The Occidental Dress: Julia Farr Collection Spring 2013

The Spring 2013 Occidental Dress

Ann,

So this is it — the final design to present from the Julia Farr Collection Spring 2013: The Occidental Dress.  As we may have written before, an inspiration for certain of our designs from season-to-season is the necessity and functionality of a piece in a woman’s wardrobe.  The Occidental is one such design.  We introduced our Dahlgren Dress last Fall that we believed was a great dinner dress, where you could go from ceremony to reception or dinner looking sophisticated and chic.  Our Occidental is a adaptation of the Dahlgren for spring and summer, perfect for the office, meetings, luncheons or high tea.  It features a modest scoop neckline that is mirrored in the back, is knee length and has capped-sleeves providing enough coverage for many professional settings in warmer weather.  The dress has a slight a-line to give freedom of movement as you run down the city streets to your next meeting, or sit at a table without constriction.

The material might be our favorite part: it is 100% taupe linen (that to me looks like a pale plum, Ann, but my boutique colleagues and clients mostly disagree with me!) with a subtle silver metallic thread that runs through it.  The dress works with your summer silver jewelry perfectly, as well as pearls with purplish and pinkish tones.

We named our dress after the Occidental Restaurant, located in the heart of downtown DC and a gathering place for Washington power brokers, celebrities and sports figures for over 100 years. Like the Washington institution for which it was named, the timeless appeal and clean, bold lines of the Occidental Dress make it the essential design to take you from the boardroom to your power luncheon.

I’m going to wear mine today!

–Julie

The Sequoia Skirt and Top: Julia Farr Collection Spring 2013

Spring 2013 Sequoia Top and Skirt from the Julia Farr Collection

Julie,

I loved those warm summer days in DC when we would meet at the Georgetown waterfront for a smart cocktail at a lovely outdoor cafe like Sequoia, where we would take in views of the Potomac River, Roosevelt Island and the Kennedy Center. Our new Sequoia Skirt provides the elegance, ease and comfort that we all need on a warm summer evening, while sipping a cool drink from a terrace and enjoying a refreshing breeze off the river.

The luscious Sequoia Skirt is made from a sandwashed silk that is so soft to the touch, it almost feels like suede!  It is a functional wrap skirt, completely wrapping around at the natural waist with a self-tie securing at the side.  What we love about this skirt, besides the luxurious look yet ease to the design, is that the silk fabric wraps to provide complete coverage, so that there is no revealing moment when you walk or sit.  Twenty-three inches in length, the skirt hem hits at approximately top to mid-knee, depending on where you secure it at the waist.  The Sequoia top is the perfect compliment to it!

The Sequoia Top is made from an easy to care for synthetic blend that is breathable. It is elegant in design and essential in its versatility.  The top has a soft, draped neckline with a slightly tapered shoulder line, accentuating the best of a woman’s shoulder.  It it slightly fitted through the bodice to create a tapered waist and has sufficient length with the hemline hitting at the hip bone, a signature element of Julia Farr Collection tops. It can be worn alone with your Sequoia skirt or as the consummate layering piece under knits and blazers.

Julie wearing the Sequoia top and skirt with Lal in the Phillips top.

Although just making their debut this season, both designs are favorites in our collection as the essential top and elegant skirt make an indispensable Spring ensemble!

–Ann

The Phillips Top from The Julia Farr Collection Spring 2013

The Phillips Top in black for Spring 2013 from the Julia Farr Collection

Ann,

Dashing from the essential Healy skirt and Dupont top you wrote about yesterday (and I  have worn both several times in the last month), we are charging into the enlightened territory with the fabulous Phillips Top from the Julia Farr Collection. Wow, this is a gorgeous top! (And just not because we designed it.)  It has beautiful lines in a sumptuous silk that is a great top for a fun cocktail party or dinner – or as the name suggests, worn to an exhibit reception at the Phillips Collection, America’s first museum of modern art housed in the Georgian Revival home of its founder, Duncan Phillips.  The gallery showcases superb works of contemporary art in an intimate setting.  Like the museum for which it’s named, the enlightened Phillips Top combines a modern look with timeless appeal.

The top from the front, side, and back:

It is fitted a the bust, falling straight to the hip-bone. It can be worn out or tucked in to a skirt or both fitted and full pants.  Versatile yet elegant, the Milano top can be part of a chic wardrobe for years to come.  I wore the top to a Fashion for a Cause with full legged white pants:

But it’s also fabulous back to a tailored pant, shown here front and center at Kansas City’s Hudson & Jane boutique.

You may get tired of me in the Phillips, Ann, but I can’t think of a party where I wouldn’t want to wear this top!

–Julie

The Healy Skirt and the Dupont Top – Julia Farr Collection Spring 2013

Julie,

I’m pleased to report that the sun just came out here, so I decided to re-emerge from the rock I’ve been hiding under for the last month – trying to stay dry and warm – to talk about some of our new spring styles.

I’m so excited to introduce two of our essential pieces for Spring 2013: the Healy skirt and the Dupont Top.

We revisit our inaugural design in the Julia Farr Collection this spring – the Healy skirt – made in a light and airy linen/tencel fabric that makes it perfect for hot summer days. It is named in honor of the historic and majestic Healy Hall, the flagship building at Georgetown University.  Our lifelong friendship began at the university, and we honor that beginning by naming our timeless pencil skirt after this iconic symbol of Georgetown.

A classic pencil skirt, the Healy sits about one inch below the natural waist and runs straight from hip to knee, allowing for ease in movement.  The Healy Skirt was designed expressly to fit the shorter-waisted woman, one whose waist and hips are closer in measurement. Everlasting in design, the Healy skirt is an essential foundation piece for every woman’s wardrobe.

I love the fit and feel of our elegant Dupont Top. It is versatile enough to take you from a private museum opening to dinner in one of the ethnic restaurants that dot the eclectic Dupont neighborhood in northwest Washington.

The Dupont is a capped-sleeved wrap top with the hand-tied knot securing in front. The deep vee neckline makes this an ideal top to showcase your favorite pendant necklace or long chains. It extends to the top of the hip bone to cover the waistline of a skirt or pants.

I’ve worn it with my white jeans, as shown above, but it’s also great with all of my many pairs of colored jeans (pink! red!). For evening, I pair it with a black skirt for a very dressy look!

Ann

The Milano Top from Julia Farr Collection Spring 2013

CNN’s Dana Bash wearing the periwinkle Milano top from the Julia Farr Collection Spring 2013

Ann,

I hope you had a great weekend and it has stopped snowing in the midwest! It has been sunny in DC but not very warm for the past few weeks – which has been perfect weather for our Spring 2013 Milano top.  This blouse has been a big hit over the past month, as women could transition to brighter hues but be covered on the cool days.  As you know, we adapted our Milano dress from Fall 2012 to this effortlessly elegant silk top that is just the answer to pair with pencil skirts, tailored pants and jeans.  The blouson sleeves — which can be worn at the wrist or pushed up to the elbow for a trumpeted effect —  and bateau neckline add a modern twist to the easy shape.  Dana Bash was great to wear it on CNN last week in her evening report  and I think she looks just beautiful in it!  For this season, we made the top in both a purple paisley and periwinkle:

The Milano Top in Purple Paisley

The Milano Top in Periwinkle

And here at the boutique, we’ve loved wearing it–

Julia Farr Boutique Manager, Shanlee Johnson, says the Milano Top is her favorite piece for Spring 2013!

I wore the Paisley Milano for my interview with Teen Journalists Joyceln and Reilly

Dana wasn’t the first to wear it on air! Ann, here you are wearing the periwinkle Milano on NBC affiliate KSHB 41 for your Fashion for a Cause live interview.

And this top is not just for the woman over thirty! Young and beautiful model Caroline looks fresh and chic in our paisley Milano at Kansas City’s Truman Center Fashion for a Cause in April (shown here with her mom, Maria):

And as for the name: A cosmopolitan swirl of Georgetown, Capitol Hill, Europe and beyond, Café Milano (located one block from Wisconsin Avenue) is the meeting place for diplomats, politicians and yes, even movie stars.  Our chic Milano top matches the sophisticated ambiance of this fabulous Italian restaurant and DC social hub.  We’ve loved it for Spring and will love it all over again when the leaves begin to fall in a few months. Just wait.

–Julie

Julia Farr Collection Spring 2013: The Dumbarton Dress

The Dumbarton Dress by the Julia Farr Collection

Ann,

Did you think you had lost me?  I can’t believe I haven’t written you in so very long, my last post from Spring Break at the beginning of April.  So here’s what happened: After our really great trunk show at Hudson & Jane in Kansas City, I came back to DC — which is now in full bloom — and have been completely immersed in bustling spring sales at the boutique.  Everyday, women come in searching for the perfect dress for weddings, garden parties and graduations.  I’m very happy to report to you that designs from the Julia Farr Collection Spring 2013 have been flying out of the store.  Oh, we haven’t introduced our Spring 2013 Collection to our readers yet, you say? Allow me, then.

We are very pleased and excited to launch our Spring 2013 Collection at Julia Farr, online and in boutique.  In designing the collection, we were inspired by the Washington landscape in the months of April and May, dotted like a pointalist painting with pops of reds, corals and purples.  We grounded the collection with both essential and elegant pieces in foundational and on-trend neutrals of black and white.  The design that I think we are both most enthusiastic about  – the one that most embraces and even shouts “Spring” — is our Dumbarton Dress in the color “sunset”.

We named the dress after Washington DC’s Dumbarton Oaks, a sprawling, historic estate boasting 10 acres of formal, public garden space, which provides an island of tranquility in the heart of Georgetown. The sophistication of the meticulously planned formal gardens and graceful terraces mirrors the elegant details and craftsmanship in our Dumbarton Dress.  As you can see, the dress has a v-neckline, fitted bodice and front box pleats to create a full, voluminous skirt.  The self-sash can be knotted or bowed in front or back.  It has also has pockets which is completely fabulous!

The dress has walked the runway at the Truman Medical Center Fashion for a Cause in Kansas City and has walked out of both Hudson & Jane and Julia Farr with plans to go to garden parties in DC and around the country.   The Dumbarton Dress is our timeless, elegant and enlightened tribute to Spring and is online now at Julia Farr.

Our chic friend and boutique model, Lal Salih, wearing the Dumbarton (and me in the our Milano dress embracing both color and pattern)

Back next time with the new Milano Top in Spring’s happiest hues!

–Julie

Fashion for A Cause and Julia Farr Collection Trunk Show

Julie,

Have you recovered yet from our exciting week last week? I have, but barely.

The week got off to a rousing start, with my trip to Dallas on Tuesday (where we produce our line) to bring back four new spring designs, and then my first LIVE spot on KSHB 41 with models from Hudson & Jane, promoting Fashion for A Cause.

I was so happy to get you to Kansas City on Thursday, when we went backstage at Bartle Hall to style and fit the models. On Friday, we had our inaugural Julia Farr Collection trunk show at Hudson & Jane, where I was overwhelmed by all the support from so many of my wonderful KC friends.

After some quick hair and make up, it was back down to Bartle Hall for the Fashion For A Cause show – an amazing evening hosted by Carson Kressley (he was really funny!) to benefit Truman Medical Center.

On Saturday, another fun day of our trunk show at Hudson & Jane. It was so much fun to share our designs with everyone here in my hometown! I don’t know how you made the trek back east that night, because I fell into my bed, exhausted, but happy. 

I think photos tell the story better:

Ann with Amy Embry, Fashion for a Cause Chair, and KSHB anchor Jiao Jiao Shen right before we go live. You can see the entire video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx1GDjdcjkQ

Back at Hudson & Jane, post interview, with the phenomenal models Tristan, wearing the Julia Farr Collection Dumbarton Dress and Kyle and Colette, wearing designs from Hudson & Jane.

Julie and Ann at Bartle Hall in Kansas City, previewing the Fashion for A Cause runway

Julia Farr Collection Trunk Show at Hudson & Jane

A few of our designs featured at Hudson & Jane – the Phillips Top and the Sequoia Skirt

Getting ready for the evening, with Ann’s daughter, Sophia, and a couple of glasses of wine. Really, it’s the best part.

The evening begins…overlooking beautiful downtown KC. Julia wears the Phillips Top and Ann wears a new design (not yet named!) from our Fall 2013 line.

The beautiful Ann Sundeen wears the Dumbarton dress in Sunset.

Ann gets up close and personal with host Carson Kressley

Julie ran into her good friend from DC, Sue Bluford. She was in town to support her brother, John Bluford, President and CEO of Truman Medical Center. Welcome to KC, Sue!

Backstage, model Caroline looks gorgeous in our Milano Top in Purple Paisley. Shown here with her mom – who is a high school friend of Ann’s – because that’s how it usually is in KC – only two degrees of separation!

Our Milano Dress on the runway!

The Dumbarton Dress making a statement in the show.

Backstage, at the end of the show, with Carson Kressley.

What a night. Many thanks to Hudson & Jane for letting us take part in this fabulous event!

Until next year…

Ann