It feels a long time since I wrote to you all and if this was a school report (fairly topical for the time of year) it would definitely say "could do better" which is rather reminiscent of most of my school reports.
So this is my new Autumn 2024 Season commitment, that on most, if not all, Sunday evenings I'll write a little missive, however short or long, to keep you in the Bias loop.
As ever, lots of water has flowed under the Bias bridge and much of it has been filled with SS25 appointments; yes, can you believe it, that I'm already signing off orders for Summer 2025. And who knows what the climate will be by then. We can only hope that the commitment we're all making towards slower fashion will contribute somewhat to the huge work there is to do around climate change.
So I was in London a couple of weeks ago choosing Blanche, Max Mara IBlues and Sofie Schnoor Summer 2025; I'm popping down there again for the day this coming Tuesday, and with afternoon appointments in Manchester on Wednesday we should just about be able to sign off the Bias Summer 2025 Collection. Phew!
Seems a little ironic that in the last week or so we've only really just begun to enjoy some sunshine for 2024!
Last week Aurehlia was largely at the helm on the shop floor which gave me time to do some tidying of the upstairs rooms.
We have the builders arriving in about ten days time to work on the second, smaller room upstairs and, by the end of October, we hope to have transformed it into a Winter Gifting area. Much of our lovely bath wares, perfumes and toiletries currently downstairs will form part of a lovely curation of gift ideas in this new upper space.
Anyway, I'm getting slightly ahead of myself because the first priority is the launch of our full Autumn Winter 2024 Collection which takes place on Wednesday 11th September from 3pm to 7pm.
Everyone is very welcome to join us in the Malton Store for a glass of something to celebrate the new season. I'm hoping that we'll have a good range of labels reflected on the rails including Mama b, GR Nature (the relatively new brand from Lithuania), Summum Woman, Sofie Schnoor in addition to the fabulous Max Mara IBlues label which is already gracing the store floor.
So, it's been a beautiful sunny day here in Malton. I've just got back from a lovely early evening walk with Paul and Monkey in slightly cooler temperatures than the rest of the day. The fields looked wonderful with their freshly rolled bales of hay and we picked blackberries for breakfast tomorrow - our green and pleasant land.
We've had some lovely sunshine over the past few days and I enjoyed planting some native, wild flowers at mums grave with my sister and step-father on Friday (she would have been 87years on that day)
And yesterday, a short but totally enjoyable trip to Edinburgh to catch a couple of the fringe events including a fabulous performance by the Stray Notes, a well known Harrogate choir. They have three performances taking place at The Fringe and we loved watching them in the rather unlikely venue called Brewmania full of Hen Parties and other rather raucous crowds. However the repertoire was well chosen and everyone enjoyed singing along to some great well known tracks. Alison, who has featured in many Bias Fashion Shows and photo shoots, was part of the Stray Notes choir and was our main reason for heading over the borders.
We ended the day with a delightful early supper at Kora, one of the Tom Kitchin restaurants where the food and service was splendid.
After so much enjoyment, it's back to work first thing tomorrow; and I'm looking forward to being in store for my usual schedule of Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
I hope I see some of you over the next few days and, in the meantime, don't forget to put Wednesday 11 September in your diaries.
much love, Sally x
