Why doesn't everything have pockets? Seriously.
When my dress doesn't have pockets I'm lost. Correction! My phone is lost, my keycard is lost, my hairband (if it's not on me head)..lost!
Also, this is 2020, so now that we need a face covering wherever we go. Keeping one in a pocket at all times means no awkward interactions or futile errands run. How many times have you got to the supermarket/corner shop only to realise you've forgotten your face mask so can't go inside. It's insanely annoying. Pockets save your sanity never mind your belongings!
So when it comes to designing clothing for Revival Retro's own range every new design starts with the assumption "it needs to have pockets". We design with pockets and only when in sampling we can see that it will ruin the line of a garment or the fabric is too delicate to hold anything, only then will we consider their removal. We think they are that integral to creating clothing that women want to wear.
Our new Cambridge Dress arose from multiple discussions about how much people love our Handy Pocket skirt. The A line shape is extremely flattering and we believe and discussions with loyal customers have confirmed that pockets are an everyday essential. So could we make a dress version of this skirt?
The handy pocket skirt has big deep pockets. Oversized phones/small tablets disappear with no outline. Friends with children have told me it's amazing how many things they can store in there! Because of the size of the pocket we opted to anchor it to the waistband rather than sew it in to a side seam where the weight of the contents would easily mean the garment would be pulled down.
With a best selling skirt design as the starting point, the question was what type of bodice design did we want to create. many of our customers are curvy and from a fit point of view we wanted the dress to accommodate a larger bust. We wanted this to be an everyday dress so it had to be suitable for work and personal life so the neckline would be modest. Lastly, we wanted this to be something you would enjoy wearing all year round so we decided shorter sleeves with the option to layer would be best.
We needed a fabric that wasn't too light, a great colour and had something interesting about it. We opted for a sating backed crepe and used the matt side face out. The reason we took this approach was because this was intended to be an everyday dress and having the satin face out would have made it too dressy, as if you might save it for a special occasion. This way, however, we could have the dress details in the contrast satin; the collar the waistband, the sleeves and the pocket detail. It all adds balance and harmony.
Next season we might even experiment with contrast colours... but that's another story, yet to be told.
These finishing touches elevate the dress. The collar is intended to be pressed open but Amanda (pictured above) showed us how she would pin the collar closed with a beautiful brooch at the neck. We love seeing the dress styled in different ways on different women.
