It has been a long time between RANT collections, but this one is well worth the wait. I have been collecting assorted Japanese made cotton prints for over a year and this collection features all the gorgeous 'bloom prints' I acquired over that time. I wanted to create a fresh collection of our best summer styles made from lightweight woven cottons, all with flowery prints. 

The Bloom collection is divided over 4 styles, all much loved RANT shapes, reimagined in these fabrics. The first style is the Moonflower top, the original length Moonflower top which sits perfectly over the waistband of your skirt or pants. Back in 2023 we did a run of Moonflower tops that were 10cm longer as we got feedback asking for it to be longer. Then we got feedback asking for the original length! So here it is, the cute original Moonflower top in cheerful Bloom print in 3 very different colourways. 
It looks great with our Helen pants, Whisper Culottes and any other plain pant or skirt you have. If you match it with the matching fabric skirt, it becomes a 'dress', which is shown above and later in this journal entry. 

I just had to make some of the sleeveless longer style, the Monarch top. We only cut and made 2 x small, 2 x medium, 2 x large and one X-large in each fabrication, so a very limited edition. The Monarch comes in the 3 colourways in the Bloom print along with our cute dark option which is a print we call 'Stitched' as it's flowers printed to mimic stitched or embroidered flowers. Also we made a few in a lightweight Black Watch Tartan which I mostly made because I really wanted one for myself!
I love wearing the Monarch top loose over pants or the super lightweight Whisper Culottes. It also looks great over our classic Japanese denim Helen pants as shown in our pics. 

The Dixie skirt makes another appearance after selling out quickly in 2023. The Dixie this time comes in the 3 colourways of the Bloom print which have a contrast hem panel made from a fabric we used in 2019 to make the Grove pants. It's a Japanese tencel/cotton which adds weight to hem of the skirt. I had to search through our 'deadstock' storage fabrics to find the best fabric to use and this not only works really well, it makes use of the small ends of rolls I had kept. The contrast pockets are made from a Japanese Supima cotton which I wanted to use as the pocket bags in this collection to add that lush feel when you pop your hands into the pockets.

The 'Stitched print' version of the Dixie skirt features contrast striped fabric at the back of the pockets. This Italian striped cotton fabric matched perfectly and adds so much visual texture to this version. The hem panel is made from another 'deadstock' fabric which is a Viscose crepe fabric which I only had 5 metres of as it was sampling from a decade ago. 
All these Dixie skirts can be matched with a matching fabric top to create a 'dress' or add a plain top for a different look. I especially like the look of the bamboo Eternal top with it as the square neckline looks awesome, however you can also pop one of our Viola tees with it for a sleeved option. 

The last garment style is the classic Sprig pants, which I live in and wanted a couple of new options for this summer. The 'Stitched print' works so well in the Sprig pants and if you layer a matching Monarch top you get a practical version of a jumpsuit, lots of print, yay! This will be one of my 'go to' outfits this summer. 

I call this second print option I called 'Scribble' because it's flowers created with a scribble texture. A simple black print on a grey background was an instant 'yes' when I saw this Japanese cotton print. I immediately saw myself wearing Sprig pants in this fabric. 

I usually don't photograph my two labels together (RANT & Bestowed) as I like to show them as their own collection with slightly different looks and feel. Bestowed is only cottons and is more casual, and Bestowed has a nice selection of summer tops made from organic cotton jersey. I wanted to do a couple of looks showing how I will be wearing my Sprig pants in the hot humid weather up here in Brisbane. It will be either the Archie tank or Abby top, loose and cool, I can recommend these options. 

In my search for beautiful Japanese printed cottons I found this very lightweight sheer voile that I knew would make perfect summer scarves, and it did. I have been busy roll hemming on the sewing machine, making the Tutti scarves in either a fresh green toned print or the blue based version that has a pop of orange. These scarves are great in summer to protect your neck from the sun when sitting at a cafe or keeping the cold breeze off your neck on an afternoon walk on the beach, or simply to add colour to any outfit. 

Lastly I made a red option in the Cinch belt. This simple belt cinches your top in to add shape if needed without being hot and clammy like a leather belt would be. These lightweight cottons need a slither of a belt made from cotton webbing and ribbon and the Cinch is that belt. It also comes in the original silver option that I made back in 2021 for the Paperwings collection. 

When styling for this photo shoot I wanted to use some flowers but they had to be bold blooms that would stand out. A couple of weeks before the shoot I was doing our regular food shopping at the Northey St Organic Markets and Jamie from The Cotton Bunch was there selling his amazing 'Pincushion' flowers. He is a local Queensland farmer and was happy to gather these incredible blooms plus some Gum leaves for us. I met up with him a few days before the shoot to collect them all, then had fun dividing them up into old Gin bottles and assorted vases and bottles.

(above image shows the bloom selection at the photo shoot in our lounge room)

That concludes my run down on this Bloom collection. More details are available on each product, make sure you read the description as I try to add important features about each style and the fit info is how I feel each style fits and I update that info if I get feedback that I want to also share. 

Thanks for reading my Journal, it's really appreciated,

Cheers
Sarah