In the Studio with Caslon Designers and at the Shoot with Jenny Runk | Nordstrom Fashion Blog

In the Studio with Caslon Designers and at the Shoot with Jenny Runk | Nordstrom Fashion Blog

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Messing with a good thing can be a great thing, especially when it comes to wardrobe basics. Throwing on a cozy tee is good. Throwing on a French terry tee spun from natural fibers and a beautifully crafted scarf looks, well, pretty great.

Working from such an agreeable assumption, a team of designers sought to revisit the beloved Nordstrom lifestyle brand Caslon. Relaxed dressing is definitely having a moment in the fashion cycle. So the time was right to reevaluate the classic tees, sweaters and pants that have become our essentials-oh, and to add denim, footwear and accessories to the mix! We stopped by the Caslon offices at Nordstrom in downtown Seattle to speak with the group there, then snuck behind the scenes of a shoot with model Jenny Runk.

"Caslon was always a casualwear brand. But we felt there was a lot of opportunity to expand on that, to give the apparel a refresh," says Senior Design Director Amanda Rank. "But we know from statistics and research that this brand is highly searched online, that the customer that shops at Nordstrom is really aware of this brand and loves Caslon."

The customer is devoted for many reasons: Caslon is timeless, comfortable, relaxed, clean, sophisticated and fun. When speaking with the group of designers and merchandisers who were behind the brand's relaunch, their own excitement is obvious. They laugh easily, talk over each other animatedly, expand on each other's assertions and enthuse over the process that brought them together to create a line of clothing that can simplify dressing for modern women.

Ease of dressing is something that the designers stressed during the creative process. The Caslon customer is a busy, involved lady. Pieces that she can quickly combine will become her favorites. She goes to the coast on the weekend, perhaps a child's soccer game, she cooks for family and friends, she brunches and she travels. She has a pretty great life and doesn't want her clothes to impede that. "It's all about the weekend and how you style it," says Rank. "It's uncluttered and promotes simplicity."

Spring is definitely about linen. The Caslon lady will live in breezy, beach-ready clothes, like softly cuffed pants, utility jackets (for easy layering) and beautiful blouses with ticking stripes.

From season to season the pieces will play with each other. Everything is very earthy and natural. "Our customer tells us all the time that if she can have pieces that she can mix and wear wherever, she really appreciates that," says Rank. "Launching denim is very exciting because that gives us items she can wear all year." Caslon Denim arrives this February, featuring a skinny fit and a boyfriend jean. Cashmere knit pieces will appear in the fall.

But just as exciting is the brand's expansion into soft accessories and shoes. All print and woven materials are designed in-house from scratch, so everything is unique to the brand. Working closely with a manufacturing house in India, Caslon designers created scarves that play off the apparel. "All our scarves are out of India and are a lot more handcrafted. We worked closely with the India team on really unique weave structures and worked back to some elements in apparel," says Selena Sanders, senior design director of soft accessories. "Their technical expertise allowed us to put different border trims together, and other things that aren't in any of our other lines."

"With this brand it will be a consistent brand story that will be fun to evolve collectively," says Kim House, footwear design director. Even with the shoes, the coastal trend continues to the wearer's toes with lace-up espadrilles (on model Jenny Runk above) and jute platforms (on Runk below). All the materials lean toward natural leathers and rubbers. Additionally the team travels often to identify trends, and House was fortunate enough to study footwear designs in Paris and the French Riviera. You can see the area's influence in the sophisticated yet laid-back results.

Ultimately Caslon is an everyday brand for the everywoman and every woman-styles are available in Petites and Encore. And it will continue to be so, even after it has undergone its revival. With such thoughtfulness behind how we wear clothes and how we feel when we do put into every fiber of this new, old line, these reinvented classics are here to stay.

SHOP: Caslon for women

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