Two new designers have made their way onto the Baby & Company roster for Fall, milliner Reinhard Plank and shoemaker Cherevichkiotvichki. Both hail from Europe and manufacture their supple goods in Italy. Boasting unique visual languages that toe the line between romantic and individualistic, we fell in love with the designs as it is obvious both Reinhard and Cherevichkiotvichki are dreaming in material. Most valuable to us at Baby & Company, is that the designers we carry share a slow fashion approach to running their businesses, giving time and attention to quality and manufacturing. And yes, we challenge you to say their names three times fast.
Reinhard Plank has fully taken over the contemporary hatter market while employing traditional millinery techniques. Originally an industrial designer, Plank has been running his eponymous hat design business since 2005. In the beginning Reinhard Plank envisioned a collection of modern hats that he continues to present conceptually as ‘portable homes’, as if the hats are places for our thoughts to live and where we will find quiet respite from the elements. Working in waxed, oiled and painted leathers that often appear as craggy and textured as the cliffs of Big Sur, his 2015 fall collection emotes a character who steps from a dark street corner, into the limelight, before disappearing into the misted alley.
Warmly personal and overly sturdy Cherevichkiotvichki shoes are built to last (pun intended). Victoria Andrejeva’s line is named in old Slavic meaning ‘a shoe by Victoria’, but said in a cute and playful manner. Brought up in Lithuania with a fading Soviet influence, her self-taught designs whimsically denounce utilitarianism while uniquely employing hand-made processes in her Italian atelier, creating a lasting product from craftsman-ship that stands the test of time.
Victoria Andrejeva and the Cherevichkiotvichki studio in Hoxton, London. Photograph by Kasia Bobula
Fall has come to the Northwest earlier than usual. We’ve had a few heavy rains and the nights are decidedly cool. As we anticipate the arrival of Cherevichkiotvichki’s shoes and don our hats from Reinhard Plank we can’t help but thank the old world crafts people for bringing their knowledge forward and to praise the artisans of today who have absorbed the valuable information from the past. To all of them we tip our hats, out from under the awning, as we walk headlong into the winter nights with a warmth.
