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Designer Notes

Cottage Design Collection by Ivey Abitz

A cottage.

A getaway that’s all your own.

A refuge from the have-to’s and the must-do’s.

Cottages come in different forms: a room set apart from the rest of your home, a cabin in the mountains or by the seaside, or a moment in time where you can shut out the world and surround yourself with comforts.

This is the new Cottage Design Collection — Cottage Camisole, Cottage Trousers, and Cottage Frock. They have a put-together quality about them, yet their abundant ease fills you with the comfort that makes the idea of a cottage so very profound.

We invite you to come to our Cottage and make it your very own. Find your getaway Cottage in Ivey Abitz, and order your favourites straight away!

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Frances from California

Under Fire in a War Zone Looking at Ivey Abitz

by Frances from California

Ivey Abitz design worn by social scientist in Afghanistan.
Frances in Afghanistan wearing her Clotaire Shirt Jacket by Ivey Abitz.

I first discovered Ivey Abitz clothing on my last night of vacation in Paris. I’d spent nearly two weeks there absorbing art, quality design, and craftsmanship. The next day I would board a flight back to Afghanistan, where I had spent the previous 14 months. I worked and lived in southern Afghanistan, in Helmand province, the most violent in the country.

I don’t remember how I found the website, but sitting there in Paris on my last night of leave, I discovered this beautiful clothing that met all my criteria: quality craftsmanship, thoughtful design, and custom made. I am myself a weaver and sewer, and while not nearly as talented as Ivey Abitz, I know enough to identify quality when I find it. It was a fit.

Knowing that I would not have reliable internet for long, I placed an order.

Upon returning to Helmand, Cynthia Ivey Abitz and I struck up an occasional conversation about our mutual admiration for craft and quality. I was back for six more months of living and working in a war zone.

I cannot overstate how much it meant to have a distraction from the violence around me. I served with the British Army, and while our area of Afghanistan was small, we had a disproportionately high amount of casualties compared with the rest of the country. Our task was daunting.

Our conditions were austere to say the least! I lived in a tent with seven other people; we endured a summer and winter with no climate control. However, the most pressing concern there was the fact that we lived in a war zone. Internet access was rare, but when available I went right to the Ivey Abitz site and just looked at beautiful things, and imagined what my world would be like when I was home. There was no better therapy than distraction for me.

Toward the end of my deployment the Afghan phone carrier I had offered very slow 3G. One day our base took indirect fire, where people lob ordnance into where we live. We put on our heavy body armor and headed for the shelters. I sat in a concrete bunker wearing a flack jacket and helmet and waited for pages to slowly load on my phone. Coincidently, that day was the very day IA’s spring 2013 line premiered, and I wasn’t going to miss out on making a mental list of new items to contemplate.

Needless to say, I made my list, placed an order, and by the time I returned home I had boxes of beautiful clothing waiting for me. I love every item I have, and am grateful to Cynthia for providing me with plenty of good things to think about while I was in Afghanistan.

Blanchefleur Duster Coat and Palliser Jacket over the Everett Frock
Frances in the Blanchefleur Duster Coat and Palliser Jacket over the Everett Frock on her return home to California.
Categories
Designer Notes

A Great Traveler and Top Layer

Wispy White/Pond Floral Voile

Romantic without being too sentimental. It is the perfect play of blue and white hues.

Wispy White/Pond Floral Voile in Look No. 1 of the Ivey Abitz Summer Look Book
Wispy White/Pond Floral Voile in Look No. 1 of the Ivey Abitz Summer Look Book

The floral motif flits and floats across the 100 percent French cotton voile.

Semi-transparent.

Wispy White/Pond Floral Voile in Look No. 1 of the Ivey Abitz Summer Look Book allows other fabrics to show through for a special layering effect.
Note how the Wispy White Floral top fabric allows the plaid fabric of the frock beneath to show through.

Ideal for layering in extremely hot weather.

Wispy White/Pond Floral Voile is a great choice for your Ivey Abitz sash or scarf for summer.
Wispy White/Pond Floral Voile is a great choice for your Ivey Abitz sash or scarf for summer.

Great traveler because it looks better crushed. Spritz with water, twist, and it is refreshed and lovely.

Simply hand wash cold and line dry, or gentle cycle cold and tumble dry on low heat.