Brand love: American Retro

Before recently I didn’t know much about American Retro as a brand, nor was I ever particularly bowled over by their pieces when confronted with them online and in magazines. However, being able to get up close and personal with the collections, due to a recent internship with their PR agency, gave me a new found appreciation of, and almost obsession with their clothes (see previous owl maxi post). Despite popular belief, they are a French label, not an American one – the brand name / identity sprung from the minds of the AR creators after an inspirational road trip across the States, many moons ago.

Images of individual pieces I just don’t think do the collections the justice they deserve; a lot of the pieces aren’t statement items, rather staples, for instance, there are a lot of simple, but comfy and good quality items: plain, cotton tees; maxis and cardigans (mainly sold via their sister company, Zoe Tee’s [this is the actual spelling, no I don’t understand that apostrophe either…]) You almost therefore need to see and touch the clothing for yourself. I’m no seamstress, but I can say that American Retro knows good tailoring; their S/S 11 collection has such a variety of styles and the more fitted pieces are very flattering. They seem to really understand women’s problem areas and what makes us shy away from certain items of clothing, and have sought to counter that in their collections (again, see owl maxi post..)

What’s more, they may not be trend setters, but they do know what’s in this summer. American Retro’s summer collection is infused with corals, nudes and florals and they have also been careful not to abandon old favourites like lace, fringing and the trusty baggy cardi.

There are, however, some real stand out items… take these lace wedges and booties for example.

These beauts are the result of AR’s recent collaboration with…. (wait for it)… CLARKS!! What Clarks, as in that sort of sad brand that is only associated with school shoes for the under 10s? Yes, Clarks!

I only told you, you got it all maxed out

Just to go back to maxis for a second (and then I promise I’ll move on..) here is an example of one of those wonderful winter ones! I meant to blog about this dress back in November when I first bought it, but I sort of got side tracked, and then with Spring fashions sneaking up on us, I thought it was by now irrelevant. But wearing it again today confirmed that dresses like this ARE NEVER IRRELEVANT. It is by American Retro, and before you start thinking I’m Miss Money Bags, I seized it for the pretty little price of £50 (reduced from around £200) at the brand’s sample sale. Bargs. I might just get it its own wardrobe, because it doesn’t deserve to be stuffed in there with all those Topshop or H&M dresses, it’s like the fashion equivalent of making Olivia Palermo stay in a Travelodge.

Now this is a winter maxi is ever I saw one. Just look at that slightly haunting and ethereal owl print, it just emanates the chilling feel of a crisp and black winter’s eve. Oooh lovely. What’s more, it gets a tick in the good for pear shapes column. It’s very loose fitting, and yes, my wide bottom half isn’t completely invisible, but at least it’s not clinging to every ounce of flesh, (see earlier maxi posts for full maxi dress rant).

So i’ve gushed about it for 2 paragraphs, and now I’m going to tell you that I don’t think you can buy anywhere anymore. Sorry about that. Oh well, you’ll just have to enjoy the photos of it instead.