STYLE STORY: WHIMSEY BIRD DRESS

You will see a lot of East Coast art aesthetic in the design influence throughout the Adirondacks collection. Pyrography and tramp art -- and you’re going to hear a whole lot about whimsies.

“What do you have, 500 whimsies you’ve collected, Cheryl?” Audrey asked.

“Not 500. Maybe 400,” Cheryl conceded.

“Ok, 498,” Audrey responded.

“Listen, I’m really good at collecting!” Cheryl laughed. “It’s been over the course of 30 years they were bound to add up!”

“And what were you planning to do with them?” Audrey inquired.

“Well, I was going to do a coffee table book on them, originally” Cheryl laughed.

“That was my justification when I started collecting them years ago. And for like, three decades after that. That’s how interesting I find them, and the unique technique, and the ingenuity of the Iroquois and Tuscarora women to capitalize on the influx of tourist traffic and trade; I wanted to do a visually pleasing but also informational coffee book about whimsies. I’d still love to, but Audrey always tells me I have to ‘finish the collection I’m designing first’, so I took the opportunity to work them into this collection – aesthetically and educationally (our catalogs are basically coffee-table worthy productions at this point) – and the Whimsey Bird Dress is arguably the standout piece of this collection, so it wasn’t for nothing!”

All sister silliness aside, the hundreds of whimsies Cheryl has amassed over the decades really did spark something in her perpetually churning mind. The Whimsey Bird Dress is bound to be the absolute darling of the Adirondacks collection.

“Let me just preface by saying that, as a brand who prides themselves on their embellishments and embroidery, the Adirondacks collection has raised the bar on even our impossible standards,” Cheryl said.

[Even Hedy chimed in, “I’m a stickler; I check every stitch, and y’all, this is incredible – next level.”]

“But what sets the Whimsey Bird Dress apart is that we incorporated that dimensional element,” Cheryl explained. “The embroidery is essentially 3D, it has that texture. It’s impossible to ignore. And the dress itself is amazing; it’s luxe velvet, it’s a tiered relaxed fit, it has that tie-string neck. I wore it for the live line launch of Adirondacks in our Facebook group, and I put it on, and I think I actually said out loud, ‘Oh yeah, this is a winner. This is easy to wear’.”

[Who among us that were reading the comments on the live launch want to break it to her that Hedy has already called dibs on this dress for Christmas mass?]

So, for those of you who are wondering what will happen to Cheryl’s massive collection now that they’ve served their aesthetic inspirational purpose…

“I guess I’m going to sell some of them now,” she said.

“And why’s that, Cheryl?” Audrey implored.

“I’m out of room.”