Here it is... Rarities from the Vault, the collection Dakotah and I have been working on for months. This RANT collection was created entirely from deadstock fabrics from past collections going back as far as 2008!
I wanted the photo shoot for this collection to be raw and honest. 'Rarities from the Vault' was created from our fabric storage area in our stockroom, so we did the shoot in those areas, even though it's not exactly roomy.
I have been slowly going through my 'fabric stash' over the past few years, creating a few garments in each new collection. But this time we took it very seriously and pulled all the fabrics out to see what we could do. There were lots small ends of rolls, usually too small to use for production, but as we are slowing down considerably and only creating a limited range mostly to sell ourselves, we could spend the time hand cutting lots of special fabrics into some skirts and tops. Some of the fabrics we could only cut one or two tops, but others we could cut a dozen.
I had a part roll of the beautiful Japanese silver seersucker cotton fabric that we used in the 'Paperwings' collection, but that time we only made a sleeveless top and shorter skirt. So this time we have a top with a cap sleeve and longer skirt, the Juxtapose top and Trove skirt, pictured below. They look great together and if you wear the Juxtapose top loose over the Trove skirt it looks like a dress.
We only had a very small amount of the Japanese green seersucker cotton fabric so we just cut it into the Juxtapose top. Both of these colourways in the Juxtapose top have a contrast yoke in an Italian cotton stripe. I love the two patterns together, orbs and stripes. These tops look great loose over the Whisper Culottes, also in a lightweight Japanese cotton fabric, as in the pic below.
There was also some of the nice Japanese yarn dyed stripe fabric from the 'Diverge' collection where I made a cute pleated neckline top and the awesome Asha pants that I live in. That collection never had a skirt, so we cut a few Trove skirts in sizes S/M/L. This fabric isn't sheer so we didn't need to add a lining like we did in the seersucker. I love this stripe version simply worn with a bamboo singlet top or one of the new Archive tops. (shown below).
The last of the drapey Viscose crepe fabric has now been cut into Archive tops, short and long versions. We had varying lengths of fabric, so we cut it all and they are all in limited quantities, so first to get first pick. I did add a couple of them to my wardrobe, one being the pitch coloured long one above because I loved the above outfit.
I added these Archive tops over most of the outfits in this collection to have a sleeved option for people and to show how versatile they are. The cropped ones can also be layered over our bamboo Nancy dress. (shown below)
Also in the long version of the Archive tops, we have a handful made in a Diamond cut out fabric. They look great with a singlet top to see the shape of the underneath layer. Below is Diamond archive top being modelled up the ladder of the fabric storage area, where that fabric has lived since 2014, a decade!
Back in 2012 I did a collection called 'Twig and Petal' which had a great linen skirt in it, the Linen Cherry Skirt. I had a part roll left of the linen in black and a bark colours. I pulled them out, added to them a part roll of a linen/viscose blended fabric in a rich ruby redcolour and decided to make the same skirt that it was made in back in 2012. When we had our in store Pop Up launch in the weekend, I had two people in who still have their original Linen Cherry skirts! It's so nice to know that our styles pass the test of time. Below are the Linen Cherry skirts with simple bamboo singlet tops and optional Archive tops layered.
Last but not least is the Portulaca skirt/pants. This is a style I first created back in 2007. It looks like a skirt but it's sort of also pants as there are leg holes at the bottom which have nice little facings. The waistband is pleated and is a 'paperbag' style which is then cinched in the custom belt I made for this version. The fabric for these is the only one I brought in for this collection but it is a 'deadstock' fabric too from one of my suppliers who buys 'deadstock' fabrics from Japan. I needed something that had some drape to sit nicely and this Japanese Tencel stripe was simply a perfect choice. I have been wearing these on high rotation with a black bamboo Obsidian top tucked in and sneakers.
I want to thank my beautiful friend Lou Hood who kindly modelled for me again. And Todd Hunter McGaw my trusty photographer who some how made my mad idea actually work, and Gemma Elaine for doing Lou's hair and makeup just the way I like it. You guys made shoot day fun yet productive.
Thanks also to you for reading my blog/journal.
Cheers, Sarah
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