Category: News & Contests

Keep up to date with the latest news and enter our great competitions when they come around

‘Circus’ Design & Inspiration Ideas, 6

In the last blog post I mentioned that our design team have headed off on a trip to fetch fabric.
Here’s a behind the scenes look at how they’re getting on…

Circus Design & Inspiration, 6

Circus Brainstorming and Research

Circus Design & Inspiration

Circus Patterncutting

Circus Design & Inspiration

Even more brainstorming and research!

I also spoke about the Circus Peggy skirt in the last post and fabric choices we were looking at for Spring/Summer 2015. We want to let you in on what initially inspired this skirt.

Peggy Lee was our main influence because of her fun nature and the long,pleated skirts she often wore. To add even more femininity we used a bow print on one design and an abstract floral print for the other.

Circus Design & Inspiration, 6 - Peggy - Circus - Carousel

Circus Inspiration for the Peggy skirt

That’s all for this week. We’ll be back next week with more news.

All the best, Carousel xoxo

Circus-Carousel-Inspiration-Ideas-Peggy-Skirt-Spring-Summer-2015

‘Circus’ Design & Inspiration Ideas, 5

Things are really kicking off here at Carousel as our Circus design team have headed to distant shores.  As we speak they are sourcing all of our Spring/Summer 2015 fabrics…some of which you contributed to in your Twitter, Facebook and blog comments!

Circus-Carousel-Inspiration-Ideas-Peggy-Skirt-Spring-Summer-2015

New Ideas for the Circus Peggy skirt Spring/Summer 2015

We’re working on the Circus design & inspiration ideas for the Circus Peggy skirt (above). We love this ‘Patriot Blue’ Pantone colour as an alternative to black and the daisy print is just darling.

We’ve got parcels going off all around the world today. Loving that people from Galway to Germany are wearing our designs. ther won’t be any mention of the ‘C’ word just yet but here’s a head’s up to prepare yourself for the seasonal rush. We stock a limited number of sizes and while we do replenish stock it’s safer to get in there while you’re thinking of it.

Carousel - Circus - Deisgn 7 Inspiration - Packages - November - 2014 - m2.ilovecarousel.com

Some of the packages ready to go to their new owners!

Lots of new Winter stock has arrived with more due tomorrow. We’re photographing it right now so it should be online by tomorrow.

Photoshoot - Fur Coat - Carousel - Circus - ilovecarousel - Design & Inspiration

Shooting one of our gorgeous fur coats in the studio

We’ll be back here with more updates on Friday!

See you then, Carousel, xoxo

Carousel-Circus-Colour-Umbrella-Autumn-Winter-Fall-Shop

‘Circus’ Design & Inspiration Ideas, 4

Another week in Carousel and more Circus design & inspiration ideas. We have our sketches, inspired by Vintage fashion, and now we’re choosing fabric for the charming Shirley blouse.

This has a cute Peter Pan collar and a box shape so we’ve taken advantage of that by covering it in a cute print. Here’s what we’re thinking in terms of pattern and colour scheme-

Circus-Carousel-Shirley-vinatge-Retro-fashion-Style-Inspiration-Ideas

New Ideas for Shirley Blouse Spring/Summer 2015

Meanwhile we were doing a photoshoot yesterday with Betty. We’re all about brightening up the dull weather with pops of bright colour!

Carousel-Circus-Colour-Umbrella-Autumn-Winter-Fall-Shop

Brightening up the streets outside the store!

The dress Betty is wearing here is the Circus Keyhole dress (available at http://bit.ly/1tPkXOj ) . We’ve just discovered how well this shade of blue goes with purple!!

And how cute is this bobble hat? <3

Design & Inspiration-Bobble Hat- Carousel-Dublin-Winter-Autumn-Fall-Hat

Bobble Head Betty! click on the image for outfit details…

You can get the bobble Hat outfit details here: http://m2.ilovecarousel.com/get-the-look.html .

Enjoy your weekend! Love, Carousel. xoxo

Carousel-Circus-Window Display-Ideas-Inspiration

‘Circus’ Design & Inspiration Ideas, 3

We’ve been working away with new Circus designs & Vintage inspiration ideas. We’re so excited to hear that we have a delivery of new items coming in next week!!

It definitely reflects the direction we’re going in for Autumn/Winter 2014. Slightly darker colours that integrate well with your winter wardrobe but brightened up with cute prints like polka dots and air balloons.

Here’s three of those new dresses-

Circus-New-Dresses-Autumn-Winter-2014-2015-Vintage-Retro-Carousel-m2.ilovecarousel.com

New Circus Designs! Dots, Polka Dots, Air Balloon

We’re also choosing fabrics for the Spring/Summer Joan dress. Who doesn’t love florals and tiny polka dots? Kate Middleton certainly is, and if it’s good enough for a Duchess it’s good enough for us!

Circus-Carousel-iLoveCarousel-Vintage-Retro-Design-Dress-Joan Crawford

Circus Design Inspiration: Fabric options for the Joan dress

Our window displays are becoming a thing of pride recently…Ali in the shop is our Window Display expert and she’s done a fantastic job.

Carousel-Circus-Window Display-Ideas-Inspiration

Ali getting stuck in to our newest Carousel Window Display

We’re busy little bees at Carousel HQ so check back here on Saturday for another update!

Love, Carousel xoxo

Circus-Carousel-iLoveCarousel-Vintage-Retro-Design-Dress-Ava Gardner

Circus Design & Inspiration Ideas, 2

We got some more swatches in to Carousel HQ this week and we’re having fun playing around with them for our new designs.

We narrowed it down to these two fabrics for our Ava dress and we’re really excited to find out what you think of them! One is a Fan design in two tones of purple with a little orange accent. The other swatch is a graphic floral design with a red base colour…almost like a painting.

Circus-Carousel-iLoveCarousel-Vintage-Retro-Design-Dress-Ava Gardner

Circus Design Inspiration: Fabric options for the Ava dress

Click the pic to see what versions of the Ava we currently have online. In the meantime leave a comment below letting us know what you think…purple or red?

Lots of Love, Carousel xoxo

‘Circus’: Behind the Brand

At Carousel we have always strived to excite our customers. So inspired by you we have launched our own brand,

‘Circus’

We design and sell this Vintage-inspired range in our shop.

We began ‘Circus’ as it was difficult to source fun and interesting pieces that would be unique to Carousel. Items that we could repeat when sold out or edit the design to suit your requests in our own factory. It was also challenging to find good quality individual items at an affordable price. In many ways the creation of Circus was a natural progression and an exciting development of our store Carousel. We felt we had a perfect place to launch the brand we could not find anywhere else.

The name came from a lot of brainstorming! We wanted a word which would evoke nostalgia, fun, and colour and ‘Circus’ is all that. We wanted a name that will stand the test of time.

Circus-Brigitte-Dress-Carousel-Vintage-m2.ilovecarousel.com

Circus Brigitte Dress, Carousel. €65 at http://bit.ly/1AWPewQ

Circus-Ingrid-Dress-Carousel-Vintage-m2.ilovecarousel.com

Circus Ingrid dress €59, available at http://bit.ly/1sfCO0F

Circus-Ingrid-Dress-Carousel-Vintage-m2.ilovecarousel.com

Circus Lucille dress, €65. Available at http://bit.ly/1opN43T

Above are 3 examples of Circus dresses, the inspirations for them and our first sketches in the design process. Running through all of these is our love of Vintage silhouettes & patterns.

Love, Carousel. xoxo

Circus- Autumn 2014

This Autumn, fall in love with seasonal patterns and prints in vintage styles.

We have taken inspiration from Vintage silhouettes from the 1930’s through to the 1970’s for this collection.

CircusAutumnCollection1-m2.ilovecarousel.com

CircusAutumnCollection1-m2.ilovecarousel.com

CircusAutumnCollection1-m2.ilovecarousel.com

Florals of every form are in abundance in our own label, Circus. In muted tones of Navy and Fawn, and vibrant shades of Crimson Red and Warm Pink.

Bird prints also make an appearance, in the form of swallows and larks.

Circus-Autumn-2014-Carousel-ilovecarousel.com

Fabric Swatches from the Circus Autumn 2014 collection at Carousel

Circus-Autumn-2014-Carousel-ilovecarousel.com

Fabric Swatches from the Circus Autumn 2014 collection at Carousel

We’re every excited to announce that these unique,vintage-inspired pieces will be available online and in-store from mid-September so keep an eye on our Facebook page HERE and our website at m2.ilovecarousel.com .

 Love,Carousel. xoxo