The Circus summer collection is here!

April 18, 2016

The Circus summer collection has arrived! We couldn’t wait to try the new pieces on and take to the streets and parks of Dublin to see how they look. Summertime means sunshine, warmth, fun and colour, so of course this collection is infused with bright colours, fun patterns, comfortable breathable fabrics, all combined with gorgeous vintage inspired shapes. As Circus is designed and made by the team here at Carousel, we are always very excited when we get our hands on the finished product. Then we can get to the best part – wearing the clothes! Take a look at some of the new arrivals below, with plenty more available online here. Circus Vivien vintage style dress

Add some bright blooms to your wardrobe with our collection of floral patterns from Circus – flowers are always a summer staple. This Vivien dress is a showstopper, with a gorgeous combination of rich purple and reds.

Circus Lana tropical print sun dress

This new Lana dress has us feeling totally tropical! We love the adjustable straps – they ensure a perfect fit that’s just right for you! We’ll be wearing this beauty on all our sunny holiday adventures this year.

Circus Claudette sun dress

In a light denim like material and covered in a sprinkling of daisies, this Claudette is great for keeping things cool and casual on warm summer days in the city.

Circus Vivien 1940s inspired dress

This bright and pretty tulip pattern Vivien dress will ensure you stand out this summer! We love the warm deep orange colour and unique 1940’s inspired tea dress shape.

Circus summer collection new Nina dress

So fresh! The blue and white stripes on this new Nina dress reminds us of the seaside and ice cream – which is exactly what we plan on eating all summer, so we are so glad for those flattering vertical stripes! This versatile dress shape can be easily dressed up or down, and we can see ourselves wearing it to all kinds of summer occasions.

Circus summer collection seperates polka dot Anita skirt Don’t forget your separates! Mixing and matching from our range of blouses and skirts means you will have endless outfit options this summer. This Anna blouse and cute Anita skirt are a match made in heaven.

Circus summer range designed in Ireland by Carousel

Take a look at our lil’ video below to see these looks in action. All of these pieces, and more, are available in our new arrivals section here now. Keep your eyes peeled for more new pieces being added to the Circus summer collection very soon!

The Circus Spring Summer 2016 Preview!

March 21, 2016March 22, 2016

We recently hosted an in store event for members of the press to preview the new Circus Spring Summer 2016 range. Circus is a vintage style clothing range, and is Irish owned and designed in house by the team here at Carousel in Dublin. Needless to say, we are very proud of this line, and we were excited to get a chance to show off the new Spring Summer pieces to members of the press!

Models with vintage style dresses at Carousel Press night

Our lovely models headed to Makeup Forever on Clarendon Street to get their make-up done and get the build up to the event started.

As make up was underway, back at our Exchequer street store we prepped our selected looks for fittings. We wanted to show a range that would best represent what Circus is all about – vintage inspired, unique, feminine, fun, and with oodles of personality. There’s so many shapes we adore in the Circus range that it was hard to chose, but we eventually narrowed it down to nine.

The nine looks we featured included some best selling and timeless shapes, like the Brigitte dress above, which we have made available in a variety of colours and patterns. We think this dress’s popularity comes from its versatility – it’s so easy to style for all occasions!

We also wanted to preview some of our new patterns and vivid colours for Spring/Summer, many of which have already proven a hit with customers, such as this Ingrid fern print dress, above.

In Spring and Summer we like to reintroduce some of our sleeveless or strappy shapes, like the Sylvia and Claudette dresses. We will also shorten sleeves on our popular winter shapes, making them perfect for sunny weather!

We got the show on the road once our guests had arrived and had some refreshments. Betty took everyone through each individual look, giving the details of each shape, their inspiration, and tips on how to style the pieces.

The evening went off without a hitch, so of course we all felt like we deserved a glass of bubbly to celebrate! You can take a look at all the new Circus Spring Summer 2016 arrivals here, with more on the way next week.

Behind the Scenes At Our Leafy Autumn Photo Shoot!

October 7, 2015

We had lots of fun this morning shooting some looks from the Autumn/Winter ranges from both Circus and Kyte. It had to be one of the loveliest, sunniest mornings there has been in Dublin for quite a while. We couldn’t stop laughing about how springlike the weather was as we were trying to get some darker Autumn/Winter vibes for our photos – that crazy Irish weather, always surprising us! We had to change our photo shoot plans for the day a bit, and put away the brollies, but we weren’t complaining

Take a look below at some behind the scenes shots from our shoot in St. Stephens Green park this morning. We’re very lucky that this great location is only a two minute walk from our newest Carousel store in Stephens Green Shopping Centre, so shooting there on this sunlit morning was a no brainer. The leafy lawns were perfect for having some fun throwing around leaves in the sun, and we highly recommend a visit there this Autumn as the trees lining the parks boulevards and pathways turn to gold and red.

behind the scenes Circus Autumn photoshoot

behind the scenes park autumn style

behind the scenes autumn leaves

stephens green park autumn dublin

You can get this Autumn look from our shoot today all at Carousel:

Ava Wisteria dress from Circus available here, 70s style hat available here, pink bolero available here.

New at Carousel: Introducing the Circus Charlotte dress!

August 11, 2015August 11, 2015

circus charlotte dress retro vintage style anchors

Designed here in Ireland by the team at Carousel, there’s a new dress shape from Circus in town! Introducing the Circus Charlotte dress (available here), a fun shirt dress shape with a shawl collar. This dress is inspired by the shirtwaist dresses that boomed in popularity during the 1940’s, and continue to be popular with lovers of all things classic and vintage nowadays.

With a sleeve length that’s just right for the end of summer, and soon to be available in a variety of colours and patterns, the Charlotte dress will see you stylishly into Autumn. The best thing about the Charlotte dress? In our opinion it has to be that full, flared circle skirt! It’s so flattering to all kinds of body shapes. The Carousel team have all tried this dress on, and it looks great on everyone! Easy to wear, and made from a comfortable cotton fabric, the Charlotte dress is perfect for laid back lunches or catching a movie with friends.

Introducing Kyte, Designed by Carousel + Arriving Soon!

July 30, 2015

Designed in house by the team here at Carousel, a new vintage inspired range called “Kyte” is due to arrive at the beginning of September! We’re so excited to be able to share a little sneak peek with you today, as the first samples have just arrived at Carousel HQ. We couldn’t wait to try them out for size, and see how they fit and look on us.

1950s vintage style dress Kyte sample

The first thing we noticed about the Kyte dresses is how comfortable they are. Made from fabric with a little bit of stretch, that extra bit of give guarantees a great fit for everybody. That, combined with their simple yet structured classic shapes, makes them flattering on all of us who tried them on – and we all have a range of body shapes here at Carousel! Each sample we received was in a solid colour, which makes for versatile and easy styling. We can see ourselves wearing them on a night out with a statement necklace and heels. They will also be available in vivid and fun patterned versions, a great way to make a style statement!

60's style Kyte dress vintage sample

We are loving summertime, but these samples have us wishing for Autumn, when we can see the finished frocks, and get our hands on some gorgeous Kyte pieces all for ourselves!

fit and flare dress Kyte sample red

Kyte sample retro shift dress Jackie o

1940s style vintage dress black Kyte sample

Which shape are you loving so far? Since everything at Carousel is always designed with you in mind, do let us know what you think!

Carousel xox

Exciting Times as Circus visits Pure London!

February 10, 2015

Vintage Inspired Style at Pure London

We are just back from a whirlwind trip to the UK’s biggest and best fashion trade show Pure London. It has made us so excited for the year ahead! We traveled from Dublin to London to exhibit the Spring/Summer samples from our vintage inspired Circus range that you know and love. We also brought along our new leisurewear range Kyte, a laid back and casual line that you’ll be hearing more about very soon!

Circus Kyte exhibit at Pure London Trade Show

Circus is Growing!

We are always looking for ways to make the Circus range better for you. One of our goals of traveling to Pure London was to find other stockists for Circus, so that it is even easier for you to get your vintage inspired style fix. Thanks to our trip to Pure, traders in Belgium, Germany, Spain, Scotland and England will all now be stocking Circus! So keep an eye out for us in a town near you very soon!

Circus at Pure London Fashion Trade Show UK

Exciting collaborations!

We are also delighted to announce that we will be collaborating with one of our favorite online retailers Modcloth in the future. This will make it easier for our American customers to find their most adored Circus styles closer to home . Modcloth already stock some of our dresses, some of which are almost sold out they are so popular! We are greatly looking forward to seeing the results of this collaboration.

Circus Samples Spring Summer Pure London

As always, our main aim is to listen to and be influenced by the needs and wants of you, the customer. Expansion of Circus makes it possible to continue producing a vintage inspired range that does just that. This is exciting times for Circus, and we hope you will come along for the journey!

Carousel Christmas Elves & Rita Hayworth

December 4, 2014

It’s been a whole week since we last updated you of the goings-on in Carousel. and what a week it has been!

We had a fantastic 40%-off offer on for the weekend of Black Friday to Cyber Monday. You guys grabbed the chance to get yourselves a few Winter/Spring wardrobe additions and you certainly kept our CarousElves busy! We were up to our eyes with boxes, labels, tape and Pretty Pink Paper getting your purchases out a.s.a.p.

Carousel-Christmas-Parcels-Packages-Orders-Vintage-Retro-Fashion-Style-Circus

Rails and Rails and Rails…

Boxes piled high!

Spring is getting closer & closer, faster and faster so we’re now finalising our Circus designs! This includes our ‘Everywoman’ Circus Rita blouse, inspired by Rita Hayworth, one of the original everywomen. It comes in a classic silhouette with 3 different print options- Bow, Floral or Bird. The magic of the Rita is that it can be formal or casual. Dress it down with jeans or dress it up tucked in to a pencil skirt.

Circus-Carousel-Rita-Blouse-Shirt-Vintage-Retro-m2.ilovecarousel.com

The Circus ‘Rita’ Blouse Inspiration Board

Until Tuesday, All the best, <3 Carousel

With Winter Weather Comes Great Fashion…

November 25, 2014

We’re really starting to feel the winter weather this week! Sure, it isn’t exactly fun to be standing at a bus stop shivering but there is one great thing about cold weather…the clothes! Knitted jumpers, creative layering, scarves in gorgeous colours & patterns, hats… we love it. We’ve seen a lot of folks putting ‘over the knee’ socks over tights, and long sleeves under shorter sleeves.

Carousel - Photoshoot - Dublin - Casual - Urban - Kyte - Vinatge - Retro - Fashion - Style

Aisling modelling our NEW casual collection.

We’re working ‘layers’ in Carousel too. Just this week our Photographer, Lyndsey, did a photoshoot with our resident model, Aisling (above). We have a new range of casuals that were designed to be mix ‘n’ matched with each other. There are dresses, kimono tops, oversized pieces, and a whole host of other elements in the collection.

We’re working on choosing new fabrics for the Circus Nancy skirt too. We were originally inspired by the sixties for this design. Nancy Sinatra, Daisy flowers and the colours of lomography photography were our main inspirations. As you can see from our collage, below, it’s *very* 1960’s.

Circus - Carousel - Nancy - Skirt - Vintage - Retro - Inspired - m2.ilovecarousel.com

The Circus Nancy Skirt, Inspiration Board

We’ll be back here with more updates on Friday. Until then, wrap up warm!

I <3 Carousel

Carousel-Circus-Vintage-Retro-Christmas-Window Display-Decoration

Carousel Goes Crazy for Christmas !

November 21, 2014

Who doesn’t love Audrey Hepburn?

She was intelligent, graceful, charming and the epitome of class. That’s the exact reason we named the Audrey dress after her!

Circus - Carousel - Audrey - Dress - Vintage - Retro - Inspired - m2.ilovecarousel.com

The Circus Audrey Swing dress, Inspiration Board

As well as a pleated skirt we gave it two very different punchy prints to make this Vintage-inspired beauty a more contemporary look. You can get our Circus Audrey dresses here: http://bit.ly/1t8Xv9P

In other news…Carousel’s gone Christmas Mad!! Ali put our in-store decorations up and we had the fabulous team at ‘Display Is What We do/Decorate 2 Celebrate‘ in to create our AMAZING windows! We’re so chuffed with how they turned out…thanks team!

Carousel’s Christmas Window Display!

We’ll be back here on Monday for more news and Christmas fun…

Until then, love Carousel xoxo

The Circus Vera dress from Carousel, Ideas and Inspiration - vintage - retro - fashion -style

Circus Design & Inspiration Ideas, Vera

November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

Wondering what the inspiration was behind the Circus Vera dress design? Well wonder no more….

Vera Ellen was a dancer starring in the likes of ‘White Christmas’ and ‘On the Town’. She danced with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly,Danny Kaye and Donald O’Connor amongst others. She was graceful, vivacious and energetic and we think that sums up the Vera dress. Featuring 2 punchy patterns, one a bird design in an autumnal colour scheme and one a more Vintage-inspired navy & brown floaral pattern. The dance influence is in the pleats of the skirt creating a great little kick…very swishable 😉

Here’s the final design & inspiration for the Vera-

The Circus Vera dress from Carousel, Design and Inspiration Ideas

In other news our Design team have come back with loads of ideas and different fabric swatches for the next season! You helped to contribute to this process by choosing your favourite fabric patterns and colours via Twitter and Facebook. As you can see from the pictures below there are a lot of really different prints and patterns to choose from so it can be a tough job! We really can’t wait to show you our ideas for future designs. We know you’re going to love them.

Ideas and Inspiration - vintage - retro - fashion -style

Our Design Team hard at work Finalising Designs and Fabrics

We will be back here in a few days with more news from Carousel Headquarters. In the meantime have you checked out our videos? We’re having a bit of fun talking about our Circus designs and showing you how to style yourself up! They are a work-in-progress but we’re learning quickly. Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that :D. Check them out here: Carousel on Youtube

Talk soon! Carousel, xoxo

Carousel Blog

Vintage inspired, Irish owned & designed

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