Designer DETAIL - One Teaspoon
Take one young girl from Brisbane, add a coach to Sydney, a bagful of her own clothes, a few patterns, two pairs of scissors, a head full of dreams and a life watching her mother make her families clothes. Mix in One Teaspoon of attitude and bake for 10 successful years in the business and you get one dynamic young fashion designer with what seem to be realistic dreams of building a global fashion empire.
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Jamie Blakey's first collection was born out of a bedroom on the northern beaches and consisted of just 10 pieces. For a girl who takes a very relaxed approach to the way she designs, you could say she's done rather well for herself.
Her signature look is a sort of grungy, youthful tuxedo style. Uninfluenced by other designers, Blakey is truly just an Aussie girl who couldn't find the clothes she wanted to wear, knew how to sew and started designing them herself.
"All the girls in the family have been taught how to sew. The first proper outfit I designed when I was about eight was a pair of bright orange culottes made out of poly cotton jersey with box pleats in the front and a black lycra bodysuit with rah-rah frills on the sleeve."
If you like her label now, there's a very good chance you'll continue to love it for as long as she'll keep on designing.
"I design what I want to wear right now. Lots of people say the label has grown up, but so have I."
Blakey claims she doesn't have a muse. She simply locks herself in a room for a week or two with a fully loaded iPod and a packet of 2B pencils and goes for gold. When pressed, she admits there is someone... "She exists in my mind, but she doesn't have a name".
For winter '09 you'll find a sophisticated collection punctuated with distressed detailing and loose, sexy fits. Simple, relaxed pieces come in a moody, subdued colour palette of crisp white, inky indigo, black and grey.
Cropped waistcoats and wrap cardigans have been designed to wear over blouses and tanks and strong, tailored pieces have been made street-ready with messy cuffs on tuxedo-style shirts, and over-sized ruffles on mini shirt dresses.
Harem-style pants in sexy white satin, navy blue, cotton and crinkled black cheesecloth are paired with figure-hugging bodysuits and fitted scoop-neck tees.
Floaty white mini dresses and navy-and-white candy-stripe prints on wide-leg pants and waistcoats fight for space with hoodies and tees in indigo and tie-die and feature playful Cowboy and Indian prints.
Knitted chunky knit cardigans, over-sized jumpers, pom-pom beanies, fur-trimmed mittens and super-long scarves in soft cable knits and lightweight pashmina are snuggly options while the popular basics have been re-launched this winter with racer-back singlets, loose v-neck knits and fitted bodysuits, providing essential winter wardrobe staples.
Picked up by General Pants Co. in 2002 and David Jones in 2003, Blakey sights her first ever fashion parade in 2002 and seeing the trend setting girls of The O.C. wearing her swimwear on the eponymous show as a career highlights. Not bad for a girl of 28. If you ask her, she's only just beginning.
Visit www.oneteaspoon.com.au
View more from the collection here >>
Find One Teaspoon at the following online boutiques:
www.FrockYou.com.au
