COLOURS OF AUSTRALIA | home
Layering made easy
Layering is a way of life, creating
texture upon texture, colour harmonies, or colour contrasts.
Cloak is designed in such a way that many combinations
are possible, adding variety, interest and individuality
to your look. Combine knitting with silk, felt with hemp,
silk with bamboo..........
If you are a little hesitant, find it a little scary......
that's ok!
I've created a few 'looks' just to give some suggestions
and to show you how easy it is. The first time I showed our
RIB VEST I was proudly telling my customers you could
wear it 2 ways! I've recently had some play time in the studio
and discovered there's actually lots and lots of ways
you can wear this super simple garment!
Simple layering first:
Take a twisted silk dress
add a silk shirt
and a knitted little vest
This would look great
on jeans or with a longer
skirt underneath.
Another example:
Take a twisted Silk Long dress
Add a Twisted Silk short dress;
(looks good already!)
Add a knitted brown singlet top
If this is too tame for you,
you can try a different colour
singlet, turquoise perhaps?
We don't want to get boring so we add a splash
of green with a Rib Vest
I also like it off the shoulder:
Voila!
You could have a long/short sleeved
top on underneath if it is a little cooler.
You can add tights, pants or a maxi skirt.
One of the tricks with layering is to wear
soft fabrics that are not too thick so
you're not adding bulk. I think
layered outfits look interesting AND
they hide some of our sins.....
Can you see why we came up with the name CLOAK?
(Thanks John, I know it was your idea, but
I was clever enough to recognize it as brilliant!)
A green/brown version:
Take a Twisted Silk brown
long dress, add a silk
shirt with contrasting details
on the collar and cuffs.
Here's that handy little singlet again
Add a long style Rib Vest
with buttons
and you look great!
This is not over the top
for you novice-layerers!
Brown, grey and green
combine fantastically
to create a very interesting look
with texture and versatility.
Now for my wonderful RIB VEST.
Are you ready!
Pull up the collar and pin in place.
Leave it hanging open.
Pin a little lower, pull off the
shoulder a touch
Wear it the other way, back to front,
looks great on the back:
Fold double with knitting
going length ways. Pull over your head.
Fold double with knitting
going across. Pull over your head with
short side in the front.
Fold double with knitting
going across. Pull over your head with
long side on the front.
(Ha! You didn't realize we have
a long and a short side, right?)
Fold double with knitting going across. Pull
over your head with the folded edge on
your back. On the front, pull the top layer
aside and flick casually to the back!
(You can use a pin to keep it there)
Fold double with knitting going across.
Pull over your head, this time with the
folded edge on the front. Flick the
top layer from the back to the front
and add a little fold as shown.
Again you can pull the 'collar' together
and pin.
Here the bottom layer has been pulled
through the opening to form a fake collar.
This can also be worn the other way!
Are you ready for something a bit more radical?
I don't mean to distract you from the exercise
on hand, but how's this for layering: adding
a colourful belt adds a whole new vibe.
Back to the RIB VEST!
This time the Vest has been left open in one flat layer
and we've pulled it over our head.
(The hole is ofcourse one of the arm holes)
The rest of the vest is hanging down on the back.
Nice and warm but with an air hole.......
This is not a great photo actually but
we've used a belt to pull the sides
forward and to shape the back view.
The arm hole is very interesting,
don't you think? If you had a different
colour shirt/top on underneath, it would
show very nicely.
This is the back view but you could also
do this on the front........
Now we're getting to the
'a little more way-out' look:
I know, not for the faint hearted,
but think of the conversation starter
or stopper! you'd make.....
Single layer over the head as before,
then pull the bottom edge, which is hanging
on your back, to the front and pin into place.
You can fold the edges in to create a very interesting
shoulder feature.....
It is actually comfy to wear it this way and it
does look interesting and architectural!
(Wasn't that always your dream?)
All jokes aside, I hope I've been
able to stimulate your creativity
by showing only a few of the many possibilities
with layering, colour combining and wearing
things another way. Life can be a bit dreary at times
and if we can inject a bit of fun and colour
into it, we should!