Textile Fabulousness with Ace & Jig at Liberty

acejig7
There is something infectiously thrilling about discovering young women who truly love what they do and are good at it too. I met Jenna Wilson and Cary Vaughan, the duo behind New York based design studio Ace & Jig at the launch of their weave-tastic collection in Liberty last week.

You can see from the photo above how cute they are, smart too, Ace & Jig is already a top seller in Barneys in the US, and is stocked in a scattering of cool US boutiques, the range has an underground cult status that has customers collecting one of every piece they make, with items from Ace & Jig’s limited edition ranges often going for four times the original price on ebay.

The simple but wearable range revolves around the woven textiles Jenna and Cary are so mad about, all the fabrics are woven by families of weavers in southern India, often on vintage looms, where they go regularly to maintain and nurture their small ‘family’ of makers, with whom they have become very close.

It’s a delight to see such gorgeous weaves, the fabrics are complex, delicate in places and intriguing, with dashes of metallic thread lifting an indigo weave and a muslin fine backing adding substance to a floaty stripe. Crucially, they are contemporary, imbued with a Brooklyn coolness that I can see appealing to anyone seeking clothes that have a bit of modern individuality.

acejig3
The girls carried off the range’s multi layered check and weave combo with great style, but I’d probably stick to mixing the pretty and very wearable tops with jeans -I adore the indigo check top above – and am seriously considering the pretty top  Cary has on (detail below). The dresses and coats are also good and a dream for travelling as the soft cotton weave shake creases swiftly.

acejig2

There’s an attractive easiness to the range -the fabrics are soft and gentle on the skin, the shapes are forgiving. They are the type of styles you can throw on anytime, but because the textiles are interesting, are sure to add interest to your look.

acejig
Catch the range at Liberty, where the clothes are presented within a deliciously textural installation, created by architect Ravi Raj, where fabric scraps from the cutting room floor in India have been threaded (by Weaving Hand arts studio in Brooklyn) into a charming in-store ‘wrap’ for the clothes.

acejig6
The range is starting to appear on the Liberty website, so check for more clothes, although not everything is listed yet I notice. American readers have a much better selection at Barneys here, I do hope Liberty has more stock coming.  Definitely a range for textile lovers everywhere. Read more on the Ace & Jig website

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *