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We came across Jade's amazing collage and illustration work a while back on Instagram, she caught our eye with a magical collage of Pamela Des Barres. Naturally, when it came to working with an artist for our most recent Transcendence collection, we headed straight to her!
If you haven't seen her work, follow the links below and delve into her magical world of colour!
We had a chat about her work, inspirations and Flare Street pieces. Have a read of it below:What is your favourite music genre?
I have a very eclectic taste in music but my ultimate favourite, the air that I breathe is definitely mid to late 1960’s Rock ‘N’ Roll - as well as Folk music, my happy place.…. I’m that girl who dreamt of being in a Fleetwood Mac cover band (and secretly still do)
Where do you get the inspiration for your prints from? What inspo did you draw on for the Flare Street edits?
I am heavily inspired by the musicians I grew up listening to & fell in love with from an early age, which is mainly the 60’s and 70’s.
It’s an added bonus that both of these era’s are incredibly visually appealing and outrageous! My illustrations are inspired a lot from groovy vintage posters, vinyl album art and flower power!!
Apart from that, inspiration can strike anywhere, anytime! A lot of the time it’s in the middle of the night.I have been a massive fan of Flare Street since the beginning of time so when you guys reached out to me to work on some images I was ecstatic!
I’ve always felt a strong nostalgic, retro vibe from Flare Street, and the new collection felt the same, but it also transcended me to a very earthly place… Mother Nature’s sacred space where flowers bloom under a sun kissed sky... I wanted to capture that natural essence of beauty that these gorgeous flares represented to me.
What is your routine as an artist?
As a freelance artist it can be hard to get into a routine but I think I juggle my time evenly. I always like to leave the morning free to run errands, spend time in nature, find inspiration and then get stuck into work in the evenings. Work cannot commence without coffee and some groovy tunes.What's your favourite outfit and style?
80% of my wardrobe is vintage clothes full of floral, polyester and obnoxiously bright prints - very Haight & Ashbury inspired. I love wearing long 60’s dresses, vintage scarves, fur hats, chain belts, anything retro and bright! I dress somewhere between a mod mama, psychedelic peace freak and a flower child.If you could describe your first impression of our flares in one word, what would it be?
Oh that’s not fair! I could think of so many!
The main one that has always struck me first is: DREAMY
Click here to shop these flares!
Art and Interview with Jade Dandy @jadedandy
Images of Andy Lua & Emily Landers
Captured by Conner Sorensen in Joshua Tree, California. -
To enter, head to our Instagram page and:
1. Post a pic of you in your favourite Flare Street flares
2. OR, post a pic of the Transcendence flares you would love to win from our Instagram, Website or Blog.
3. Follow @flarestreet
4. Tag @flarestreet and #flarestreet in the photo and comments
5. Make sure your Instagram account isn’t on private
There will be one winner drawn EVERY WEEK for 2 WEEKS!The winners of each week’s draw will receive a free pair of flares of their choice from our most recent Transcendence collection.
Winners will be picked at random weekly on Tuesdays 5.30pm AEST.The last draw will be on 5/06/17.
This competition is running on Instagram only and is open to all the flare-lovers around the world – the prize includes postage!
Spread the flare-love xx
Credit amazing edited image by Jade Dandy
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Purifying and transcending the bodily senses in order to discover spiritual realities, beyond the limits of ordinary experience. Transcendence, by Flare Street. Made from recycled fabric!
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Ossie Clark is next on our 'Babe's Who Inspire Us' blog! Well, really it’s Ossie Clark and his partner, Celia Birtwell who was one of the most important textile designers of the 1960’s and 70’s.
From 1967 to 1973 Celia and Ossie were the height of the London fashion industry and dressed everyone from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Hendrix, Pattie Boyd, Twiggy and Marianne Faithful!
With an expert blend of Ossie’s innovative cuts and Celia’s floral and floaty textile design, the garments that they created were magnificent. Many of the 1960's designs have survived to become collectors' items (and we can’t wait to own a piece one day!)
At a time when many high-fashion garments seemed made to be worn once and discarded, Ossie Clark's were widely appreciated for their durable construction and expert cut, frequently on the bias.
There’s a few main inspirations in here for our next textile design, can you guess what it is?!
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We told you today would be a surprise!! -
In the last 2 years, we have started to produce our own Exclusively Designed Flare Street Fabric! Have a read of todays blog post to learn all about the design process and how these prints come to life.
If you're in Melbourne, our Open Studio is tomorrow night (Friday).
Find out more on the Facebook Event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/159867588023667/How do you pick which designers you want to work with?
We fall in love with designers and their artwork all the time! The concept behind our exclusive designs is to bring beautiful pieces of artwork to life, to enjoy them as a wearable item and use that as an extension of the wearers uniqueness. We often say that wearing these flares is really just grooving around with artwork on your legs!
Our aim is to rework concepts from the 60’s and 70’s with modern colours and structures, and decadent textures.
Can you run us through the main steps in the design process, from conception to garment?
If it’s a collaborative piece of artwork, there are a few major steps that we take:
Firstly, the designer Nik and the illustrator will collectively agree on the key inspirations and then create a theme or story based on these inspirations. For example, our recent designs for Cosmic Velvet, with Harley and J, were based on artwork by 1960’s designer Peter Max.
From there, the illustrator brings in their magical touch and creates final design. The colours and scale are guided by Nik, from the perspective of what would look best as flares & what our flare-lovers like – eg some images get lost if their too small or some colours are more frequently worn.
It really is a collaborative process the whole way through!
Here are some of the original edits from the Cosmic Velvet Range, you can see the change in scale, colour and placements:
Why do you choose to work with a sustainable fabric printer?
It all comes back to the environment. The idea of flushing harsh chemicals down the drain, into our rivers and ocean is not something that we want to contribute to! It took us a long time to find a printer that cares as much about this as we do. Our printer ensures that:
- Printed using water based inks
- No harsh chemicals used
- Inks disposed of accordingly & not poured down drain
- Recycled paper and plastic used throughout printing and shipping
Why do you choose to release only one exclusive Flare Street designed collection a year?
Fashion is constantly changing and evolving, but some things are always present and we try to create meticulously designed garments that people will want to hold on to forever, through all seasons.
Our flares are designed to be trans-seasonal and we achieve this through the use of different colours and fabrics. Our flare-lovers live all across the world, wear their flares throughout the year and to all kinds of occasions: birthdays, snow days, work, lounging around, festivals… you name it!
What’s next? Can you give us a hint?
We’ll be placing a huge focus on exploring more sustainable fibers and printing on recycled fabric – that is fabric that is made from collected pollutants and plastics from the ocean and turned into a beautiful, wearable fabric.
Design wise, we can’t say yet but we are so excited about the designs and designers coming! You’ll just have to wait though…
It’s a surprise tomorrow for Day 5 of Fashion Revolution Week! Stay tuned!
