Carousel Summer: Patterns, Press and Puppies

Carousel Summer: Patterns, Press and Puppies

Welcome back to the blog! We’re here to keep you updated on everything Carousel – from design news to event information and everything in between. Happy Carousel summer shopping!

Hot off the press

It’s been an exciting summer so far here at Carousel. While the bees are busy with the blooming flowers , the papers have been abuzz about our own brightly coloured creations.  On the 28th of June, we were delighted to be featured in the New York Times as one of the Five Places to Shop in Dublin! In a piece written by Elaine Glusac, we were mentioned alongside some of our favourite boutiques and restaurants in the city centre. The article touts our brand Circus and our beloved A-line skirts and unique vintage-inspired dresses and blouses. You can read the piece here!

Carousel summer 5 places to shop in Dublin New york Times article

If that wasn’t enough press coverage for one summer, on July 17 we were featured in the Irish Times Magazine. Irish Times fashion editor Deirdre McQuillan interviewed Carousel creator Tom Walsh about the story of Carousel and how Circus came to be. In the piece, Tom speaks about Carousel’s modern vintage style and the importance of Irish design. We’d like to thank Deirdre for her article and for continually promoting Irish design and small Irish companies.

Irish Times in interview with Circus creator Tom Walsh

canines at carousel

We held our first pup-friendly event  in our Exchequer Street shop on July 19. We opened our doors to our furry friends to raise money for Dogs in Distress. This brilliant charity works to find foster homes and forever homes for their rescue dogs. Between the hours of five and seven, we allowed our canine companions into the store and took donations for the charity in exchange for a personalised portrait of our customers’ pups. We offered a 15% discount on our Circus range on the night and 10% of all proceeds went to Dogs in Distress. Keep up to date with our Facebook page for information on more of our events!

dog photography and shopping night at Carousel summer Dublin

 

Carousel Christmas Elves & Rita Hayworth

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.

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Rails and Rails and Rails…

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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.

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The Circus ‘Rita’ Blouse Inspiration Board

Until Tuesday, All the best, <3 Carousel

With Winter Weather Comes Great Fashion…

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.

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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.

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The Circus Nancy Skirt, Inspiration Board

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

I <3 Carousel

‘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.

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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

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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!

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.

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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

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.

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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