Babette's Journal

Paris in September

2010-09-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

Babette and Josephine shopping for new fabric at Premier Vision in Paris last week.

Summer 2010

2010-07-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe how quickly time flies but that’s just an excuse for neglecting my duties!

Co-designer Josephine Tchang and I spent ten days in Japan last month working with some of our most trusted and creative fabric resources to develop new ideas for the coming seasons.

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit with our Shibori supplier who let us look behind the scenes to see how this ancient process is done. We got to visit the dyers who still do everything by hand and spent time with some of the textile designers whose work we rely on to make the Babette line so special.

Josephine untying Shibori fabric.

A craftsman dip dying fabric by hand.

Josephine and I reviewing a new weave.

Examining a fabric with the designer.

A second highlight of the trip was a weekend on Naoshima Island just off the coast of the main island on the Inland Sea. http://www.naoshima-is.co.jp/

The Benesse Museums are without a doubt one of the treasures of the modern art world. The complex was designed by architect Tadeo Ando who built the original museum (Chichu) into the side of a hill so that it is largely underground. The Benesse House is a hotel housed within the museum itself. It was fun wandering around the art in our night clothes! The pictures on their web site understate the beauty of this special place. All in all it was an experience that anyone visiting Japan should not miss.

Seeing textile artist’s and art and architecture like this is part of my design inspiration and process. Fall 2011 and onward will reflect and be inspired by these experiences.

My best to you all!

Babette

Fall Blog

2009-10-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

I am just back from a whirlwind tour of Paris, Bilbao and Morocco. Josephine and I spent a week in Paris visiting the fabric shows where we found some fabulous fabrics for Fall/Winter 2010. We also shopped the stores to see what the latest trends are and how they relate to you, the Babette customer.

Before Paris my husband/partner Steven and I visited Bilbao where we saw the Guggenheim museum. It was an incredible experience. The airplane hangar sized room housing the Serra’s alone is worth the visit.

After Paris, Steven and I spent 10 days touring Morocco. It is a beautiful country with many contrasts from spectacular beaches to the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara desert. We loved visiting the desert area where they filmed Laurence of Arabia and many other movies. We also got to visit an annual Berber Wedding Festival in the mountains near the village of Imichil. That was quite an experience. Of course, Fez and Marrakech were interesting too. We didn’t ride any camels however.

Our Spring 2010 collection is currently being sold in the wholesale markets and the reaction so far has been quite positive. Look for our trunk show schedule on our web site and you can get in on the early action as well.

Love
Babette

Summer Blog

2009-06-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

Mea culpa, I said in January that I would be posting every month. None of us realized the amount of work that goes into keeping one of these things up but I promise to do this more regularly.

After a plain lousy winter our Spring business is fantastic!!! Your response to the collection has been nothing short of astounding and we are eternally grateful. We are having fun again!

We are about to ship the Fall collection and the factory has been buzzing with activity. Be sure to check in with your favorite Babette retailer early as we have sold out of most fabrics and there won’t be much in the way of reorders.

On a personal note, my husband and I spent a few days in Copenhagen last month. Some of you already know that one of my first jobs was designing raincoats in Denmark in the early 1960’s. At that time it was one of the most vibrant hotbeds of modern design in the world and not too much has changed in the last forty years. We also spent a week in Norway cruising the Fjords and visiting Oslo. Here is a picture of us touring around.

I promise it won’t be another 6 months before I blog again. Look for us on Facebook!

Welcome to my Journal

2009-01-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

It is going to be fun to tell you about what is happening with Babette, the company and Babette the person. This is my first blog so I want to start with an interesting person I met on vacation.

I just spent the Christmas holiday at Rancho La Puerta in Mexico where I met a most fascinating person, Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He is a futurist and energy policy expert who will be advising the Obama team on ideas about stopping global warming. His views are very interesting and his ideas are thought out so people can make money using his thinking. He has a non-partisan approach to looking at the kind of world our children and grandchildren will inherit. After talking to him I feel so positive that change can happen and it can happen quickly. I strongly urge you to check out his web site.

In the design room Debbie Harder, Josephine Tchang and I are busy merchandising the Fall 2009 collection which we will present to our wholesale customers in February. In case you didn’t know, I design the collection with Josephine who has been my design partner for the past 10 years. Also in Febuary we are off to Paris to view Spring 2010 fabrics.

As we start the new year I have much hope and optimism for the future. We’ve all come through a rough patch these last few months and I am positive that 2009 can only be better. Lets continue to work together and support each other.

That’s all for now.

Babette