Tag: collaboration

Dreaming with Little Creative Factory

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“It is a happiness to wonder; it is a happiness to dream” — Edgar Allan Poe

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This season I had the great honour of collaborating with Little Creative Factory to photograph a few pieces from their spring 2016 collection of children’s wear.

Little Creative Factory is a slow fashion brand based in Barcelona, Spain. Under the creative direction of Cristina Fernandez, Little Creative Factory is guided by a desire to “work for the planet and its inhabitants in a sustainable manner.” Slow, sustainable, local manufacture is at the core of Little Creative Factory production and, in turn, its message to the world that “there is nothing better we can do for our children than preserve their future.” Given this, Little Creative Factory is not about trends or designs that will be irrelevant next season — that is fast fashion. In contrast, Little Creative Factory strives to design atemporal pieces that are not only classic, but durable. The simple pieces, consciously designed from a less is more perspective, allow each customer is to infuse their own style and personality into the garment, bringing their creativity into the light.

There is something indescribably special about Little Creative Factory clothing. My husband, who doesn’t give any thought to clothing, remarked on how beautiful and well made the clothing was, saying that the garments were “heirlooms for sure.” I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I’m not often inspired by clothing. I’m inspired by passions and creativity, but generally not things in themselves. However, with Little Creative Factory clothing I found myself inspired — like a little creative factory of ideas, myself.

Last weekend, we spent Sunday at the river and then slowly meandered back to our neighbourhood to share a backyard meal with friends. As we meandered, we collected wildflowers in the path of a city mower and lilacs from uprooted landscaping. Our friends have an outdoor bath so we asked if the children could enjoy a fancy bath with flowers. Our lovely friends happily indulged us. What follows are some of the beautiful moments captured as we let our creativity unfold.

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Ro wears the vintage bathing suit in mauve, farmer’s long skirt in blackboard, and chic farmer’s hat in blackboard. Little Creative Factory also carries boy’s clothing, photographs of which I will share in a future post.

Thank you for your interest in slow, sustainable clothing and for supporting the work of independent creatives. You can follow Little Creative Factory on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and find their collection online here and in many stores and online shops worldwide.

You might also like my post:

Love Your Mother in Luv Mother

Mindfulness and Flowers: Making a Flower Crown

Strawberry Picking: A Family Tradition

The Slow Living Project

Let’s be friends! Please come find me in other places:

Released: The Ro Dress

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It’s here! The dress Ro and I designed with Mimobee! It’s hard to believe that what started as an idea back in June, arrived in the mail last Friday, and is available for pre-sale today! Surreal, to say the least.

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If you are new around here, Ro and I were invited to collaborate with Mimobee for their collaborative capsule collection this fall (you can read about the process here). A few Instagrammers and Bloggers were invited to design a piece that represented their aesthetic. The final collection includes our boho inspired look, a street-inspired blazer, a minimalist dress, and a conceptual shirt.

Ro and I always have ideas for garments we’d love to bring to life, but never thought a serious brand would come asking. So when Mimobee asked, we didn’t hesitate, even though we were pretty scared that our lack of any technical skills might sink the ship! We figured hard work could take us pretty far. However, we never imagined that our collaboration with Mimobee would be fun, so much fun! Being involved from start to finish we learned so much, and Ro is already starting to put together ideas for her next piece. Should she get asked again…But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

For our dress, we wanted to design a garment that was elegant, comfortable and functional. Something that we would want to wear everyday, but was still dressy enough for an occasion. We also wanted to make something that could celebrate all shapes, with the drawstring waist and sleeves, the dress is unfussy so it can grow or shrink as needed. Finally, in the interest of slow fashion, we wanted to ensure our design would be relevant beyond this season, by incorporating some classic design elements.

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We hope you love the dress as much as we do! If you do, you can buy it here.

Important details:

  • The dress is available for pre-sale ONLY for the next two weeks (sales close Sunday, November 15th). The dresses will then be sewn and shipped by early December.
  • All aspects of production take place in California, in the same space where Mimobee owners, Tom and Helen, work and where all the designing happens, the sewers are paid fair wages and work in excellent conditions. It’s a Mimobee family.
  • The dress is sewn from 100% organic cotton and dyed using eco-friendly dyeing methods.
  • The dress is available in size 2 to 16. That’s right mamas, some of you will fit into that size 14 or 16, so get one for yourself!
  • In addition, 10% of sales will go directly to the Jane Goodall Institute, a charity close to Ro’s heart. The Jane Goodall Institute works to preserve great apes and to improve global understanding of conservation issues to safeguard the planet for all living things. (For the last two years, Ro has chosen to raise funds for the Jane Goodall Institute in place of birthday gifts. After getting a little package in the mail with the name, photo and story of the chimp she is helping, she told me she couldn’t imagine ever wanting gifts. Giving a gift on your birthday is way more fun!) You might remember that we raised money for the World Wildlife Fund when we collaborated with Gardner & the Gang.

If you’d like a chance to win a dress, follow my blog by email, WordPress or Bloglovin and leave me a comment letting me know that you did. If you are already following, just let me know in a comment that you’d like to be entered in the draw. I will be giving away two dresses, so you have two chances to win! Visit my Instagram account to find out another way to win a dress.

Thank you to the Mimobee team for being so amazing to work with. Thank you to everyone who shared their ideas and gave feedback on earlier designs. And thank you, in advance, for buying a dress and supporting the Jane Goodall Institute and a young designer’s dream. Find the dress here.

[UPDATE: Congratulations Piper and Poppies, who entered on the other blog post here, your name was drawn for the dress! Please send me an email to claim your prize]

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Ro’s moccasins are from Canadian brand Manitobah and are available in a range of colours, in both children’s and women’s sizing. You can find them here.

Mimolab Collaboration

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This past Monday, Mimobee, a children’s clothing line from California, launched its new experimental wing, MimoLab. Before I get into the details of the MimoLab, first a little about Mimobee.  Mimobee designs simple, stylish clothing for kids (with the occasional matching mama piece!). They create clothing that lets children’s personalities shine through and express themselves, rather than being pre-empted by sequins and loud prints. Mimobee’s designs are guided by the principle that less is more. You know that is music to my ears!

Mimobee’s MimoLab is a collaborative design studio. MimoLab will be as busy as a bee. They have three projects in the works already. The first is a monthly Limited Edition Design that will be released for pre-order at the beginning of each month.  Keep reading and you’ll find a 20% discount code for this month’s release. July’s design is a drapey tank available in both children and mama sizes and is available for pre-order until Sunday and then it’s gone for good. Find it here.

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The second project you can follow under the hashtag #MimoLabLA. This is where anyone can submit design concepts for consideration by the Mimobee team. If they love it they will put it into production. Maybe there is something high end that you’d like a better price point?

The third project is design collaborations. Entries under the #MimoLabLA that really shine will be invited to collaborate on a garment to sell through MimoLab. A portion of the sales will go to you and a portion to a charity of your choice.

MimoLab invited Ro and I to collaborate on a ‘Hippie in Disguise’ garment for their fall Collaborative Capsule Collection. This collection will feature design collaborations with Instagrammers and bloggers with a diverse range of styles and aesthetics and will be available for pre-order in October. A portion (10%) of the sales will be donated to a charity of our choice (we haven’t decided which one yet).

Ro and I immediately knew we wanted to do a long, flowing dress, something with good movement and little drama.  We got busy on Pinterest, pinning ideas for the design.

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Hippie in Disguise Mimobee Mood Pin Board

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Then we worked with Helen, Mimobee’s head designer, to develop the first sketches.

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Here’s where it gets fun: we are looking for your feedback on the design. We are in the early stages of designing the garment and want to know what you like? Colours? Drapes? Sleeve details? Leave a comment here or on Instagram, or find me on Pinterest ‘Hippie in Disguise’ and send me some pins. Please let me know what you think!

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Discount code for 20% off the July Limited Edition piece: hippieindisguise

You can follow the design process and contribute yourself by following MimoLab on Instagram and learn more about Mimobee on Instagram and Twitter.

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1   You might also like my post: Hey Mama: A Community for Creative Mothers

Processed with VSCOcam with c3 preset   You might also like my post: Magic Feathers for Gardner and the Gang

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