HOLIDAY: LOOK 2
Pink City Prints dress and bag and Vintage shoes, earrings, ring and sunglasses
Summer holiday season is over the hill — the days are getting darker, trees are starting to lose their leaves and we've had enough rainy days to forget the Euro heatwave even existed. In the spirit of making the most of the sunshine we have left, here is holiday look 2.
I love oversized dresses, whether on holiday or simply enjoying warmer days in town. My mum calls them "dusters" — easy wash, easy to wear, light and airy, she likens them to the dresses you wear for a day of cleaning and housekeeping. Comfortable, cool and somehow effortlessly chic, they're perfect for throwing on when it's too hot to think about styling an outfit any more than that.
I've paired this one from Pink City Prints with a pair of sliders I picked up in a vintage store when I was in L.A. That said, I do think these would be really easy to DIY with an old pair of slip-on sandals that may need a little bit of love or an upgrade — all you need is some faux fur and glue and voilà!
P.S.: I know how annoying it can be when you spot something in an outfit that you like, read the blurb and realise that it's vintage or from a charity shop, aka a one-off that you can't get your mitts on. Whilst this can be a pain in the butt, it's really important to understand how shopping second-hand is the most sustainable way of shopping ever, and more often than not the cheapest (by far) too! Case in point, these earrings were 50p from a car boot sale and the sunglasses were a couple quid from a local charity shop. I'm currently working on a really exciting project around charity shopping, helping to promote the gems that are to be found, so keep your eyes peeled if that sounds like your bag!
PINK CITY PRINTS
Glasgow School of Art graduate Molly Russell lives in Jaipur and works alongside block-printers, indigo dyers, embroiderers and weavers, overseeing the whole creation process for the Pink City Prints collection from start to finish. “India has such an immensely rich culture of craft forms I’m constantly finding new processes to work with," Molly says. "It’s so inspirational, my senses are alive and I find beauty everywhere, but craft is dying out. We must do all we can to use and promote them.“
An embroidered dress takes three days to complete. Block-printing is a little quicker but the brand can only print during certain times of the year due to the weather. Only natural fibres, including cotton, hand-loomed khadi cotton and silk are used. Each piece has been worked on by hand, whether hand-spun, printed or embroidered, and the hand-work brings life and a unique quality to the clothing. Each workshop has been vetted. The employees are treated with care and respect, working eight-hour days with three breaks and earning more than double the minimum wage. Each locale has an open door policy and Molly can visit whenever she likes. Molly is working with a women's centre to teach them skills so they can embroiderer the dresses and earn money for themselves.
