I remember last year’s James St Up Late – it was rainy and a bit miserable but that didn’t stop huge crowds turning out for the event.
This time around, James St partners with Marie Claire and tonight, you can be guaranteed not only of a great atmosphere in James St, which will be transformed into a street party with goodies galore, but some pretty great sales and incentives from every store taking part. A few I’ve been given the heads-up about are wood fired pizza tastings at Taste between 6-8pm, gifts with purchases at Boo Radley, Caterpillar, Calexico and Chelsea de Luca and 20 % off or more at Gary Castles, French Connection, Frockshop, Gail Sorronda, Jules & Roc and more.
There’ll also be a host of designers in their boutiques including Gail Reid of Gail Sorronda, Chelsea de Luca, Kelli Wharton of Talulah will be at Ellia and Camilla Franks will host her soiree at the new and very vibrant Camilla boutique.
Speaking of Camilla, I caught up with the designer prior to the night to chat about her inspirations, motivations and all of her beautiful things.
Tell me about the inspiration for the Caravanserai collection? (Great name by the way)
Thanks Laura! Basically the collection takes you on a journey around the infamous trade route – the silk road in Asia. Everything from the wildlife, to the incomparable colours of the tourmalines (which are these vibrant precious gems in all the colours of the rainbow) and the stories of the Pilgrims who travel along these routes to trade.
The name ‘caravanserai’ came from the little settlements of roadside inns along the silk road which these nomadic travellers used not only as a place to trade their gems but also to rest and recover from the days adventures.
Mixed prints are so much fun to wear – what are some tips you can give to help keep it looking put-together if someone’s trying to pair their own pieces?
The great thing about our entire ready to wear collection is that you can manipulate each garment in so many different ways to suit your own unique style or how you’re feeling that day. There are great tank tops to pair back with denim or little shorts. There are jumpsuits for those perfect summer days when you want to show off your legs a little bit. But for those days when I’m not feeling the most confident I love being able to pop on a kaftan and instantly feel sexy because there are so many ways of wearing them with a twist here and a knot there you have a completely different outfit – perfect for any occasion! My philosophy is that every woman no matter what shape or size has the right to feel beautiful.
There is a style guide on our website http://www.camilla.com.au/collections/style-guide/ to help women discover and enjoy the many different ways to wear Camilla, it shows you how to play and manipulate the fabric to create your very own signature style.
The prints themselves are amazing – can you tell me a little about the print design process?
Travel is my muse! I am inspired by anything and everything when Im travelling – from the most weird and wonderful things – from the people I meet, to the places I go and even the food I eat – everything when I travel inspires me! Often my partner will find me on the floor taking a photo of a fabulous random thing and that’s the start of a print – right there and then. Last year I was walking down a local market and was inspired by these small Russian dolls – and there you go another print in the making.
Once its time to start designing the prints I collect all my inspiration and digitally work on each image – on the colour calibrations of the image, enlarging some aspects – multiplying others, the process is all-consuming but eventually we end up with the prints of the collection! I then strike off the prints and start designing the necklines!
It’s great to see some incredible jackets and pants in the new collection. How have your customers inspired the evolution of the label?
Since launching Camilla eight years ago, the label has continually evolved. Stocking internationally from the very beginning meant it was important to cater to the northern hemisphere where denim is king – so tank tops and oversized jackets were so important to the range. With our retail stores I am largely dictated by our customers and what they want. We have created quite a nice little niche by broadening our range to include Harlem pants, jumpsuits for the tweens and smaller ladies, little shorts, tanks and of course our kaftans- with this huge ready to wear collection we are able to cater for all walks of life. My oldest customer is nearly 90 and she loves our brand as the pieces make her feel sexy and with the introduction of our children’s collection even the little ones can enjoy Camilla, so no matter who you are or how old you are– Camilla will have something to make you feel good about yourself!
