'Summer is here!' and despite the weather we have some exciting new styles to show you.
On a beautiful spring day in the midst of lockdown, we took our summer collection down to the historic London Sketch Club for our seasonal photoshoot. It had been a struggle finding a location with so many restrictions in place, and I wanted to find somewhere that had a rich past and a colourful setting for our dresses whilst offering a place of shelter for any April showers. I knew about the club as my Dad had been a lifelong member with many happy memories and whilst lockdown had put a stop to drawing classes, I was delighted with the offer of this beautiful studio for our shoot.
Founded in 1838, the London Sketch club is tucked away in a tiny street near Chelsea Bridge, a place where generations of eminent artists and sketchers have drawn and dined. As you enter the building, photos of exuberant fancy dress parties adorn the dusted red walls, there is a full size lamp post rescued from Chelsea Bridge that rises through the stairwell and on entering the artists studio at the top, a piano sits next to an original cell door from Newgate prison, this is a place of curiosity and fun!
So it is here that we shot the new summer collection, an apt setting for our love of heritage, colour and joyfulness. Our models (clothed on this occasion!) posed amongst easels and paint boards, under the watchful frieze of the former artists that surround the studio. And when the sun shone we raced into the pastel canvases of the Chelsea mews outside.
Enjoy our visit to the Sketch Club!
Justine x
The artists studio was the perfect place for our models, Sofie and Maria, to stretch out and relax. Here in the Patchwork Primrose Hill dress and the Peapod Pimlico dress. When the sun shone, we dived into the pretty pastel streets below.
Sofie, wears our new Rye dress in Irish linen gingham.
Maria wears the new Liberty Primrose Pavilion dress in front of a well worn platform. The cool minty green walls of the studio setting complimented all the colours of the collection.
Fresh light...introducing the sky blue Pimlico linen dress, relaxed and freshly laundered for the summer season.
Happy new dresses! Maria wears the orange linen sleeveless Holland Park dress, whilst Sofie wears the Fiesta dress in the 'Riviera' floral.
Behind the scenes. Craig, our photographer, weaves in and out of easels, whilst Lizzie adds finishing touches to our models perched on the 'life drawing' stage.
Thank you to Greens Florist in Brook Green, London who kindly provided the beautiful blooms.
New hues. The soft palette of our 'Sunshine Meadow Pavilion' dress and the pastel checks of our 'Margate' dress looked as pretty as a picture in the streets of Chelsea.