Tag: carousel

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‘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!

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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.

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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.

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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

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‘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-

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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!

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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

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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

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‘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-

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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!

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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.

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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

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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.

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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 Design & Inspiration Ideas

We want to let you in on how our ‘Circus’ designs come to be.

Our design process is simple- we take inspiration from Vintage silhouettes and actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood ie. Audrey Hepburn, Joan Crawford. From this we get our dress shapes like the shift, the Teadress, and the classic A-Line.

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Circus Design Inspiration Twiggy

We’re currently designing our Spring range so we’re picking from all these amazing fabrics. We’re thinking of one of these prints for our Twiggy dress. Small patterns are great for Spring while the pink and blue will still tie in well with your Winter wardrobe.

Let us know which fabric you prefer in the comments below.

All the best, 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.

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

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

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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

New Patterns & Prints for Circus!

We’ve only just got a boatload of new stock in to Carousel from Irish label Circus. There are so many fantastic new patterns & prints!

There’s a nature theme running through these new prints. Many varieties of birds, leaves and flowers are included in a broad selection of colours. We especially love the Daisy print and Navy and White Swallow print.

Below are our picks for you 🙂 They are available in-store now and will be available online at m2.ilovecarousel.com from tonight.

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New Patterns & Prints for Circus Autumn 2014 collection at Carousel

Don’t be afraid to clash different patterns. Just be sure that the main colours work well with each colour. These pieces are best accessoriesed with very simple jewellery or block colour scarves.

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New Patterns & Prints for Circus Autumn 2014 collection at Carousel

 

love, Carousel xoxo

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Creative Scarf Tying

Scarves are great.

They come in all sorts of patterns, lengths and fabrics and they’re a great booster accessory for any outfit, not to mind very functional. So why is it that come Autumn you see scarf after scarf tied virtually the same way?

You can do so much with these beauties with a little imagination and thankfully it’s not origami 🙂

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Sarah Jessica Parker is our Scarf Hero!

Here’s a selection of creative scarf tying techniques we dreamed up-

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1. Tie at one shoulder and drape

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1. Finished

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2. Wrap around shoulders/upper arms, tie both ends at back of neck, bring endss around and tuck in to front.

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2. Finished

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3.Join corners at the back of the neck and tie securely, tuck front end up & in to main part.

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3. Finished

These are only a few of the hundreds of combinations…try mixing two scarves together. We’re all for clashing patterns 😉

 Here’s some of the designs we have just got in Carousel…we love the fox print-

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Scarves at Carousel…see them here: http://bit.ly/1jtokYb

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.

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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.

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Fabric Swatches from the Circus Autumn 2014 collection at Carousel

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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

 

Your Vintage Guide

Let’s start off by saying Vintage is for everyone! I’m going to help you to identify it, style it in a modern way, and dispel some of those myths that have made the rounds.

Contrary to popular belief Vintage clothing isn’t smelly or dirty and the chances that someone ‘died in it’ are very slim 😀 A good,reliable Vintage shop/supplier will have steamed/washed their stock beforehand ready for you to bring home and cherish. If you’re lucky they will know the background to the item, maybe an event it was worn to, or something interesting about the previous owner.

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(L-R)Embroidered Vintage Dress: http://bit.ly/WSrZ6X ,
Vintage Colour Splash Dress: http://bit.ly/1qNb3v1 ,                                                                         Vintage Ditsy Dress: http://bit.ly/1xSZKpS .

Vintage is quite easily identifiable when you know what to look out for. Here’s a good guide:

  • Depending on the country, Vintage is either classed as anything older than 10 or 20 years. Anything 100 years or older is classed as ‘antique’.
  • Polyester wasn’t used commercially in clothing until the 1950’s so anything made before that would a natural fabric such as cotton, wool, linen etc.
  • Hems in vintage items are often hand-sewn. It wasn’t unusual to make your own clothing pre-1980’s so hand sewing on garments is a reflection of that.
  • Features such as fabric belts, fabric-covered buttons, Peter Pan collars and shoulder pads are distinct features found on Vintage items.
  • Ruffles were popular in the 80’s, Paisley prints in the 70’s, Block-coloured shift dresses in the 60’s, Prom dresses in the 40’s and Practical but pretty teadresses in the 40’s. Vintage ads are a good indicator of what was popular at the time

The easiest and best way to style vintage without looking like you’re wearing costume is by pairing it with modern-day items. A trilby hat with a teadress, Metallic stilletoes paired with a girly 50’s dress, 60’s shift blouse teamed with jeans.

Vintage is great fun to play with and opens up a whole world of styling variety. Do a bit of research before you head out searching for a unique piece and most importantly: Keep An Open Mind! 😉

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Vintage Dip-Dye Lace Dress http://bit.ly/1wm8Fyu

 We received a haul of 500 genuine vintage pieces recently and you can check them all out here http://bit.ly/1aHLb84

Carousel xoxo