Unisex Bestowed styles- Bestowed collection 18
•Posted on August 17 2022
We’ve been asked many times if we will be doing menswear as guys want nice locally made comfy clothing too. Doing menswear isn’t something I know about, the shaping is different and I can’t wear test the styles to refine the fit like I do with womenswear styles. However with unisex styles I can design them and get to wear test them myself to ensure it’s exactly what I want. Over the years we have done some styles like the Yonder short pants that both Jay (my husband) and Dakotah (my son) have worn and loved, many of them have become the base of this collection. It’s a true Unisex collection with consideration to how the styles work on them as well as on myself. Our pattern maker Mike did the patterns and samples for this project and was a willing sample model too.
The tried and tested existing styles that Jay and Dakotah have worn heaps are the Parallel pants, Mellow pants, Drift pants and the Yonder short pants. The Beanies were actually designed for Dakotah originally and we all wear them now, also the scarves and arm warmers.
Both Jay and Dakotah also like the Archie Tank but wanted it to be a little longer, so easy done, we lengthened by 10cm and added this new option. I’ve only done this longer length in sizes M/L/XL at the moment and in black and granite coloured organic cotton jersey. I love this longer length, it’s awesome to layer with or to wear simply on its own.
We’ve been working on some new organic cotton knit fabrics this year with a local Queensland mill. I wanted a nice soft mid weight option with some extra stretch in it, even if it’s not necessarily needed for that shape. We’ve come up with a beautiful feeling fabric that we call ‘Cotton Bud’ which is in 5 colours, black, grape, dragonfly, leaf and white. I wrote about this fabric in the previous post, which can be read here, if you haven’t yet. We’ve made cotton Bud in the following styles…
The Epoch Top - pictured above
This is the best ‘throw on’ top. Looks great over anything and everything. Perfect in cooler weather but I think it would work for a beach holiday in summer too when the sun goes down and the breeze it up. It has a nice neckline that bunches up like a cosy scarf. This is an oversized garment therefore we chose to only offer one size.
Aeon Tee - pictured above
This style is a loose boxy shape, easy to wear and has nice loose sleeves that sit at elbow length. It has a left side panel that is a contrast charcoal marle fabric & the hem is slightly tapered to end lower at the back right hand side. I wanted this tee to not be your standard tee because you can buy basic tees from many places, I wanted something different.
Emerge Top - pictured above
Everyone needs a good basic long sleeved top to layer with or wear on its own. I find these types of tops essential and start many outfits with them. The Emerge top has raglan sleeves which have extra length, the body also has extra length too which I love in a layering top to either tuck in or wear out bunched a bit. This is a fairly fitted style so it’s not bulky if you layer with it, if you want it looser simply upsize, especially for guys upsize as it fits around arms and shoulders better that way.
Origin Singlet - Pictured above
This is the only style I made in the ‘Cotton Bud’ fabric that has ‘girls shaping’ in it. I wanted to add a new fitted singlet shape that had two neckline options. The Aeon singlet has a scoop neck, one is higher and the other lower, so you can simply switch it from back to front depending on your preference for that outfit or occasion. To keep the neckline free from garment labels I devised a little system to pop the ‘bestowed garment label’ & ‘care and content label’ in the side seam just above the hem and then covered it by adding a curved patch detail to the outside (as shown below).
The models for this collection
When choosing a male model to show our garments on the choice was easy for me, it had to be James, fit and healthy with long silver hair and a beard. I could see the garments on him and as he is a ‘hot Yoga’ teacher I knew he would be able to show the movement in the garments.
When choosing a female to match up with James, to photograph side by side, I was looking through our past shoots, reflecting on what we have done in the past. I looked at the first photo shoot that we did with Todd, back 15 years ago, that shoot was with Adele . The lighting was great, very contrast and moody, I also saw that Adele is a model easily adapted to whatever look you create, so the perfect model for our first unisex collection.
The image above is from that shoot 15 years ago with Adele wearing the Peppervine pants in a lighter colour, these garments are not available. But I must say that the outfit looks still relevant 15 years later.
When I decided to do the Mellow pants in black for this collection I went through our fabric storage to find a perfect option. There was a small roll of a nice stretch cotton that was leftover from a run of pants called the Peppervine pants. These pants happened to be from the collection that we photographed on Adele 15 years ago! How perfect, a limited run of Mellow pants finally using the special fabric I’ve saved for all those years! I knew one day I would use it. We have made this limited edition in sizes Small, Medium & Large only as we had limited fabric. (below is the new limited edition black Mellow pants)
Showing the same garments on two different body shapes side by side shows how these garments can be worn by anyone. They’re easy and adaptable. Sometimes you may need to go up or down a size to achieve the fit you want. We always write about fit options and advise as much as we can in the descriptions etc, so read them to get the best guidance. Or you’re also able to email or call us if you need further help.
We have a ‘Unisex’ selection on our website to make it easy to view them all together. Other styles may also be suitable however we kept it simple with these styles that have been tried and tested by Jay & Dakotah.
Thanks for reading,
Cheers
Sarah
Comments
1 Comments
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Posted by Bev | August 19, 2022
Leave a Commentcongratulations Sarah
A BRILLIANT & very REAL collection, beautifully portrayed.