STORY & STYLE
Bougainvillea, a slow fashion house, started with a dress Ava Amande, the founder, designed from a vintage silk sari, tailor made while in India visiting her partner's relatives. From there, a family business blossomed. From her partner’s family sourcing the textiles on the ground in India to her mother doing the modelling, it is a true family enterprise. The winter bestseller is named after her late grandmother, the actress Irene Richmond, who gifted her daughter a Singer sewing machine many moons ago.
Silk regulates ones body temperature, making it an ideal cover up in the extreme heat and paradoxically perfect for layering to retain warmth. This high quality natural fibre is luxurious, extremely durable and biodegradable.
Creating an unapologetic feminine aesthetic with cuffed blouson sleeves, raglan shoulders and diaphanous shapes, Ava reworks the iconic silhouettes from the 60s day dress to the bohemian 70s kaftan. These diaphanous one of a kind dresses place Indian textiles at the forefront of the narrative, blending bohemian elements with a sense of historical provenance rendering them timeless.
