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flaunt the imperfection
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Published: Thursday, September 22, 2005
The Matches Game
By Nina Jones
LONDON — The Matches group of seven boutiques carries the likes of Marc Jacobs, Balenciaga and Lanvin, but owners Tom and Ruth Chapman still felt that something was missing. "We'd been planning to launch a collection for the last couple of years," said Tom Chapman. "But we didn't want it to be perceived as an own-label brand, which is usually done to create a lower price point. We wanted our customers to find something that wasn't available elsewhere."
So the Chapmans approached the New York-based design duo Christopher Crawford and Angela Deane of Christopher Deane to collaborate on the line, which is called Freda, after one of the Chapmans' favorite girls' names. The 23-piece collection includes items such as satin-back crepe cocktail dresses, cropped alpaca jackets and cotton velvet circle skirts. "It was exciting to be a able to work with the price point for Freda [which retails from $400 for velvet pants to $1,620 for a cashmere coat]," said Crawford, whose Christopher Deane line is contemporary. "We wanted to create pieces that would stay in the closet longer than one season, that would deserve a repeat performance," he added. To wit, the duo have added luxurious details such as textured wooden buttons on the collection's alpaca wool coat, and fabric-covered buttons on cropped wool jackets.
excerpt from wwd.com
**it would be great if some of our british members could have a look at this stuff at a matches boutique and report back on quality, details, fit, price...etc...
The Matches Game
By Nina Jones
LONDON — The Matches group of seven boutiques carries the likes of Marc Jacobs, Balenciaga and Lanvin, but owners Tom and Ruth Chapman still felt that something was missing. "We'd been planning to launch a collection for the last couple of years," said Tom Chapman. "But we didn't want it to be perceived as an own-label brand, which is usually done to create a lower price point. We wanted our customers to find something that wasn't available elsewhere."
So the Chapmans approached the New York-based design duo Christopher Crawford and Angela Deane of Christopher Deane to collaborate on the line, which is called Freda, after one of the Chapmans' favorite girls' names. The 23-piece collection includes items such as satin-back crepe cocktail dresses, cropped alpaca jackets and cotton velvet circle skirts. "It was exciting to be a able to work with the price point for Freda [which retails from $400 for velvet pants to $1,620 for a cashmere coat]," said Crawford, whose Christopher Deane line is contemporary. "We wanted to create pieces that would stay in the closet longer than one season, that would deserve a repeat performance," he added. To wit, the duo have added luxurious details such as textured wooden buttons on the collection's alpaca wool coat, and fabric-covered buttons on cropped wool jackets.
excerpt from wwd.com
**it would be great if some of our british members could have a look at this stuff at a matches boutique and report back on quality, details, fit, price...etc...
