Exiled on the French Riviera in a Belle Epoque 16-room mansion on a headland above the sea, The Rolling Stones set themselves away from the world for six months to record their famed album, Exile on Mainstreet. They took their fiercely independent spirit and exacted it into a living dream. 

In 2015, Baby & Company was hard at work on our own dream world and commitment to The Slow Fashion Movement. We reveled in the individual and expanded our tribe to include revolutionary designers. We invite you to traipse through our rooms to see where our own independent spirit led us to mine for beauty to impart to you.

Lose your dreams and you might lose your mind. -Mick Jagger

The Gilded Gate

Silently compelled to wander forth. Enigmatic messages delivered without a word. Weighted dreams formed into inspired garments. Delicate transparency sways through a manicured hedge maze. Bewilder the sun to set and the moon to envy your shadow.

We elected The Wandering Protagonist as our Fall muse at Baby & Company. We ignited our ideas for in store offerings and installations with her in mind. We extended her reach into multiple art forms and with it created a set of interdisciplinary works centered on this singular idea.

The Drawing Room

Clothing has transformed from a frozen object of beauty in a tableau to a tantalizing aspect of a narrative that is primarily about life as we now live it. - Kismaric and Respini

The interdisciplinary light that fashion has shone brightly in recent seasons is gaining momentum. Embracing the concept of any medium becoming part of a garment allows for imagination to lose boundaries and take hold. We introduced Mona Kowalski, the mind behind A Détacher. Her collection at first blush was stunning; like turning the corner in the Museum of Modern Art to find a bold Robert Motherwell abstract canvas. We mused on the meaning of the garment names and the inspiration for the prints and color pairings.

We held our own color theory class by researching the origins of pigments and dyes. We took fascination with arcane admixtures invented by monks to make the first bottles of Chartreuse liquor from 130 herbs, plants and flowers specific to their region in France. We traced the harvesting, inventing and manufacturing of pigments that have defined empires. We demonstrated our own take on saturated hue-soaked fabrics with our Color Block Editorial.

The Parlor

Our Owner and Buyer, Jill Donnelly, traversed to Paris Fashion Week where she was met with a pop of fresh blooms, a wash of nude light on delicate concrete and textured panels of sheen. Sweeping silhouettes of reworked patterns were borrowed from the menswear repertoire. Uneven notes were struck in hemlines, bags in tow and shoes that had the feel of the exotic.

broad blue armoured like this
everything is all stacked up
lined and taken home

and we measure
light now like this
-excerpt from Paris Poem, Greta Bellamacina and Robert Montgomery

The Skylight

We began our Full Moon series with Jamie Leigh Fish at the helm giving us insights and prophetic notes to mold our thinking each month. Commissioned artwork by Garek Jon Druss accompanied her beautiful messages.

In the Dark Moon, find the plenty in the quiet and feel the acceleration of the universe in each and every cell of your body. There is tranquility for you there in the dark, rest in the expansion of the Universe and recognize that you’re an intrinsic part of it.

The Winding Staircase

We delved into our deep love of Minimalism with our Spring editorial In Motion. Minimalism was born in the art word in the sixties. It embraced the concept of the absence of form and space playing as much of a role as what is present. It employed materials as a vehicle to carry meaning. Steel, marble and fiberglass were bended and swayed with quiet revolt. Designers have transformed these ideas into garments with a focus on the beauty of neutral palettes and unparalleled construction and fits to alter the body into a living canvas.

Washer Table, Eva Hesse, 1967

The Dining Room

Legendary style is not a title handed over lightly. True style is born of internal instincts that often defy contemporary logic. It is also imperative to have strength of delivery. And to understand that every detail is a gesture and every decision is an explanation.

We began our ICON series to expand on the women we emulate for their style and character. We examined the unequivocal effortless glamour of Charlotte Rampling; the epitome of tomboy cool and graceful aging in Diane Keaton; the whimsical and triumphant instincts of Linda Rodin; and bombshell songbird Francois Hardy enacting her Bohemian dream.

She was a sun, radiant, growing, gathering light and storing it—then after an eternity pouring it forth in a glance, the fragment of a sentence, to that part of him that cherished all beauty and all illusion. -F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Basement Studio

We have a reverence for detail, a passion for natural processes and a fascination with talent close to home. Our new line of denim and mens shirting, Shockoe, welcomed us inside their atelier in Richmond, Virginia to see exactly how they design and produce their wares. The beauty of making was evident and the quality that results speaks for itself. They exclusively work with two Japanese mills, Kuroki and Collect, bringing forth unrivaled fabrics.

Private 02 04 enlightened us on the beautiful process of Slow Cashmere which begins at the foot of the Alps in Northern Italy with pure cashmere and cotton from local family mills who have been working with natural yarn for centuries. The pure fibers are woven on rare vintage looms from the mid-twentieth century to produce a dream-like finished knit.

The Fireplace

We believe in participating in our community on every level and with this we support The Mockingbird Society. It is a nonprofit organization that holds the mission of all young people  reaching adulthood healthy, supported and with the full opportunity to thrive in life. They specifically work to improve foster care and end youth homelessness. We donated $12,000 from our Designer Closet Sale to further their cause.

The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others. — Mahatma Gandhi

The Game Room

The heritage of a country is imbedded in its garments. We took you to England for a spirited look at what has formed their legacy in fashion. We held our True Brits Pop Up Shop in December and brought the contemporary efforts of accomplished British designers Margaret Howell, Nigel Cabourn, Antoni & Alison and You Must Create. Their work reflects their weighted past while sweeping us forward with their own gleaming eye. To be truly British is to be an individual above all. 

 I love London and its culture. I want to encourage people to love art and believe that culture can save the world. Culture is about people’s outlook on the world and along with art, is the anchor that holds us together as a people and gives life greater meaning. -Vivienne Westwood

The Gardens

While wearing jewelry is as ancient of a practice as they come, it continues to morph and alter in contemporary times. We now have the luxury of employing age-old techniques while also applying modern sensibilities. We found striking geometry in Another Feather’s minimal mod collection based in Portland. 5 Octobre delivered a delicately wound pony bracelet with red silk thread and precious enamel and black diamond charms. New to our roster, Ginette NY’s forms and shapes had our minds drifting to the work of famous Romanian sculptor, Constantin Brâncuși. Master of a singular visual language; his minimalist lines gently swayed inwards despite being composed of marble or steel.

The Terrace

We collaborated with Photographer, Paul Hernandez and Make-up Artist, Tom Pollock. The result was a saturated black and white editorial of Fall offerings from Baby & Company. In our interview we wound through their theories on the secret to creating enigmatic beauty on film. Both Paul and Tom expressed conviction that balance on a set is critical. A synchronicity where each member on the set feels they have a voice and a presence from stylist to model. This democracy allows their devotion to spontaneity and authenticity to flourish. With absolution Paul stated, “I want to be in awe.” Silence floated after these words as it should. As there is a beauty in language with an absence of explanation. 

The Candlelit Hallway

On the heels of the 2016, we turned our gaze to legendary parties that still leave their mark as guidance on how to motivate the night to glimmer. Take a breath and become your own muse. Suit yourself in beautiful wares that change the light in your eyes, if only for a few precious hours of escape. Happy New Year, Baby.

Words by Brit Parks