CEY Takes on the White Mountains!

Maybe it's the voyeur that lurks within, but I love seeing photos of photoshoots. I love watching photographers working in their medium: coaching, maneuvering, and creating beauty out of what seems unremarkable to my untrained eye. And the subterfuge of photographing clothing that's not entirely weather-appropriate but making it appear so is doubly fascinating. Our Fall garments are often shot in the springtime, but luckily for us, this is New England and one can find any weather condition on any given day, just get in the car and drive!

Meg was lucky enough to attend one of our fall shoots in the White Mountains of New Hampshire earlier this year and shares her thoughts and photos with us here. The snapshot posted here ended up as the cover of our Waterway booklet. Can you identify what other Fall garments were shot on this trip?

For this photoshoot, the forecast was for rain and it was a grey drive the entire way--we were all on edge about this because Susan chose the location, somewhere in the White Mountains in New Hampshire, specifically for the many outdoor locations we could shoot. The rain did hold off, but there were a few precarious moments of juggling umbrellas to keep the models and the camera out of the drizzle

This snapshot was from the very first part of the shoot. The river behind our photographer and model, I imagine, would usually be a small creek. However, we were there only days after the record-setting March rains in New England, and the creek was roaring. That afternoon we shot Waterway (get it?), Woodland and Prairie.

That first afternoon we worked until dark and spent the night in a small cabin on the hill. In the morning we woke up to a fresh dusting of snow, which could not have been more perfect! It gave us a completely different setting for the next day of photography. The little red barn in the photo below is the same barn where we shot many of the Portland Tweed/Prairie photos, but it looks like a whole new place in the snow.

Unlike the drizzly day before, it was frigid and very, very windy. I couldn't get enough layers on to keep feeling in my fingers and toes (after all, one can only put on so many wool socks and still squeeze into a boot). The snow continued to fall, just enough to show up on close-ups. That second morning we shot Liberty Wool and Cabin. Cabin was shot on the steps of the same cabin we spent the night in, with the models taking turns on the porch while the other warmed up inside.

Being a transplant from the Rockies, I particularly enjoyed a night away in the mountains while getting to see some New England scenery tucked away in the mountains. The white trees all looked like strange aspens to me, but now I know they're birches. And now I also know what a sump pump is, and that it isn't a "sub" pump.

(It took me years of living in Boston to know what a "sump pump" is. You are not alone...)

We love showing you the inner workings! Once again, thanks for reading!

Fall Looks-Cables!

I love cabling. As a child, we spent our summers with our grandmother, whose mother arrived here from Ireland as a young newlywed, and she was a wonderful knitter and crocheter. When I napped, I snuggled with an enormous crocheted blanket in the colors of the Irish tricolore, green, orange and white.


Every holiday was an occasion to receive a new cassette tape of traditional Irish music, or even better, a beautiful cabled sweater. The comedy of this, of course, is that I was a biracial kid growing up in Manhattan. So I was the only black kid on 20th Street, or any street for that matter, wrapped in a tattered Irish flag and singing "The Rose of Tralee".


Anyway, I guess you could say cabling is in my blood. I love the richness and textural quality of it, and the technique is open to all sorts of modern interpretations. Below are some peeks at how cabling appears in our Fall collection. Enjoy!

Fall Looks-Lace!

Lace always calls to me as an ambitious knitter who is constantly looking to expand her knowledge. It seems that there is an infinite difficulty spectrum of lace patterns, ranging from deceptively simple to mind-numbingly intricate. And yet, despite these differences, lace always looks effortful and complicated. With the right project, you could skyrocket to "master knitter" in the eyes of your peers!

Lace is also oh-so delicious when done in fall or wintry garments, the lushness of the fibers coupled with the openness of the work has always had a particular resonance for me. Check out the short video of lace looks in our new Fall collection.