I feel like a golden oldie as I catch up with I Heart Norwegian Wood as I think back to our very early collaboration when Angie Johnson made my frilly cagey dreams come true back in 2008. For love or money even if I become all lumpy and bulgey in all the wrong places, there's no way I'll be parting with that dress. It feels extra good to know that since our foray into lingerie-inspired cages, I Heart Norwegian Wood has been on the up, collaborating with the likes of Topshop and now having sent a bumper order off to Anthropologie. Despite these huge retail endeavours, she hasn't deserted her original Etsy store and her new A/W 12-3 collection will soon be dripping in, bit by bit, ready to warm our cockles (whatever that means...) with her distinctly autumnal collection. The 70s geometric retro bug got her as she looked at that pastime of yesteryear; paint-by-numbers as inspiration for her prints, which she transferred to a bag in collaboration with local designer Kimberly Fletcher.
Actually Angie's ties with the local Montreal design scene seem to have become intrinsic to her work. For instance the wooden jewellery, inspired by pots of paint in a paint-by-numbers kit, were created with Devin Barrette, part of a local furniture collective Furni. She also worked with a local textiles manufacturer to create a custom knit fabric used a skirt, a maxi dress and a pair of knitted shorts that even Angie knew had my name written all over them.
Angie then looked at old family photo albums, plastic covered couches, actresses like Oliva Hussey and Gloria Steinem and the Richard Linklater film Dazed & Confused to inspire the wood-y and faded hues for the collection and the sort of girl that would layer up swans, plastic skirts with leather applique and deer-printed turtlenecks. If you do buy anything from the collection and don't go leaf-crunching whilst wearing it, that would be a picturesque autumnal opportunity missed.
