Looks from Caitlin Crisp’s Season One collection. Images supplied.
Designer Caitlin Crisp debuted her Season One collection for her eponymous womenswear brand this week and it’s a truly beautiful range. Caitlin’s designs first caught our attention in the Graduate Show at New Zealand Fashion Week 2018 with her dreamy layers of ruffles and gingham. New Zealand came to love her as the charming and always smiling designer on Project Runway New Zealand last year and she’s been busy ever since working on her first proper collection. It was very much worth the wait though with Caitlin introducing a cohesive and considered range that offers elevated pieces that are oh so chic. It’s clear that the designer has mastered easy dressing and knows how to create winsome garments that are out of the ordinary.
“I never sat down and wrote out a plan, for the business, a timeline, or even to design the collection for that matter,” says Caitlin. “My roots are in pattern making and construction, so before this I was always whipping up new clothes in my spare time anyway.”
“Season One is a collection of garments that I had designed and made over the past year that filled a gap in my wardrobe. A shirt that wasn’t too formal, or too casual, in a fabric that wasn’t too high maintenance. A dress that I could wear reversibly, depending on my mood that day. A bias cut skirt that sit flat, that wasn’t black but was still flattering. Lastly, a small nod to NZFW collection last year. They were actually the last things I made, a mini trench for myself and a long one to go down the runway. The one I made for myself attracted more attention than anything that was in the actual collection! So I had to put it in production.”
Each piece in Caitlin’s Season One collection is designed to be easy to throw on and feel comfortable and confident in. Her style is reserved but still joyful with fun spots and playful gingham. She’s utilised soft cotton for most of her pieces which is the perfect transeasonal, breatheable fabric. The designer already has a diverse customer base and she has been garnering feedback from them in the process of creating her range to make it something that they’ll love too. Alongside the ready to wear options available on her website she also has special one-off pieces for customers to rent or buy too.
“In complete contrast to the everyday, versatile pieces of my core collection, I also like to dress up. A lot. I love making random fun pieces, that maybe 20+ people wouldn’t wear, but I know at least one woman after my own heart would. So I have continued to create beautiful one-off pieces, some available to buy and others available to rent. I’m thrilled to have come up with a slightly unconventional business model that allows me to keep sewing and creating everyday rather than just leaving it all up to the manufacturers.”
Images supplied.