Welcome Summer, we missed you – you always make us smile … 

And so here it is the story behind our Summer Collection. We hope that someone special to you will become part of our journey with a little outfit from A&A.

Anyone that knows me well, knows my love of Chanel. My first handbag was a hand me down quilted Chanel bag from my mother. I still have it and I still love it. When I see Alexandra playing dress ups I feel the most wonderful moment of déjà vu.

Every special moment in my life has had a touch of Chanel. On my wedding day, my beautiful mum gave me her white Chanel camellia, for something borrowed. She told me to tie it to my purse, instead I got some satin ribbon, pinned the camellia on it and tied it around my neck, instantly I felt complete, I loved the way it looked, the way I felt wearing it.

When I gave birth to Anthony & Alexandra, I was wearing Chanel Allure perfume, a present from divine husband. My coffee table holds my 2 favourite books -Eternal Chanel & Collections and Creations from my gorgeous girlfriend Mel, who also shares my love for the fashion diva.

And in every Collection of ALEX&ANT, I always add a camellia like flower, a small tribute to a woman who has inspired me so much.

Designing the latest Summer Collection was done with a smile. Dressed in warm clothes, with the fire burning, I got lost in the thoughts of the beautiful scents of summer – the sun, flowers, the ocean, the sound of laughter, love and joy.

I wanted to introduce playful colours to our collection while still keeping to our gentle palette of colours. Beautiful flowers become another inspiring force, gentle shades of lavender, soaring sky blue, soft khaki and a spectrum of pinks weave playfully and naturally into our signature palette of gentle hues.                   

…and living by beach, inspired us to design a practical, beautiful and natural beach story complete with soft voile kaftans, luxurious beach hoodies and jackets to covet.  

For our boys, wonderful wonderful boys – the gentlest fabrics to lie on their skin, practical designs to never stop them from playing freely & to rock this summer!  

An ALEX&ANT Summer is as fresh as the breeze and as playful as flying a kite.  

We’ve sourced the most gentle of fabrics and we have woven them into playful designs that look beautiful and feel great!

We design beautiful clothing for all of the picnics, play-dates, days at the beach and parties. And of course, those perfectly lovely lazy summer days!

“A life without love is like a year without Summer” Swedish proverb. 

Here is to a wonderfully happy summer!

With love & a smile

Caterina x

Don’t get me wrong, I do love some of the rituals of Winter, but I have to admit they are mostly related to food.  I could spend all day in the kitchen when there is nothing especially appealing about being outside. Mostly though, the season is very labour intensive, inconvenient, sluggish, often boring and a little depressing.

I think what we forget during the cooler months is the ability to do things simply and with any spontaneity. So when the sun comes out it’s so liberating to dust off a bunch of sandcastle toys, throw the kids in the car in whatever they’re wearing and head to the coast for a good, old-fashioned beach-comb.

There was absolutely no preparation in this trip except to bring the sand toys.  In my world, that kind of reckless behaviour would normally end in tears for all parties!  Not this day….it was so perfect.

Fleur xo

I’m going to make a strong statement here, we do not do ‘cute’!  It’s no wonder that we look to the classics and I love to go on excursions looking for inspiration.  Here are some stores you may like to visit in your travels (they’re all located in Sydney, I’m sorry.)

A very quick post this week…

Images from Antiques General Store, Narrabean

Images from Pulp Creative Paper, Balgowlah

Images from Neck of the Woods, Manly

The ALEX&ANT team hope you enjoyed your special day on Sunday.

I made some raspberry muffins that went down a treat so perhaps you’d like the recipe? Mind you, that’s all I did! The rest of the time I sat relaxing, drinking Deutz Rose and thinking how lucky I am to have such beautiful people in my life. It’s the sauce that really sets these muffins apart so they’re not the lunchbox variety.

1.5 cups (225g) self-raising flour
1/3 cup (30g ) rolled oats
3 eggs
3/4 cup (200g) mixed berry yoghurt
1/3 cup (80mls) sunflower oil
1 firmly packed cup (200g) brown sugar
300g frozen raspberries (or buy fresh if you can afford it!)
Icing sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Grease a six hole capacity muffin tin or use patty pans in the tin.

Place the flour, oats and a pinch of salt in a bowl and mix well.

Beat the eggs, yoghurt, oil and 3/4 cup (150g) brown sugar in a bowl until combined.

Add 180g berries to the flour mixture and stir to combine. Gently fold in the egg mixture until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the pan and bake for 20 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (and they’re a lovely golden brown colour).

Meanwhile place the remaining berries and 50g brown sugar in a saucepan together with 1 tablespoon of water. Cook, stirring over a low heat for 2-3 mins until the berries soften slightly. Set aside to cool slightly.

Dust the cooled muffins with icing sugar and serve with the warm berry syrup. Any left-over syrup should be folded into porridge for another yummy breakfast/brunch.

Enjoy,
Fleur xxx

It’s been one year since our family moved from my beloved hometown of Perth to Avalon in NSW, and one year of writing the ALEX&ANT blog. Time for a little reflection…

You may recall this house number that I photographed for one of my first blogs…it’s such a shame they felt the need to modernize.

We did the complete opposite when we moved from a large & very contemporary home in Perth to a simple & compact beach house in Avalon.

The swing moved over with us and is in a much better position in the yard, here. It was hanging from our front porch in Perth so the swinging action was very limited!

I’m very proud of how ALEX&ANT has grown as a company and of the blog I’ve created. We’ve experimented, we’ve learned, we’ve matured, we’ve connected on many more levels and we’ve fallen more in love with what we do. The blog is so much a part of me now that I’m not sure I could function without this wonderful creative outlet! Thankyou Caterina, for giving me the freedom to develop this identity for our label.

And finally, on a very personal note, a look at how my beautiful children have adjusted and grown.

Why don’t you tell us your story of how things have changed in the past 12 months or so?  We’d love to hear from you…perhaps we should introduce our own version of a ‘Mom Story’ blog category like those that have featured pieces about me. If you would like to contribute, please send us a few words and some special images to fleur@alexandant.com.au. We look forward to reading about our readers!

Love Fleur x

Caterina, myself (Fleur) & our team wish you love, laughs, smiles & surprises this Christmas.

Thank you for your AMAZING support throughout our infancy and as we grow & grow with each successful season.

Winter 2011 delivery isn’t far away and there are some exciting developments waiting in the wings, so we look forward to your wonderful comments & following next year (if not in-between).

xoxoxo

Isn’t it fabulous being a newborn baby these days?  Coral is so happy in her sister’s arms (she has 3 sisters and 2 brothers) wrapped so snug in Alex & Ant.  In the first photo she’s flanked by my children, Zac & Olive (her cousins) and I just love the other pic with big sis Lotus.

Our Alex & Ant rompers seem to be to her liking too.

Alex & Ant outfits the cutest babies, cheekiest toddlers, savviest kids & most fashionable teenagers.

Love from a proud Auntie, Fleur X

Oh, it’s little baby Coral all snug in her Alex&Ant elephant wrap at 2 weeks of age.  Her Mama says it’s the best wrap she’s used and that’s something coming from a mother of six!  F x