Roll up, roll up for AW10!

I thought you might like to see something tangible of our new AW10 collection so I have scanned in our mood board for you as well as our press release written by the wonderfully talented Alice Olins of The Times fame… Friends in high places and all that. Hope you like it!

Amiee is off to NYC with the collection this Saturday where we are showing from the lovely Four Seasons Hotel for a week and then she hands the baton over to me and I will be in Paris from the 2^nd of March. Amiee will join me in Paris on the weekend and we will have one final sales trip together before she leaves to run Sara Berman in LA!.... More about that later. In the mean time-wish us luck!

Press release Sara Berman Winter 2010

It is a crazy world out there and we are the ringmasters – literally – of a new winter mash up.  Circus performers play with fire as they tease riffs from a military stomping march.  Meanwhile, little girls who play on sandy beaches, find themselves whipped into the mix along with their big bows and heavy eyelashes.  If that wasn’t enough, the artist Dan Baldwin is now on side with his cryptic, colorful take on contemporary culture.  His prints, dripping in color and esoteric references – there is even a gold dove! – are now Sara Berman jacket linings and a limited edition scarf. 

The references are harebrained but the clothes are sublime.  Sometimes it takes a scattergun of ideas to concoct a clear vision, and even if we do say so ourselves, this is a vintage Sara Berman season.  The coats have circus panache and cool, Savile Row cuts.  Outerwear, as you must know by now, is the brand’s mainstay and metaphorical medal winner.  Making it into the official Harris Tweed Hebrides collaborators set (the only other inhabitants of this priestly state are Vivienne Westwood and Paul Smith, not that we’re boasting) therefore, has given our coats and jackets renewed vigour.  The Anna, such a popular shape for last winter, remerges in leather – oooer – and as long, cutesy tweed duffels.  If you aren’t ready to trawl your past, then how about looking at Tom Cruise’s: our Cocktails and Dreams oversized blazer looks and feels as good as it sounds.  

Cruise aside, we are feeling patriotic here at Sara Berman Towers.  Maybe it’s just that time of year, when you step back, take stock and think of crown-print pom pom hats.  Our coat buttons, too, have England at their heart, with their reproduction Penny imprints and we like to think that all the velvet collars would make it into Beefeater world, if only the Queen wasn’t hot on their traditional uniforms.  Uniforms, ooo, this brings us nicely back to that marching band we talked about at the start.  Think soldiers and cheerleaders: it’s a fab mix, right?  Think tailcoats and army badges on our new Donegal knitwear collection.  As with Harris Tweed, we are proud to use local yarns spun by artisans – it gives our brand heritage and credibility, and we like that.  Fashion isn’t just about new trends, it about supporting old techniques and advocating wholesome, high quality clothes that last and last and that you will cherish, even when they need patching.

If you thought that was it, you haven’t quite realized the depth of our industriousness this season.  There are bags too!  Last, but by no means least, our bags, which we feel have become the new lifeblood of the label have received a lot of design attention.  There are shoppers, shoulders, double-open shoulders, bowlers, clutches, totes, mega totes and even a Lady Bag, because we might like leather but are real ladies (deep) down.  The leather coats, now that we come to mention it are truly fantabulous too.  Roll up, roll up, you’re going to have a ball.