Autumn/Winter at Swelle Boutique

Images courtesy of Denise Grayson@Swelle Boutique

I posted earlier this year about a new online shop I had started selling through called Swelle Boutique. The site has had a bit of a makeover and went live online today. At the moment they are selling a selection of pieces from my Autumn/Winter collection including the hand printed sweatshirts and winter kimono capes which are both proving popular here in Edinburgh. The new look boutique has added new designers to the ranges previously stocked and have even added the opportunity to get your own handmade pair of shoes courtesy of Japanese label Uenobe. Head to the site now to have a look at all the fabulous things on offer.

http://www.swelleboutique.com/

and click here to head straight to my page in the shop.

http://www.swelleboutique.com/rowanjoy.html

Rowanjoy now on etsy

So I have finally pulled my finger out and put some pieces on etsy so I can start selling online to all you lovely people. I have been saying I am going to do this for several months now and various things kept coming along that meant I kept putting it off. I am starting myself of slowly by just putting a couple of pieces on but will gradually build it up until there is a full shop. There a couple of belts on there at the moment but hopefully by the end of November there will be plenty more to choose from. Keep an eye out for additions of old favourites and new surprises and go buy, buy buy.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/rowanjoy

Living in La la land

Ah la la Land, we've all been there, it's that wonderful magical place just over the hill and beyond the lake of dreams. Now, though, it no longer exists just in fantasy it is now a fabulous boutique in the West end of Glasgow. Opened only a month ago by Sarah Graham in De Courcy's Arcade just behind Byres Road it is a little treasure chest of gorgeous things and now is the Glasgow stockist of Rowanjoy. Sarah is also the force behind the fashion magazine Coveted which aims to promote the Scottish fashion industry, never a bad thing in my eyes.

The boutique is a treasure trove of all things fashion, with a mixture of accessories, clothes, jewellery and magazines to choose from. I have put some pics up of a few of the pieces that are now on sale in the shop as well as these my printed tshirts and winter tweed capes are all in stock. So for those of you in Glasgow in need of some fashion fixing get yourselves to the west end.

http://www.livinginlalaland.co.uk/

Im-Press me

Thanks to the aforementioned Swelle Boutique in my previous post, I have had a few lovely snippets of online press in the last week or so. It was thanks to Denise from the boutique that I found out about 2 of them and the 3rd was a lovely surprise discovery I made myself. The 2 Denise told me about were on Dujour magazine and the blog A change of a dress. Both have written lovely post about the dresses featured in the online boutique and about the label in general. Thankyou to both for their mentions. The links are below.

http://dujourmag.com/blog/designer-discovery-love-rowan-joy/

http://www.achangeofadress.co.uk/2010/06/vintage-lace-dress-at-swelle-boutique.html

The 3rd and most exciting for me was a mention on the Guardian websites fashion statement in the life and style section. I subscribe to the fashion statement column and get it emailed to me every week so you can imagine my surprise this week when scrolling through the articles in it, near the bottom I spotted a familiar photo - one from my spring/summer collection shoot. In the shopping news they had decided to feature the new Swelle boutique and to my joy had used one of my images and mentioned my label. It is my first mention in a national newspaper so even though it was just a little one it was still a great treat for me. Here is the link to it, just scroll down to near the bottom.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/17/dress-codes-ascot-american-apparel

Its a very swelle boutique.

Yes folks you can now buy Rowanjoy online, no its not the online shop I have been telling everyone I am going to set up, It is what my online shop will aspire to be. Swelle boutique www.swelleboutique.com has been set up by Denise Grayson who has the wonderful blog www.theswellelife.com which talks about all the gorgeous things in life. This time last year she wrote an embarrassingly lovely post about Rowanjoy and we kept in touch ever since. When she told about setting Swelle Boutique and if I would be interested in being one of the designers she stocked I jumped at the chance. As it was the launch of the boutique I felt some special pieces were most definitely necessary so I created a 3 piece mini collection of the most romantic and pretty dresses I could manage. Turns out that they happen to rank in my top 15 pieces I have made and out of several hundred I think that is pretty good going.

The boutique also stocks a selection of other designers who share the same philosophy of creating beautiful one off or limited edition pieces that have that special quality about them. A fellow ECA graduate and alumni of the Godiva academy of misfits Lu Flux has some gorgeous pieces on sale. My favourite being the Plume skirt made from a gorgeous rainbow of vintage fabrics, scalloped and layered to create the skirt. The label Neue has some wonderfully pleated and tailored dresses which look like the perfect alternative day dress and also look beautifully made.

So go check it out and see the gorgeous offerings Denise has curated for you to spend those pennies burning a hole in your picket on. I also highly recommend a good read of Denise's blog especially if like me you love the pretty things in life - she seems to find them at every possible turn.

Its a wrap, well not really its actually a scarf.

o these were my last minute addition to the stock I took down to London with me. After days waiting for them to be delivered and general harassing of the postman wondering where they were, my bag of vintage scarves got here. I made a very rushed trip down to the tessuti studio to get them printed. This time printing with an opaque version of the green colour on the tshirts and also a lovely pale pink which came up beautifully on the various scarfs. The result of each print varied enormously on each scarf depending on the base colour and print and the fabric each one was made from, some the print has come up really strongly others it has a much more fade effect. Look out for them in various shops and hopefully eventually online.

Block Party

My most recent window display at Pam Jenkins, inspired by A beautiful pair of Louboutins the Bianca sling style with colour blocked sole and heel. Pam has lots of fabulous bright coloured shoes in this season which worked perfectly in the window along with some of the always on trend nude shoes. I'd Like a pair of each in a size 37 please...anyone...anyone?