LAURA ASHLEYShop Online

Ever wondered what a week in the life of one of our fashion designers looks like? Michelle our Design Assistant gives you an insider look at her week in pictures…

 

Welcome to my week in pictures. We are really busy this week researching and designing our last stories for Autumn/Winter 2012…

Archive Jumpers: We have been searching for inspiration for our upcoming Archive collection and this week received a big box full of old 1980′s fairisle jumpers. It’s thrilling to see old designs and then bring them back to life again.

 

Vintage shop reports: We called in some old Laura Ashley shop reports from our archive in Wales. There are some beautifully presented books full of pictures of our old stores way back in the 70′s & 80′s – it is always so fascinating to go back in time and see what people used to buy from Laura Ashley. It is also an invaluable source of design inspiration for new collections (taking something old and reinventing it for today). It’s strange to think that our designs will be archived there one day too!

 

Choosing AW12 colours: We have been researching new colours and inspirations for our AW12 collections very closely. Don’t want to give too much away but there are some stunning colour and print ideas in development!

 

Peppermint Tea & Mug: My favourite mug: the girls at work bought me this initial mug for my birthday last year. I love the vintage style lettering. I also have a new addiction to peppermint tea for a little pick-me-up while I am working.

 

Illustration for Laura Ashley website. It’s nice to mix things up every now and then. I work closely with our web team when it comes to providing trend/outfit information- we are just launching our Emporium story so I was asked to do some illustrations that could be worked into the online page designs. I love the chance to be extra creative!

The illustration on the right is of our popular Spot Print Silk Dress (from our Emporium collection).

 

 

The jumper: After the chilly days we have been having I chose my Laura Ashley cable knit sweater to wear layered up over a vintage dress. We have designed lots of cosy pieces this season and the jumper is definitely having a revival at the moment: so easy to throw on over dresses or jeans. Look out for some of our looser easy fit shapes as these are really key for the next few seasons…

Shop Laura Ashley knitwear here

 

 

Packed Lunch: I am making an extra effort to add variety to my weekday packed lunches at work, I would recommend some baked omelettes with salad (super quick and easy)!

 

Sketching: The majority of my time this week has been spent sketching; we are in the process of signing off our new styles so we can put the garments into work and then see them finally made up for our selection meetings. We have a lot of sketching to do, so its heads down and pencil in hand for the best part of the week…

 

Saturday, Venn Street Market:  We have a beautiful little food market that comes to Venn Street in my local area of Clapham (South London) on a Saturday. They sell all fresh produce and the most amazing cakes and chocolate brownies I’ve ever tasted.

Visit the artisan producers of Venn Street Market including Borough Market favourite cheese-mongers Borough Cheese Co and Gastronomica.

 

Battersea Park: This is my favourite place in London, it is so big and full of random interesting sculptures, little flower gardens and pathways – you can get lost in there for hours. There is always such a buzz – full of people walking, playing and exercising.

 

Amazing Super Salad and lunch with a friend- I met my friend for lunch on Sunday, we had a little walk around Northcote Road (Clapham Junction) and stopped at Gail’s for a bite to eat.

I had a little Giant Couscous and roast vegetable salad, mmm.