Yesterday I was able to spend some time on a conference/video chat with L.L. Bean’s Creative Director Alex Carleton, who talked about mining the LL bean archives of over 100 years to gather inspiration for the new fall 2010 L.L. Bean Signature collection.
Alex said editing was the biggest challenge for the fall line – “Where to start and where to begin; the great thing about the company is that there are all these decades that we can draw inspiration from, and looking at the decades so that they can inform our design process today. Defining New England style, based in the outdoors, preppy yet rustic, versatility, a collection that can take you from the country to the city,” were all key elements that he noted.
He also named Ali MacGraw as inspiration, who looked and personified the style of the line. Otherwise, the style for fall is natural, rich colors, classic styling, tailored fit, retro prints and patterns, and the line overall is based on mix and match.
Continue reading…
