Amari's Autumn/Winter Collection For 2012/13

Amari can always be relied upon for good value and quality, for clothes that are easy to wear and look after. But we think they've come up with their best designs ever this Season. Here are some of the stars in the collection.

                                                                                     


Ruby Dress
A smart little shift dress in a stretchy textured leaf pattern fabric. Fully lined, it's going to look great with a polo neck underneath or with a little cardi over it. The lining is stretchy too so the dress moves with you. Comfortable and cute.

Adele Coat
A stunning lightweight coat in cotton corduroy with a beautiful ornate print. With button details at the back and cuffs, this is a classic Amari piece that will look equally good worn smart or casual - check it out in black and purple at our website.

Lucy Top
Check the picture above - this top's being worn under the coat. Everyone needs plain tops for layering with prints, but this one has added interest in its textured stitch detail, giving a rippled effect to the fabric. Great for anyone who wants to camouflage lumps or bumps!

Phoebe Dress
A great example of how well Amari understands print and colour - who'd've thought of putting those rusts and pinks together? We also love the shape of this dress. So easy to wear, the tulip shaped skirt gently gathers at the waist and nips in at the hem to create a shapely silhouette.

Eve Tunic
A cosy sleeveless tunic with cowl neck detail, you can wear this over leggings or jeans and it'll look fab with boots. The best thing about it though is the whimsical print featuring little birds perched in the tree tops - adorable!

Daisy Dress
This dress comes in 3 colours - grey, chocolate and we're showing you the black (you can see the others on our website). We mention this just because they're so contrasting, it's like 3 different dresses! This lady looks very smart in hers but like lots of Amari dresses it's versatile, and would look equally good dressed down with flat shoes.

Maisy Cardi
A knitted cropped cardi designed so it won't obscure the lovely Amari garment you're wearing underneath! Nipped in at the waist, it's versatile enough to wear as a jacket too.

Alex Tunic Dress
We're really pleased to see this shape back again. The proportions are so right with its cowl neck, deep pockets and high waist. It tends to suit most people as the tulip shaped skirt has a flattering skimming effect. You can wear this over tights, leggings or jeans, and we haven't yet mentioned how cosy it is!

Hattie Top
This top works for several reasons. It has a  sophisticated flower print in a stretchy fabric that gives a flattering fit, and elasticated ruching at the sides that add texture. Another garment that's going to camouflage lumps and bumps underneath.

This is just a selection of the Amari in stock now. Come and visit us instore or go to the MAKE website to view the collection.

Age Cannot Wither Her...

Women always try to tame themselves as they get older, but the ones who look best are often a little wilder. Thinking about age all the time is the biggest prison women can make for themselves.- Miuccia Prada

I've procrastinated about writing on the subject of 'dressing for your age' for a while, because I think I'm the last person to offer any nuggets of wisdom. While I have a sense of my own personal style, there's been a nagging feeling lately that much of what I choose to wear is inappropriate for someone heading into middle age, that I should tone it down a bit.

But the dominant, irreverent voice in my head (the part that selects these 'inappropriate' garments!) gets cross and says 'But you love these clothes, they express who you are. Why should you compromise on that and who cares what anyone else thinks, Godammit!?'.  I bet I'm not the only woman who has this conversation with herself.

Have you ever looked at those features in magazines in which you are advised how to dress in each decade of your adult life? As the years roll on you see a parade of women in beiges and neutrals. Now this is fine if beiges and neutrals suit you and you like them, but I'm sure that if I wore them, I would simply disappear. I genuinely question whether many of the clothes sold as appropriate for older women were actually designed with the intention of making sure they vanish altogether.

Think about it - women in their 40's, 50's and 60's were the first to wear mini skirts, tie-dyed hippy t-shirts, thigh-high boots, platform shoes, bondage trousers, pixie boots, boilersuits, mohican hair-do's, black nail varnish and dresses made from bin liners (it was the 1980's, what can I say?). Unlike our mothers or grandmothers we did not spend our youth in grown-up clothes - no smart chignons or tastefully applied maquillage for us. Yes we got older and dressing with abandon inevitably gave way to clothes that we can wear to work, but the styles of our youth are still a part of us. And then we're told to wear beige.

My research for this blog has made it abundantly clear to me that there are no easy answers to our dilemma. What's 'old' to one person will be absolutely appropriate for another so I won't even attempt to hand out trite top tips - as you'll know if you've read my previous blogs I tend to avoid Fashion 'rules', preferring to mix it up a bit and have some fun.  The best advice I've seen comes from older women themselves:

• Never stop having fun
• Learn from what other women wear and how they wear it
• Don't say 'I can't wear that because of my age' - it's all about how you feel.
• Wear what you think makes you look good. The advantage of being older is having a good understanding of the colours and shapes that suit you.

There are so many fantastic blogs out there on this subject - here's a small selection that might provide inspiration.

Stylecrone

Stunning 69 year old reveals her life and style secrets.

The Invisible Woman

Writing for the Guardian, this blogger tells it like it is for the older woman who wants to look her best. 

Fabulous After 40

If it's advice and tips you're after this might be the site for you.

Advanced Style

Blogger Ari Seth Cohen's mission is to seek out and photograph older women who still manage to look extraordinary.

  

Fashion For Nerds

This gal has fun mixing up clothes and accessories to pull together outfits that are unexpected and inspiring.

Not Dressed As Lamb

Unpretentious but very stylish 'English bird' entering her forties shares her look.

Writing and researching this blog has convinced me to listen more to my 'irreverent' voice. As I get older I hope I will 'not go gentle into that good night', and MAKE's going to help me in my mission! 

The One About MAKE

It's a sign of the times that I'm writing this for people who don't know anything about MAKE. Once upon a time we were a local shop for local people but now, thanks to technology, we're selling stuff to people all over the place. So we thought you might like to know more about us.

MAKE's been trading on Gloucester Road in Bristol for eight years. We're just one of a diverse and eclectic selection of independently run shops (reputedly the largest number on one street in the UK). And as you might expect of such a lively retail environment, we are not the only purveyors of fashion here. There are lots of vintage clothing shops and boutiques - two more have opened just this year - making Gloucester Road a vibrant shopping destination for Bristol residents and visitors.

Which gives MAKE a bit of a challenge. From being the sole boutique on the street to just one of some fantastic clothes shops, we have to adapt to survive. How? Well, our website which launched last year and our presence on social media certainly form part of that survival strategy. We can now reach out and communicate better than ever before with our customers, as well as drumming up business that would have been inconceivable a few years ago. But ultimately I'm finding it's a return to core values - both ours as a business and those of our customers - that's ensuring our place as an established Gloucester Road stalwart.

All our stock decisions are made with our customers in mind (of course!) and we serve a mixed bunch: schoolgirls, students, mums, ladies in their prime, but actually I find them pretty consistent in terms of taste and values. Like most Bristolians our customers are a laid-back bunch, friendly, relaxed and easy-going. They're not slaves to any trend and like standing out from the crowd in clothes that don't look like they're from the High Street. They love originality, and something a bit different.

So with all that in mind, here's what I think we do best!

 

Fashion that's fun and doesn't take itself too seriously

Colour and Print

Stuff that's different from the mainstream 

Value for Money (this shrug's only £9.99!)

But at a fundamental level what's important to us is that everyone leaves happy.

Now this might mean coming away with a fabulous dress that you can't imagine finding anywhere else, or having a relaxing 5 minute browse after work, or receiving a parcel from us sooner than you expected, or enjoying a nice piece of music playing in the shop, or bagging a great sale bargain, or having a good chinwag with the person behind the till, or getting advice on matching accessories to an outfit, or having a laugh at what I'm wearing that day - I could go on. I just know that making visitors to our shop and website happy is something we strive to achieve every day.

Why We Love Amari

We've stocked Amari ever since their inception in 2007. It’s a label that epitomises our own fashion values: colour, vibrant prints, great value and above all, FUN! As the local boutique for lots of our customers, we try to keep the stock turning over fast so there’s always something new to see. But Amari bucks this trend - they consistently produce the easy-to-wear, different-from-the-chains look that our customers love, and at very decent prices. This means that Amari tends to have a longer shelf life than a lot of our other lines.

We often hear people comparing Amari clothes to brands like White Stuff and Boden. However, as many MAKE customers can tell you, Amari’s massive competitive advantage over these well known high street names is price, with no compromise on quality.

So how to define Amari style? And why is it so popular with our customers? Well for a start you could describe the look as unpretentious. Amari make clothes for women who have a life to lead, so the fabrics are always easy to look after, and easy to wear - they’re often stretchy, while maintaining their shape. There’s not a zip or fastener to be found in the current collection we’re stocking which means you can sling it on and go, knowing you look great.

Zoe Dress

This Zoe Dress for example is stunning - you just know you'll stand out from the crowd in this, with its textured crochet fabric. And yet it's so comfortable - even the lining is stretchy, making it one of those garments you almost forget you're wearing.


You’ll often hear us talking about the ‘classic’ Amari dress, or how their shapes are cut to flatter. Take the Bethany and Lauren dresses for example. 

Lauren dress

Bethany Dress

Over the years Amari have created lots of dresses to this basic shape; a v neck, coming in just under the bust with a tie back or bow at the front, and the trademark frill at the bottom. It’s the classic empire line - great for pear shapes who want to disguise the stomach area while the v neck minimises a larger bust. The frill at the bottom also draws the eye away from bits you might want to disguise and helps the elongating effect this shape has.

And then there’s the prints. As you’ll know if you’ve visited MAKE our stock in trade is colour and print, so it’s no wonder MAKE and Amari are a marriage made in heaven! There are so many we’d point to right now (why not take a look at what we stock at our website), but we really adore the paisley print on this little top - classic, pretty and fabulous colours to boot.

Another great reason to check out Amari is the sheer versatility of the garments they produce. They’re not only great value in terms of price, but because you’ll find so many opportunities to wear them. We’ve already shown you the Zoe Dress which would look great at work or even a wedding, but take the Georgia dress pictured here.

Georgia Dress

Now the model wearing it has been styled to look quite ‘officey’ to my mind. But I think the pocket detail at the front means this dress can also be worn in a much more casual manner, perhaps with leggings underneath, some flat shoes or a nice cardi layered over it. You can’t tell from the photo but there’s a fair amount of stretch to this fabric so again it’s very easy to wear.

This versatility of style reminds me of something I wrote on our Facebook page last year about an Amari summer dress. I commented that it would be equally appropriate to wear it while out shopping for veg, or to a Summer wedding, depending on what you wore with it or how it was accessorised. I think the same holds true for many of Amari’s dresses this year too. And that’s the reason Amari is still one of our most popular brands.

They're The Rules - I Don't Make Them Up...

I once read something Trinny and Susannah wrote that made me want to spit. It was along the lines of, you should never wear a skirt that falls above the knee if you're over 40. What?? Speaking from experience, some women feel the only asset left to them after 40 is a decent pair of pins, so who are T and S to say they shouldn't be allowed to get them out from time to time?


It got me thinking about other Stupid Fashion Rules I've come across. I'm going to take them in turn and attempt to debunk them.


Horizontal stripes make you look fat.
No they don't. In fact actual academic research at New York University Psychology Department proved that they don't (vertical stripes were more likely to affect people's perception in this way). So wear your breton t shirts with pride!


Wearing black makes you look thin
I think people choose to believe this because it suits them to think it's true. Black absorbs light more than other colours so it has a camouflaging effect, making the wearer blend into the background. In my opinion it makes you look invisible, not thin. That's fine though - we all have days when we'd rather be invisible!


Women over 40 shouldn't have long hair
Er, Goldie Hawn anyone?

I know, I know - we can only aspire to look like her. But she does epitomise why you don't have to follow this rule. Some women's faces just suit longer hair whatever their age. Try not to date yourself with a 'non' style, and go for something that frames and flatters your features. And by the way, a fringe can hide wrinkles a treat!


Never wear black with brown or navy
Why not? They're all neutral colours so you can wear them with anything, including eachother. It's just a matter of mixing them in the right proportions, and using accessories to highlight and accent.

Shoes and bags should always match
I'm not even going there.


Never mix metals in your jewellery
This rule is about not mixing gold and silver together. Well how boring! With so much lovely jewellery out there why limit yourself to certain pieces? I love wearing gold, silver and copper bangles together - they look so much sparklier when worn all at once. Last summer I had some silver gladiator sandals and it never occurred to me not to wear my gold dangly earrings with them. Beware of being 'matchy matchy'!


Blue and Green Should Never Be Seen
Erm, that sentence doesn't make sense - does it mean 'should never be seen together'? Right, well although one of my personal rules is 'never wear a bikini', I do adore the print and colours on this one.

I simply don't understand the logic of this rule - blue and green go together really well - green is partly made of blue! For more flagrant blue/green rule breaching, see our Ruby Rocks Dress .


Don't wear clothes out of season
In the days when I tortured myself with aspirational women's magazines, I was forever reading articles on managing your wardrobe. Apparently we should all be packing up our clothes neatly at the end of each season and unpacking next season's. Well I have neither the time, space nor inclination to do this. In fact I love wearing stuff out of season. It's lovely to brighten things up in Winter with a colourful summery print (I just wear layers over and under them), and quite frankly a cosy knit can be just the job given our Summers. I like contrasting fabrics like wool over silk or cotton, and if like many of our customers you're a Nomads Trousers fan, they're stretchy and wide enough to wear in Winter with tights or leggings underneath.


Don't mix prints
Sometimes florals and stripes can look great together, or graphic prints with polka dots.  Have a play, experiment - you just need to be a bit careful with colours, that's all. For me, and this applies to all the rules not just this one, it's about putting pieces together and coming up with the unexpected and surprising.

Of course, you'll have preferences for one length of skirt over another, or a particular colour of jewellery - it's fine to know what suits you, but don't ever think you can't wear what you want because it's not 'allowed'! It's not about what you should or shouldn't wear, it's about whether you like it. Does it flatter you? Does it make you feel good?


The other day I was buying something in a charity shop, and I remarked to the lady behind the till (and I hear this from many of my customers too) that I wasn't sure whether it mightn't be a bit young for me. 'Just wear it with conviction!' was her reply. Now that's one Fashion Rule I think we should all live by.

The Kids Are Alright

The other day I was wiping knee-high sticky handprints off the jewellery cabinets and it occurred to me how much children add to the vibe in this shop. We get a lot of kids in MAKE. Lots of our customers are very Yummy Mummies (you know who you are!) with babies and toddlers in tow. We get lots of Mums with their kids on the way back from the school run, and we have a distinct young teenage crowd who love our hair accessories and £1.50 bangles.

This means that inevitably some of my working day is spent child minding - I consider it part of my job description. I'll often be found wobbling a buggy or reading a story while a busy Mum takes some well-earned time to try something on. And I love it if the baby wakes up and I get to have a little cuddle (sigh!).

Don't get me wrong, I'm no Julie Andrews and I have to admit I've found one or two kids' behaviour rather 'challenging'. The child who got into the window for instance, and caused the mannequins to topple over one by one like dominoes. Or the one who nonchalently brushed her jammy doughnut through a row of dresses!

But I do know that shopping with children isn't easy. For the first 3 years after my son was born I can remember I wasn't allowed into shops. All would be serene while strolling down the street, but pause inside a shop and merry hell would break out, requiring either a red-faced exit or some form of edible bribe (oh dear, not proud of that...).

So here at MAKE we try to help out when parents want to come in for a browse. We've got a loo kids can use if they're caught short, and of course you can change a nappy if you need to. We've got a comfy chair so you can take time out to feed your baby if the need arises. And then there's our famous  toybox. It's not quite to Hamley's standards but it usually provides enough distraction for a dress or two to be tried on. Many's the time I've nearly hoovered up a forgotten wooden brick or toy car that's slipped under a rail of clothes.

We understand that busy Mums just don't have a lot of time (or let's face it, energy) to browse, so we're happy to help out while you're in the shop -  whether that means singing Baa Baa Black Sheep or recommending something that's good to wear while you're breastfeeding.

It's all just part of the service.

Size - Does It Matter?

When I'm buying for the shop I have to ask myself - which sizes are going to sell fastest? Which should I buy most of? It's not at all easy trying to second-guess which shapes and cuts will work best for which sizes and I often get it wrong, meaning we'll sell out too quickly of one particular size and get stuck with too many of another.

As a rule we run out of smaller sizes first (surprising, huh?) - is that because we have small customers or could it be that shoppers' psychology dictates always going for the smaller size?  Actually, I think MAKE's customers are really savvy - they have a good understanding of their bodyshape and what suits them, and while I'm really happy to offer advice I'm rarely asked for it!

Our customers understand that wearing something too small actually has the effect of making you look bigger. And while you may feel uncomfortable about the label reading a size larger than you'd rather be - well - who's going to know but you? Cut it off if you like.

And here's another crumb of comfort. We stock lots of different brands from all over the world, and inevitably there's just no consistency in the sizes.  I consider myself to be an average, medium-type size but I guarantee you I have items in my wardrobe ranging from Small to XL that all fit!

My advice? If you're in the shop, take 2 sizes of the garment you like to the changing rooms - or just ask! We know our stock really well and we can always advise where we think the cut is small or generous. If you're buying from us online you'll see the dimensions of each size we stock, and we've got a Size Matters page for a little more help. Or give us a ring. At the end of the day MAKE staff understand that we're all just people who want clothes that fit and make us look good.