Dum du dum du du du DUMMMMMMMMM! Dreams do come true folks!!!! I’ve been talking about doing a dress line for years and years now and it’s finally here and ready to shop on Printfresh TODAY! It’s been a big year of collaborations for us–from swimwear to planners to fabrics–but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I’m most excited for this one. I mean, I’ve been wearing the sample dresses every single day since I got them! There’s no holding containing this excitement.
I’ve mentioned here and there how dresses have become the main source of my ease and comfort-focused lifestyle. In fact, I pretty much wrote a whole treatise on it. Go over there to read it all, but in summary, I’m a big dress component because they save me a ton of time and bring me so much comfort and joy. These are the precise qualities that I wanted in a dress collection.
We went looking for a partner and Printfresh was number one on my list. I was already quite familiar with the brand because I owned a number of their comfort-focused nightwear and dresses. They have the softest organic cotton, come in inclusive sizing, and have a big emphasis on colorful and printful patterns, hence the name, so I knew it would be an incredible fit, no pun intended.
I’m naturally drawn to dress silhouettes that are loosey goosey and in the words of Anne of Green Gables, I am “thrilled” by a puffed sleeve so those were two important details I wanted in the shape of the dress. Pockets were a no brainer and then, with so much surface area, we wanted some great, playful patterns that tell a story. And what story might you ask? Good question, let me tell you about it.
Inspired by the English countryside
As we continue our Lars Grand Tour around the world, we depart from Brazil, clad in our our Lime Ricki swimsuits, to head to the countryside of England, the land of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and some of our other favorite literary and artistic heroes. Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and I know it’s not the same region, but I’ll include it any way, Green Gables, Little Women, are the books and films of my youth and shaped my identity both in terms of interests as well as aesthetic. I like to think that Lizzie Bennet would have walked to the Netherfield Park in our Flower charmer Greenhouse dress.
While we didn’t hop across the pond to photograph the new collection, we took an hour and a half flight to Santa Barbara via LAX to capture some of the dense foliage of the England. And we lucked out with some pretty grey weather, which happens to be perfect for photography–score!
Flower patterns inspired by the English countryside
A lot of the visual inspiration from the collection is taken from these films as well as the patterns from that era. We updated them and made them more “Lars”. For example, for the Greenhouse print, instead of typical vertical stripes, Garet, our designer, made them wavy, much like the waves of our branding. The same goes with our soft denim and pruned rose patterns, well, all of them for that matter.
The Gracious Gardener floral pattern is the one that best speaks to the gardens as seen in some of my favorite films. Have you seen Autumn de Wilde’s Emma? There’s a gorgeous scene at the beginning where she’s in a little greenhouse looking at the flowers in all the many colors.
As we’ve been nearing the launch of this collection, I’ve been sucked into the Jane Austen vortex once again and have watched Gwyneth’s Emma too many times to count…I can see both sides to the Pride and Prejudice debate (Colin Firth vs. Kiera Knightley versions) and I’ll be forever Team Michael Fassbender for the 2011 version of Jane Eyre. Add to that Little Women–I just watched the latest Masterpiece Theater last week and adored it! I’ll be talking more about this in some upcoming posts so stay tuned!
Thank you!
ANYWHO, I’m off topic now, our dresses were a real team effort from Printfresh and team Lars and I have to say JOB WELL DONE! I have a small but mighty team here. Thank you to Garet who KNOCKED it out of the park on this collection with some beautiful patterns and Jenny who works out all the minutiae of product development to create this life long dream. I am SO lucky to have them and feel grateful for their passion on this project.
With all that, I hope you love the collection as much as we loved making! Remember the collection is a limited edition so once it’s out it’s out!
Practical things
Some practical things to note:
- I’d size down on size! I’m normally an XL but I got a L and it’s perfect
- it’s made of organic cotton
- POCKETS OBVIOUSLY
- midi length
Ok, that’s it for now! Let me know what you think!
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