Wish List shopping: Pièce d’Anarchive

piece d'anarchive 01While we are talking about fabulous fabrics, as we were last week, I must mention my addiction to broderie anglais and guipure lace. Both turn up at vintage fairs regularly; broderie anglais in sweet blouses with leg-of-mutton sleeves or as a lace trim on nighties and guipure, more often than not, in shift dress shapes from the 50s and 60s. The best examples have lace that is thick with exquisite detail and pattern, firmly sewn into wondrous but often unwearably small sizes.

How fabulous then, to find that embryonic French brand Pièce d’Anarchive (SS13 is its third season) has produced a collection of drop-dead gorgeous guipure lace shirts and dresses for spring, in entirely wearable shapes. What’s not so good is the prices, we’re definitely in fantasy shopping territory here, but never mind, let’s roll with it and dream a little.

The girls behind Pièce d”Anarchive are French and search out top end artisanal makers using traditional methods and old-school machinery for a quality look using fabulous fabrics. They’ve produced small but well received ranges of knitwear previously and I am very taken with the new season beautiful bomber jacket in tweed with knitted lurex-speckled sleeves.

For summer 2013, the long sleeved lace shirt comes in white or black, as does the lace T shirt blouse. The lace looks so modern but also entirely wearable -it would work well with Boyfriend jeans…We’ve been mentioning the importance of beautiful basics recently but there’s no doubt a well built wardrobe needs a shot of something special and a bit of total fabulousness goes a long way. There’s a lovely video here showing the clothes in action.

If you really MUST know the prices, the bomber is for sale at LN-CC and the shirt from Browns, but you wont like it.

The images, shot by Paolo Roversi, feature Arizona Muse, a wee slip of a twenty something with a grown up sensibility that you mat remember from the Next and Louis Vuitton campaigns. Nice aren’t they?

shirts 03 copy

5 Comments

  • Sue says:

    Well, you did warn us about the price…But you’re dead right.Sooo lovely.

  • Amanda says:

    I know, let’s just keep in fantasy shopping land for today, and hope someone else does lace shirts soon we can afford…or wait for the sale of course…A

  • Monix says:

    £1,330 for a shirt! With neon piping?! Though I do agree that cheap lace items look …well cheap and that one should pay more…but that much? This is when I turn into my mother telling me they bought their first house for about that price…

  • amanda says:

    Mon, I said we were in fantasy shopping territory….calm down and add up how much your combined pashmina collection costs…Ax

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