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| Adie+George AW11 Collection photo by Chloe Aftel |
We've been working really hard this season on our Adie+George AW11 Collection... We've been innovating with local fibers and dyes, from the source of our natural plant-based color, to the farmers and fibers we've grown to know so well. We've just completed our first full collection of Northern California artisan spun (as fair trade) local and seasonal naturally-dyed knits. No easy feat to bring slow textiles with quality and beauty to market in all but dormant domestic industry...
The above image was shot by the gifted and talented photographer Chloe Aftel, at our friends verdant Gospel Flat Farm in Bolinas, California. Styled by Shawn Burke, Jillian is wearing our Northern California milled and spun Alpaca knits in natural white and natural black alpaca, artisan dyed with our seasonal yellow (RE: whichever invasive California weed is currently in season...oxalis in winter and wild fennel in summer).
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| Our "seasonal" yellow. |
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| The "Deedee" skirt knitted with our natural black and natural white west coast fiber and triple dip-dyed. |
The base of the skirt is dyed with avocado pits to create deep pinks and saturated mauve-grays when iron is added to the bath.
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| Avocado pit dye turns a rich deep pink with no mordant neccesary but the tannin already in the seed. A natural waste and agriculural bi-product of California, avocados have many amazing uses... Our dyes for AW11 will be sourced from San Francisco Mission Mexican Restaurants before they hit the compost piles. |
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| Our "natural white" alpaca. Our darling of fiber-Stevie Wonder- is front in center! Alpaca, containing no lanolin in its fiber, loses little to no waste in the washing and scouring process, unlike wool which can loose up to 50 percent of its original poundage. |
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| Believe it or not, most "natural black" yarn is actually dyed. Creating this Northern California artisan spun "truly" natural black alpaca was our big accomplishment of the season. |
Our Autumn/Winter 2011 Collection entitled "The Shift" was inspired by ingots of natural alpaca fiber and plant color, as well as transitional shapes, shifting patterns, and the ecological musings of John Muir.
I have felt especially inspired by Muir this season, as in this moment I am lucky enough to be living in a home that was built by the original ranger of Muir Woods for the year with my husband, ten year-old stepson, and one year-old baby girl.
In a time of earthquakes, tsunamis, and radiation, in moments of stillness and movement- I feel a reminder of joy present in the fruit trees-pears, quince, plums, and traces of running creeks. I am grateful for being able to experience the beauty of slowly dropping petals from brambles of third generation wild roses. I am reminded of the benefits of true stewardship for the land from so many years ago, and it does nothing less than plant me in the present.
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| 80 year old pear trees still blooming... |
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-Sasha |