Apologies for the temporary silence, but La Petite Caravane just expanded.

Translation: I recently gave birth to our second child. A beautiful baby boy.

With all settled down again, the caravan is ready to continue the journey.

A small summer collection is on the design table. Details soon.

Fine tailoring lasts for generations, as shown at a recent wedding I attended outside Dublin. To complement his morning dress, this gentleman wore a top hat made for an ancestor in the late 1800s. Inside the hat, a signed tailor’s label shows his great-grandfather’s name.

Equally stylish, his wife wore a striking hat with veil.

Now down in Kilkenny, there is a sign on the outside wall of clothes shop in High Street capturing that spirit: “Worth will tell”.

Unfortunately, worth does not mean that a business will last. Bourkes’ clothes shop went out of business ten years ago after serving generations in the area.

An indulgent moment with another 60s-inspired dress. I made the pattern and sewed it by hand.

I like simply elegant dresses: Slight boat neck; two sets of darts in front and back; a strong macha green polka dot silk print.

Originally I planned to add draping over the dress in homage to 60s (and so I could learn the art of draping).

Having finished the draping, however, I decided to leave the dress “bare”.

To give the 60s a contemporary touch, I am wearing a varnished belt.

I drew these three old-style “cartables” (French school satchels) as a nostalgic nod to my childhood and to celebrate La Petite Caravane’s role in society beyond clothing.

Why celebrate? La Petite Caravane raised enough money to fund one year of education for three girls: One in Vietnam, another in Cambodia and another in Nepal.

Why Room to Read? The founder, John Wood, is a friend who launched an organization based on hard-nosed principles of efficiency and transparency. The results have been remarkable.

Why girls? Another friend, and economist extraordinaire, Esther Duflo, shows in this must watch video how opening opportunities to women helps break inter-generational poverty cycles. An investment in educating a girl is a powerful way to fight poverty.

The Girls’ Education Program at Room to Read targets lower secondary school girls and helps ensure they have the opportunity to complete their studies.

This money was raised from my commitment of 10% of the price from each item sold at the 5 trunk shows launching La Petite Caravane and am now proud to announce the results.

Going forward, I will find a way to adapt the 1% model used by Salesforce:

- 1% product

- 1%  time

- 1% equity

Social responsibility is at the core of La Petite Caravane.

Photo by Patricia Tejedor

Patricia Tejedor liked the Anita Dress she saw at the first trunk so much show that she bought it as a blouse for her 7-year old daughter, Cayetana.

A talented photographer, Patricia sent this photo of Cayetana wearing the dress as a blouse. As a young designer, it is encouraging to get such enthusiastic feedback.

Thank you Patricia!

Anyone inspired to take photos, please send them to thuytien@lapetitecaravane.com

As some may know, last week I finally launched my children’s wear line, La Petite Caravane.

(You can see the full collection on La Petite Caravane Facebook page while I fine-tune the website!)

Encouraged by the enthusiasm for my designs and fabric, several models sold out almost immediately.

As a young designer, launching my first collection was a nervous moment. I was sharing both my first designs and the fabrics I have been collecting.

The launch could not have happened without so many supportive friends – Sylvie, Rachel, Anne-Sophie and Hoa – who generously opened their homes and invited their many friends.

Sylvie, one of my friends who hosted La Petite Caravane trunk shows

One mother was so eager to see the collection that she turned up a week before launch day at Hoa’s house.

Quite a few mothers wanted to squeeze themselves into the Zoe olive shorts and the Iris Ikat blouse. Perhaps there is room for an adult line of La Petite Caravane?

The support from friends was wonderful, but nothing compares with the excitement of complete strangers appreciating my designs.

During the shows, I wanted to create a univers beyond the clothes. This meant carving out space for the story of La Petite Caravane within someone’s home.

To accomplish this, I sewed a large flag version of the caravan logo on a muslin cloth with a burgundy ribbon.

Using leftover fabric, I sewed a garland of festive triangular flags featuring patterns from the clothes. On another rope I sewed tennis ball-sized red pompoms. The garlands criss-crossed the room, giving a playful atmosphere (Children had great fun pulling them down!) I used a large swatch of beige linen to cover the presentation table.

In addition to creating a space for La Petite Caravane, these accents served to anchor the brand in fabric.

Those buying clothes were able to choose among the 150 muslin pouches I sewed, each with a swatch of colorful leftover fabric. Everyone took their time choosing among the bags, based on the swatches. One swatch was from the first dress I sewed (and shared on this blog). It was fun sharing a piece of my sewing history!

Some mothers were thrilled to tell their children that the clothes helped others. (Ten percent of the price of each item sold went to Room to Read.)

The most enriching part of presenting my first collection was feedback from many perspectives. Hong Kong’s diverse population allows for so many different takes on style and aesthetics, including Dutch, Indian, Italian and many others.

For some English mothers, a boy’s Mandarin collar is too formal. By contrast, for the French, the Mandarin collar is more casual than the straight collar.

An Italian mother urged matching boys and girls sibling outfits, a popular phenomenon in Italy.

With all this first-person feedback from around the world, I could imagine no better place for La Petite Caravane’s journey to begin than Hong Kong.

Adjusting the Anita Magenta dress on Jasmine

]]> http://thuytiencrampton.com/2011/06/21/la-petite-caravane-the-launch/feed/ 2 thuytiencrampton la petite caravane lapetitecaravane-sylvie la-petite-caravane-garlands lpc-charlotte la-petite-caravane la-petite-caravane http://thuytiencrampton.com/2011/06/12/la-petite-caravane-summer-collection-launched/ http://thuytiencrampton.com/2011/06/12/la-petite-caravane-summer-collection-launched/#comments Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:11:40 +0000 thuytiencrampton http://thuytiencrampton.com/?p=1814 ]]> Just posted photos of my first children’s wear collection for La Petite Caravane.

Any feedback on my designs?

Full-sized images in photo album of the La Petite Caravane Facebook page.

Beyond awakening curiosity, creativity and imagination in children who wear clothes from La Petite Caravane, I want to support other children.

For that reason, I will donate 10 percent of the price of each item sold at the trunk shows to my favorite cause: Room to Read. (I will also have a collection jar for people who want to donate more.)

Where and when are the trunk shows? Full list here.

In 2007 I launched the first Room to Read event in Paris and have seen how they open horizons for children by providing books. John Wood, a friend, built the organization after leaving his job at Microsoft. It is a remarkable story that he turned into a book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.

Looking ahead, I want to integrate social change for good into La Petite Caravane.

Most would agree this is a worthy goal, but how?

Any business aiming for social change needs to do so in a sincere, transparent and credible manner.

There are a number of models to follow, perhaps the best pioneered by Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce.com.

Benioff, whom I once met briefly, is wildly passionate about his company’s role in society. He began with a concept that evolved into a pledge by Salesforce to dedicate 1 percent of its resources into making the world a better place.

At the start, that was a small pledge. Now, however, Salesforce has grown into a Silicon Valley giant working to spread the model.

The one percent model involves dedicating:

- 1 percent of time: All Salesforce employees get 6 paid days off a year devoted to volunteerism.

- 1 percent of product: Salesforce donates licenses to non-profits to help them increase effectiveness.

- 1 percent equity: Salesforce dedicated one percent of the company’s stock, which now provides for grants and monetary assistance to support youth, technology and employee-inspired volunteer projects.

Should La Petite Caravane adopt the 1 percent model?

After months of designing, sampling and quality control, La Petite Caravane will launch this week with trunk shows in Hong Kong. (Sneak peek from my drawings above and on the La Petite Caravane Facebook page.)

Private trunk shows are a great way to create your univers to test the waters and see what appeals to old and new friends.

The support of friends has been crucial in launching La Petite Caravane. Among them, Sylvie, Rachel, Anne-Sophie and Hoa have generously offered to host trunk shows at their homes. Details below.

More than just designing clothes, I want to help those less fortunate. I will donate 10 percent of the price on each item sold to my favorite cause: Room to Read. Having launched the first Room to Read event in Paris in 2007, I have seen how they open horizons for children by providing books.

For those living in Hong Kong, I hope to see you at the trunk shows!

And for those living abroad, the website launches soon. I look forward to getting your thoughts and comments on this first collection. I will post some items here until the website is up and running.

How can you help? Spread the word with a “Like” on the La Petite Caravane Facebook page.

Some of the upcoming showings of the Summer Collection 2011. Also, visits by appointment are also available at the showroom in Central Hong Kong.

Any problems? My mobile: +852-9136-8990

Clothing design is important, presentation is also important. I am not Japanese, but do believe in giving a gift form plays an important role.

Tissue paper may be easy and is most often used by retailers to present their clothes, but I want to be more personal and find a wrapping idea that lasts longer than the two minutes of tearing.

Beautiful presentation does not require complex materials or design. Nothing beats, for example, wrapping a gift in simple brown paper with a beautiful colorful ribbon.

For La Petite Caravane, I have created cloth pouches for the clothes.

Hand-sewn by myself, the pouches are made from muslin, the same fabric used to make a toile, the test garments constructed in the final stages of designing clothes. I enhanced them with a touch of color from leftover fabric used in the collection.  To add more color contrasts, I overlocked around the entire pouch in colorful threads. Green will be this collection’s color of thread.

Intended for use beyond presentation, I have designed the pouches in a shape that has always been useful for me, especially when traveling. I often recycle cotton or linen pouches for various reasons, such as packing my clothes, wrapping notebooks, postcards or even separating shoes from clothes in baggage.