Alabama Chanin Spring 2010 Ready-To-Wear

I just discovered this designers Spring 2010 Ready-To-Wear collection, but thought you might be equally as interested in her & her design process.

The following text is taken from an article written by Laird Borrelli-Persson on September 11, 2009 & can be found here:

"Natalie "Alabama" Chanin does good work(s). She compiles oral histories of Southern textile workers, salvages old quilts, and is striving to make her business zero-waste. All of the stitchers who create Chanin's (quite literally) homespun garments work from their own houses and live within an hour-and-a-half radius of her family and business base of Florence, Alabama. And they use organic materials grown and produced in the good ole U.S. of A.—a fact proudly announced on theAlabama Chaninlabel. Is it any wonder she's a Fashion Fund finalist?

This is actually the second time Alabama Chanin, the person, has been in the running. The last time was when she was a partner in Project Alabama (with which she is no longer associated). "It's tight and succinct," the designer said of her Spring collection, which came in hues of doeskin, earth, blush, ruby, and midnight blue. "It's very clean."

You won't find bandage dresses or miniskirts at Alabama Chanin, but that doesn't mean she's not offering something more than just folksy charm: Witness a wrap top with a flyaway back train that offered a peek of skin, for instance. But it's the handwork, of course—the couching, the reverse appliqués, the "Alabama fur" (really strands of thread) —that keeps fans rooting for the home team."

As for the collection itself: I LOVE the color palette, I have been getting very into beiges & neutrals for clothing recently & I really appreciate the whole earth-mother vibe.