BRITTANY: POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (PART I)

WE JUST GOT BACK FROM A PLACE WHICH FELT LIKE THE EDGE OF THE WORLD.

WE HAVE MADE MANY A MEMORY AND TAKEN MANY A PHOTO HERE, TOO MANY TO SHARE ALL AT ONCE. 

BUT PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE A GLANCE AT OUR ADVENTURE?

WE NEED SOMETIME TO DIGEST ALL THOSE CREPES, AND COME DOWN FROM OUR SALTED CARAMEL HIGH BEFORE WE GIVE YOU THE WHOLE STORY.

BUT IN BRIEF, 

WE WERE TAKEN TO A VERY OLD PLACE, WHERE WE LAID IN THE GRASS:

AND WANDERED A LITTLE BIT

TAKEN IN SHADES OF GREEN FROM CIDER BOTTLES AND ENCHANTED TREES

WE WERE LED THROUGH A MAGICAL FOREST

WHERE WE MADE WILDFLOWER BOUQUETS POUR MADAME

WE WERE SCHOOLED IN NEW MEANS OF TRANSPORT,

AND TOOK IN SOME FASHION TIPS FROM THE LOCALS.

STRIPEY DUNGAREES? YES PLEASE:

WE MANAGED TO FIND OUR WAY TO THE  KITCHEN (WE COULDN'T HELP IT)
SPORTING BRETON STRIPES, BIEN SUR.
THIS IS WHERE THOSE STRIPES WERE BORN, NO KIDDING MONSIEUR

AND WHAT HO! 

IN THIS PLACE THEY MAKE THINGS WITH OUR NAME ON IT

(TOLD YOU IT WAS MAGICAL)

WE'VE SEEN ROCK FORMATIONS SO SUBLIME

AND SCOUTED THE NEXT LOCATION FOR OUR STUDIO; A LITTLE BOHEMIAN BRETAGNE HOUSE NESTLED AMONGST TWO ROCKS:

WE FOUND OURSELVES A SUITABLE TOURGUIDE

WHO STAYED IN  SYNCH WITH OUR STEPS

AND LOCATED SOME NEW RED ESPADRILLES FOR US,

BECAUSE OUR HEAVY CITY BOOTS WOULD NOT SUIT THE SAND AND SUN

WE LOST OURSELVES IN A SEA SO BLUE

AND IN THE EVENINGS, STEPPED INTO AN ANCIENT STONE FIREPLACE

WE'LL TELL YOU MORE LATER. WE'VE GOT TO UNPACK FIRST, AND SHAKE THE SAND OUT OF OUR SHOES.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

ON UNIFORMS

SO,

WE NEVER HAD TO WEAR A UNIFORM PER SE.

BUT WE DID MAJOR IN DRESS CODE VIOLATIONS WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AT SCHOOL.

ONE PARTICULARLY MEMORABLE SARTORIAL MOMENT INVOLVED CONVINCING OUR FATHER THAT TIGHTS AND A SWEATER WE ADEQUATE, NO SKIRT NEEDED, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

WE GOT OUR 6 YEAR OLD SELVES SENT HOME, WITH A VERY CHILLY BOTTOM.

WE HAVEN'T MATURED MUCH SINCE THEN,

BUT WE'RE HAPPY TO REPORT WE HAVE GRADUATED TO SOMETHING SLIGHTLY MORE SUITABLE FOR THE SPRING AIR:

 THE ALIX OF BOHEMIA BLU WAISTCOAT

IN JAPANESE INDIGO AND INDIAN IKAT COTTON CANVAS:

WITH SOME VERY WASHED OUT LAVENDER ROPE TRIM:

(SUBTLE IS OUR MIDDLE NAME- SEE ABOVE ANECDOTE ABOUT FORGETTING OUR BOTTOMS)

STRIPEY GUTS MADE FROM KIKOY.

 NO GUTS NO GLORY 
WE BELIEVE WAS THE MANTRA OF OUR PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER.

AND REALLY, TURQUOISE STRIPED INSIDES ARE THE BEST KIND OF INSIDES YOU CAN ASK FOR.

CAUSE THAT STUFF IS REVERSIBLE MY FRIEND.

WOAH, NELLIE:

 NOW THAT WE'VE COVERED THE ISSUE OF OUTERWEAR FOR SPRING, LET US PROGRESS TO WHAT GOES UNDER  ALL THAT ACTION:

IF YOU'VE BEEN FOLLOWING ALONG YOU'LL KNOW THAT WHEN IN DOUBT, WE GO FOR THE JUMPSUIT.

STILL UNSURE? WE DEFER TO PAISLEY. 
(CREATURES OF HABIT ARE WE)

HELLO, ALIX OF BOHEMIA BRIGITTE ROMPER:

MADE FROM INDIAN BLOCK PRINT PAISLEY COTTON AND EDGED IN A LITTLE CONTRASTING BANDING.

THAT GIRL'S GOT SOME ELASTIC IN HER SO SHE'S LIGHT TO THE TOUCH AND BREEZY ON THE THIGHS. WHICH IS VERY IMPORTANT THIS TIME OF YEAR, WITH ALL THE TREE CLIMBING AND BIKE RIDING THERE IS TO BE DONE. 

AND THEN WE GET ALL DRESSED UP AND TAKE A PHOTO SO WE CAN SHOW YOU HOW IT COMES TOGETHER.

AND WE REALISE, ITS PROBABLY TIME WE GET SOME FRIENDS, BECAUSE ALL THESE SELFIE- BATHROOM PHOTOSHOOTS ARE NOT REALLY CUTTING IT.

SORRY.

OUR UNIFORM IS COOL THOUGH, NO?

GET YOUR OWN RAGS FOR THE SUN, SAY HELLO BOHEMIA HERE.

FREE LOVE AND BLUE DAISIES

FIRST THINGS FIRST,

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, 

JESSIE AND THE ALIX OF BOHEMIA 

FREE LOVE WAISTCOAT AT COACHELLA:

 THROWING US HER SEVENTIES GROOVY GROUPIE  IN A TOPPER WE MADE FOR HER. BRONZED YOGA BUNNY MEETS ANITA PALLENGBERG COOL. 
(AND THAT IS A VERY SPECIFIC VARIETY THEY ONLY GROW IN CALIFORNIA)

AND SPEAKING OF NOTABLE OUTERWEAR, WE'LL MOVE INTO OUR BLUE PERIOD:

IT STARTED, AS MOST THINGS BEGIN FOR US, BY SWATCHING SOME HEAVENLY BLUES FOR A CUSTOM LORELEI JACKET FOR EMMA.

PICASSO SAYS:

WHEN I RUN OUT OF RED I USE BLUE

BUT REALLY WE DON'T NEED TO EXHAUST OUR ROUGE SUPPLY TO BE SWAYED BY SHADES OF INDIGO AND CERULEAN,

WE GO BLUE PRETTY EASILY.

EMMA CHOOSES JAPANESE INDIGO DAISIES, SOME INDIAN BATIK FOR PIPING AND SOME OLD LACE FROM FRANCE.

AND THEN THIS WAS EMMA'S LORELI JACKET:

WE KNOW SHE DOESN'T BELONG TO US BUT WE HAD TO PUT HER ON FOR A BLURRY BATHROOM PHOTO BEFORE WE HANDED HER OVER.

PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW, THOUGH SHE HAS A GOOD HOME WITH DARLING EMMA IN NOTTING HILL.

DON'T GET US WRONG, WE LOVE ALL OF OUR CHILDREN EQUALLY,

BUT THIS BLUE JEAN BABY WAS PARTICULARLY HARD TO PART WITH. 

(CUE MORE BLUES)

JACKETS ARE HANDMADE IN LONDON AND ONE OF A KIND. 
BECAUSE THATS THE WAY WE DO IT DARLINGS- UNIQUE, C'EST CHIC.
GET YOUR OWN, EMAIL US HERE.

A THANK YOU NOTE FROM ME.

Dear Barbara and Chiara,

Nine weeks ago, you landed in London and came to us:

Barbara and Chiara, our first day of meeting. 

And now that nine weeks have passed (so quickly), you will know that even though we (ALIX of BOHEMIA) speak as a 'WE', we are really just an 'I'.
As in, before you came along, to lend your talents and your time, this was a one woman show: one bohemian bunny and a sewing machine. So I will step out of the comfort of the collective voice to address you in a much smaller voice to say THANK YOU. 

Perhaps I can begin by telling you how humbled I am to have had you working with me.  
I am very touched by your commitment, enthusiasm and dedication.

Before I knew you, if I am honest, I really didn't want to have interns. I wanted to control everything myself and I didn't want anyone to help.You taught me that having support is a gift to be cherished. 
And I taught you about hummous and handwritten tags.

We didn't really speak the same language, (your English certainly improved and you tolerated my horrendous Italian) and we learned what you call an 'English seam' I call a 'French seam', but when it came to the garments there was an understanding and a shared passion, a pursuit of creating something beautiful together. 

Thank you for sharing your amazing gifts and knowledge with me. Damn, you girls are clever with a needle and thread. 

Thank you for always being flexible and going with the flow; adapting to whatever place we happened to be working out of that day. 

Thank you for tolerating that jerk of a landlord. 

Thank you for being patient when the power kept going out, and when the sewing machine broke.  

Thank you for not complaining when I made you rip out seams and start again because I am a maniac. 

Thank you for your joy! You were always smiling. 

Thank you for not judging me for wearing a bathrobe 60% of the time and for being on the brink of a nervous breakdown 80% of the time.

The girls and I in a bohemian huddle.

Thank you for my beautiful Orchid. 


Thank you for believing in my dream of Bohemia, even when I doubted it.

I will miss having dim sum together and I will miss our vocabulary lessons. I will particularly miss hearing you sing along to the music in the background as the sewing machine was running. It is a little lonely without you here. I miss my posse! I kind of got used to traveling in a pack.

Thank you for investing your time in me. I love you my darling Italian angels, I can't wait to see all the beauty of your future. I am so proud of you! 

Bravo et merci miei cari.

Love your sister in Bohemia,

Alix 

Beautiful Barbara in the ALIX of BOHEMIA Pink Pom dress

 The bella Chiara models the same over breakfast, 9 weeks later. 

BOHEMIANS: HOLLY AND JUNIPER

WE LOVE IT WHEN COOL CHICKS SWING THROUGH LONDON TOWN AND GIVE US A GINGLE FOR A GLASS AT THE PROVIDORES IN BETWEEN SIGHT-SEEING AND OTHER MORE IMPORTANT OBLIGATIONS.

EVEN BETTER WHEN SAID COOL GIRL SHOWS UP TO MEET YOU WEARING ONE OF YOUR OWN, 

THE ALIX OF BOHEMIA JUNIPER BLOUSE. 

(FLATTERY WILL GET YOU EVERYWHERE, WE MAY EVEN BUY THE DRINKS)

THE BEAUTY BRUNETTE ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS:

NAME: Holly

DAY JOB: Photography curator, Graduate student in Museologie

RESIDENCE: La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland (birthplace of Le Corbusier)

HOLIDAY: Italy

BREAKFAST: Espresso

CITY: Beijing

TIPPLE: Porto

TOOLS: Ashtanga yoga, sunshine, charcoal pencils

VICES cheese, jewelery, good books

ICON: Marcello, Edie Sedgwick 

ANIMAL SPIRIT: Otter

ART: Photography, Watteau, Fragonard, Zen Buddhist painting, Mies van de Rohe

BOOK: Catcher in the Rye, anything by Vladimir Nabokov or Haruki Murakami

PYJAMAS: oversized striped oxford 

MUSIC: Paul Simon, Death Cab, Gotan Project, Vivaldi

ESSENTIALS: caran d'ache pens, mascara, lipstick, my  iPhone, scarves

FLOWER: Peonies and Lilies

UNIFORM: just about anything with a statement necklace

ERA: 18th Century France

MY BOHEMIA: living surrounded by history 

HOLLY LOOKING AS PRETTY AS A PRESENT IN HER JUNIPER WITH SPOTTED JEANS, AND US, LOOKING PREDICTABLY INSANE, IN WHAT IS SURELY A VERY VERY OLD JUMPER AND A PAINTER'S JACKET FROM THE FRENCH RAG YARD:

ALIX OF BOHEMIA JUNIPER BLOUSE IN CLOVER COTTON WITH PANSIE TIES.
GATHERED NECKLINE, CUFFS AND PEPLUM; HAND-FINISHED THROUGHOUT.
100% COTTON, MACHINE WASH AND LINE DRY
 (HIPPIES HAVE GOT TO HAVE THEIR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT AND WE'LL NEVER BE GROWN UP ENOUGH TO GO TO THE DRY CLEANER)

PICK YOURSELF A JUNIPER, SHE'S $285.00 USD AND MADE TO ORDER JUST FOR YOU MY FRIEND. GO HERE