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• The ‘September Issue’ has dropped.

• Fall goods are in the stores.

• DDR has already sold through several styles…

• but I haven’t de-coded fall’s color palette for you yet!

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So here it is…

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Building off of Julia Chaplin’s inspirational book, Gypset Style, (see earlier post) I wanted the fall palette to be an innovative take on fundamental basics, but also wanted the colors to transport us and ‘gypset’ us around the world.

I wanted the colors to conjure images of travel and adventure – rather real or imagined.

Colors with names like: Shangrila Green, Manchurian Orange, and Chinese Lantern evoke strong images from the East, while colors named Arabian Red, Kashmir, and Turkish Tobacco conjure up hues from the Middle East.   Heaven, Champagne and Basic Black are also adventurous and anything but “basic”.

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As always, one can never do justice to color by talking or writing about it – after all, color is COLOR!

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So take a look.

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My dad use to give us girls “sussies” – little un-occasioned gifts.

So here is a little sussie for you – your own personal color palette.

Simply print, trim, and tuck inside your handbag so when you are out shopping you can reference the perfect shade of “Shangrila”.

Enjoy!

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Just as I am dissing the boys about their skeletal fascinations and curiosity at the Evolution Shop, “lovey bones” pops up on my fashion radar.

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Fumie Sasabuchi

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Looks like designers and artists are exploring underground catacombs and digging up mortal remains for both art and fashion.  Their macabre compositions exude an eerie atmosphere using bones, skulls and other spine chilling body parts.

I’m catching myself drawn and gaping at these “dark” images like a morbid voyeur, but I must admit I appreciate the art and the creativeness behind these lovely bones.

As the fall 2011 collection begins to take shape, I will assure you, I won’t have any “skeletons in my closet”!

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Alexander McQueen

Charms & Pendants: Lady Lavona, Ring: unknown

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Fumie Sasabuchi

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unknown editorial

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Bandage stilettos: Gwendolyn Huskins / vertebrae stilettos: Luxirare / leggings: James Lillis for Black Milk

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Fumie Sasabuchi

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So when I planned my trip last week, I mapped out eleven different vintage boutiques I wanted to hit for ideas and inspiration.

As it turned out, I only went to one.

What Goes Around Comes Around is the creme de la creme of vintage and I spent an entire day digging through their Brooklyn warehouse and their boutique on West Broadway.

OMG – awesome stuff and I didn’t have to brave the junk fields of Warrington or Rountop!

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I picked up some great WWII field jackets, some threadbare denim, a couple of retro rodeos, and a few little boys t-shirts ca. 1950.  It was all too much to pack back in our luggage so they are shipping it this week.

I can’t wait – it’s better than Christmas!

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For those of you not familiar with WGACA, they are a high-end vintage boutique that has been supplying celebrities, designers and stylists since 1993.  Owners Seth Weisser and Gerard Maione carry a huge selection ranging from:

• Victorian to Vivienne Westwood,
• American Denim and Work-wear to American Adirondack Camp,
• Cool Biker to Hot Rocker
• and everything in between

What Goes Around Comes Around sets the bar for vintage.

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We slammed so much into six days it is impossible to recount it all, but I wanted to post a few of the fun spots, incredible eats, and top shopping venues we experienced before I get back into Double D Ranch™ and our fall collection.

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The Hotel:

Gramercy Park Hotel

2 Lexington Ave. , New York, NY 10010

Tel. 212 920 3300

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Comments:

Pricey but worth every penny.  This is one of Ian Schrager’s luxury hotels and his concept and attention to detail lives up to everything you would expect from the pioneer of chic, boutique hotels.   The look was “high bohemian” with an effortless mix of antiques and art.  His use of color was masterful and I came away inspired by a pale, clean blue and clear red used in the guest rooms.  I’m thinking they might just show up in our next fall collection.

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Sam liked it to – here he is breaking in his cot for the week…you know what they say,

you can take the boy out of the country, ….

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I thought I might pick out 10 to 20 of my favorite jackets, but in the end I decided to choose just one.

Just one.

One jacket that represents where we have come from.

One jacket that represents who we are and yet classic enough to still make me proud ten years from now.

My selection – the Cheetah Chic Jacket.

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Double D Ranch's Cheetah Chic Jacket

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Do you remember it?

It was originally part of Double D Ranch’s fall 2000 collection and was inspired by a vintage child’s coat Mom and I found in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Using the silhouette of the child’s jacket and a photo of a pair of western chaps, the Cheetah Chic Jacket was born.

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vintage hair-on hide cheetah chaps

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If you missed this attention-grabbing jacket back in 2000, now is your chance grab one -  either at your local boutique or online at Crow’s Nest Trading.

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Cheetah Chic Jacket at Crow's Nest Trading Co.

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• photographer: Kent Barker
• model: Elsie Ramsey
  
• location: Hico, Texas
• bike: I don’t remember, but isn’t it cool?
  

I snagged a few of their out-takes to illustrate the fun venue patches I blogged about last week.

My personal favorite is the back of the CRFJ where Van Morrison’s Brown Eye Girl lyrics are printed out in part.

kinda like we use to doodle on our notebooks.  Remember?

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It was started back in 1970 by a dairy farmer and has since grown into the largest music festival in Europe.  It is held each year in the open fields of Worthy Farm in Glastonbury, England (hence the name).

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Glastonbury Festival

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I didn’t get to go this year.

Even though I had a backstage pass.

Well, to tell the truth, I really didn’t have a backstage pass.

… I actually created one in my head and ended putting it on a jacket.

I call it the “Combat Rock Field Jacket” and it has been a huge hit as part of Double D Ranch’s™ 2010 Fall Collection.

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Double D Ranch's Combat Rock Field Jacket

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Using Julia Chaplin’s book, Gypset Style, for inspiration for this season, I played around with the concept of what would a ‘gypsetter’ wear to flit across the world to catch a rock concert.  I came up with:

• a vintage, military inspired field jacket – washed and thoroughly worn in all the right places,
• an easy fit silhouette with toggle-cord cinching and plenty of pockets, – leave the handbags behind,
• instant accreditation in the form of souvenir, venue patches,
• hand lettered song verses scribbled on sleeves – like we use to do in high school,
• and of course, a back stage pass!

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This Baby Rocks!

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Such is the distorted seasons of fashion.  Despite the temperatures rising,  I wanted to give you a personal insight to Double D Ranch’s™ Fall 2010 Collection and what I had in my head while designing it.

I have always found inspiration in the carefree gypsy lifestyle and drawn from it for many of Double D Ranch’s™ past collections. But what I like this season is the fresh spin of sophistication – a chic, bohemian twist fused with gypsy castoffs – a high-low design approach inspired by nomadic muses.

After reading Julia Chaplin’s new book, Gypset Style, it was an easy leap for me from book to design board.  For Double D Ranch’s™ 2010 Fall Collection, I imagined one such gypsetter moving easily from Marrakesh to Marfa or from Shanghai to Somerset, all the while filling her wardrobe with wonderful pieces along the way. She might pick up a suzanni embroidered robe from the Souk in Tangier, a shisha skirt from the bazaar in Jaipur, and even a concert tee or biker jacket from the Monterrey Jazz Festival – each piece “choice” and effortlessly put together.

As always, I have researched and collected vintage pieces and their influence infuses the collection. Colors are bright, but slightly muddy so they transition easily into fall while staying festive. Fabrications are organic: leather, silk, wool and cotton, and everything is embroidered and embellished.

I hope Double D Ranch’s™ Fall 2010 Collection inspires the bon vivant and wanderlust within. Enjoy!

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…and the temperature is hovering around 100 degrees,

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…and you just debuted your new swim suit over the Memorial holidays,

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but it’s time to talk about Fall.

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Yep, our 20th anniversary fall collection, inspired by Julia Chaplin’s new book, Gypset Style, is officially available for preview online.

I can’t wait to share some of my design inspiration with you in the days to come, but for now grab a Texas-sized iced tea and

Enjoy!

Her name is Anne.

She is just one of those people that can pick up anything and make something wonderful from it – and look out if she is picking up a paint brush!  Years ago, she painted a fabulous wall mural in our guest bath here at the ranch.  It is a winding, tuberous botanical that she aged and made to look a hundred years old.  Amazing.

Anyway, I was working on the spring collection and came across this 10 pesos note that someone had scrawled “Dios te ama” on.  I loved it and asked Anne to create a watercolor collage for a t-shirt  based on the pesos’ message, “God loves you”. The only guidelines I gave her were these:

1. include the 10 pesos note,
2. have a handmade Mexican craft feel,
3. and send a message.

So, about a day later (really, she is super fast) this illustration board shows up.

Anne's artwork

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See, isn’t she fantastic?!

So we took Annes’ artwork and ‘Double D’d’ it up to make the, what else, Dios te Ama Tee.

Here is what Anne has to say about her inspiration and thoughts behind designing this piece:

Could it be that I’ve come full circle in my heart and mind and once again believe as a child that simple, trusting belief that: Jesus loves me this I know….and everything else is secondary?

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In the midst of all the craziness & wonder of life…THERE HE IS – LOVING US!

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Anne also wants you to know she is, “blessed to be a wife, mother, friend, artist, and interior designer living in beautiful Fredericksburg, Texas.”  She says, “I am almost positive I have died and gone to heaven as this wonderful place is Heaven on Earth!  I count it a true joy to get to help create in any way for Double D!”

Anne M. Eppright Designs

Fredericksburg, Texas

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*All designs and artwork are the intellectual property of Double D Ranchwear™.