jacket, the other items online now are the vegan leather pants, vegan leather skirt and vegan leather shorts. I love that these items can be styled in a girly way, with pretty blouses and heels, or in a boyish rock n’ roll way:
And here’s how I styled the pants for the video – I paired them with the concert raglan and sandals for an easy casual look. Clearly the boyish look is more my style :)
items pictured: vegan leather pant, we the free raglan tee, calypso pendant necklace, kale collegic stack rings, zion ring, molly beaded sandal.
Your response will help determine whether we’ll continue to design into this line, so I would love to hear your thoughts on vegan leather!
Today’s been a busy day! The first half of the day I got to travel out to the owner of Urban Inc.’s personal farm. I shot some photos of the stylish interns on the outing.
Although I enjoyed the trip, it was fun getting back to the office and noticing lots of new Free People buys around. These two ladies are actually wearing two of my favorite items right now – both just happen to have been sitting in my shopping basket for about the past week now.
The Free People Printed Kimono
I love the flirty sheerness these two coworkers were rocking today.
How cool is this shirt? I love the combo of it with the braids.
I caught this stylish woman sauntering up the stairs in her carefree printed summer dress. Her tattoo juxtaposes against the girly-ness of her outfit for an intriguing look.
Denim and lace…one of my favorite combos for summer
Our July Lookbook, “FALLing for Bambi,” is definitely one of my favorites yet – maybe because I think Bambi Northwood-Blyth is insanely adorable, but also because I love these pre-fall, layered looks. This lookbook actually has 15 total outfits but I pulled out some of my favorites – which one do you like best?
look three:
look four:
look five:
look six:
look seven:
or look eight:
(view the entire july lookbook)
time to vote!
The first day of shooting in Austin was a blast – we shot at the Mohawk Room with the Happen-Ins, and models Ashley Smith, Anastasia Khodkina and Jessica Mau took turns pretending to be in the band. Ashley was a natural on the guitar and Anastasia blew us away with her rockstar energy! With Alexandra Valenti making magic behind the lens, it was a day of live music and fun in the company of friends.
view the july catalog.
so inspired by this look today! our office coordinator took an old oversized button-down shirt and turned it into a skirt! she just buttoned it up halfway from the bottom, stepped into it and tied the sleeves around her waist – add a cropped tee and boots and you’ve got 90s grunge perfection.
just another reason to nab your boyfriend/dad/brother’s button-downs! vintage printed ones are a plus :)
rainbow cake, rainbow hair :)
lots of inspiration around the office today!
Today’s DIY project was inspired by this post on apartment therapy. Free People has an instagram account and I love so many of the photos that our home office girls post there – it’s like our little visual diary. I LOVE the idea of printing out our photo memories and making them into wall art!
What you need: I used white poster board and double sided tape, and printed our photos out on a regular printer.
I picked photos at random and just started lining them up in rows :)
And that’s it! I think this would look awesome framed and hung up in our office :)
Free People girls are heading to Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this Friday for a festival fashion bonanza! Read More
Our july lookbook features one of our favorite fashion icons, Australian model Bambi Northwood-Blyth! She is such a joy to be around – from her endearing accent to her magnetic charm, we all fell in love with her. For our july lookbook she showcases our pre-fall collection full of layering essentials like leather, denim, crochet, tights, bed jackets and sheer fabrics. Here’s a peek behind the scenes!
Bambi told us the story behind her cute ankle tattoo: she and her boyfriend were traveling together and got beaded anklets that read “dan and bambi.” She decided to get a tattoo of the anklet so that she would always have it :)
view the full july lookbook.