AOC Finds a Bloomsbury Spirit at MatchesFashion

Anne has shopped MatchesFashion for years, on the hunt for the best fashion trends blowing across Britain. Even the ‘Bring No Clothes’ Bloomsbury crowd might have taken a good look at Matches.

When Virginia Wolf advised friends and colleagues coming to the Bloomsbury Group’s home Charleston in Sussex to “bring no clothes”, she was advising them to pack lightly and with a democratic spirit.

Wolf’s instructions admonished visitors to leave all wearable fashion items like whalebone corsets, starched crinolines — even military medals — at home.

Those instructions feel more political than aesthetic in 2023, given the importance of design, color and even gorgeously-sensual floral paintings emerging from the creative minds of Bloomsbury members.

A Must-See Bloomsbury Museum Show

A new museum show ‘Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion’ arrives just in time for London Fashion Week. Opening September 13, 2023 and closing January 7, 2024 — and sponsored by Christian Dior Couture — ‘Bring No Clothes’ explores the impact of the Bloomsbury artists on design in fashion and home interiors.

‘Bring no Clothes ‘Bloomsbury and Fashion’ is sponsored by Christian Dior Couture. The Summer 2023 Dior Men’s Campaign clothes are featured in the museum’s visuals but are not sold onsite.

Curated by writer Charlie Porter, ‘Bring No Clothes’ explores numerous questions like:

How did Virginia Woolf navigate her disdain for fashion alongside her love of clothing?
How did Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell’s hand-made clothing form part of her creative life?

‘Bring No Clothes’ Had No MatchesFashion

The answer of why the Bloomsbury crowd didn’t shop at MatchesFashion is a simple one. Virginia Woolf could not shop at MatchesFashion, even at the end of the summer season. She died in 1941 and her sister Vanessa Bell in 1961. Matches was birthed in 1987 by Tom and Ruth Chapman.

Were the Bloomsbury Group privileged bohemians who dabbled in the arts – or creatives who made an important contribution to the development of modern culture? There are ardent voices on both sides on the question.

It’s generally agreed by all that the Bloomsbury tribe used their unusually creative, educated and informed minds and a powerful strain of self-confidence to reimagine or recreate everything they didn’t like.

Bloomsbury Artist Duncan Grant and Designer Christian Dior

The elite group of artists, philosophers and writers had allies — including the founder of one of the world’s most successful luxury brands Christian Dior.

From the dior Men’s summer 2023 Campaign, Lensed by Rafael Pavarotti.

Designer Kim Jones celebrated this union, joining France and England in a celebration of flowers and gardening in his Summer 2023 Dior Mens campaign.

In choosing the work and life of Duncan Grant, a British post-impressionist, Bloomsbury painter who shares a birthday with Christian Dior, the artistic synergy separated by the English Channel was further intertwined by Kim Jones at Christian Dior’s seaside childhood home in Granville, Normandy.

House & Garden UK at Charleston House

Let’s pop into Charleston House with Britain’s House & Garden for a look into the heart of this famous bohemian artistic refuge.

Major restoration projects are intensive and ongoing at Charleston. Take a look on this brief tour by Britain’s House & Garden magazine.

Anne and MatchesFashion: A Long History

As head of fashion and product development for Victoria’s Secret in the glory years, Anne was at Matches in London nearly every month.

In a nod to democratic principles, I always had a driver in London — but one among a beloved group of cabbies. No limos for me. Just a dark-colored luxury sedan worldwide — except for London.

Typically I arrived on a night flight, checked into the best hotel for coffee and a shower, then walked outside into a typical London morning. My driver was waiting, and I hopped into the biggest back seat in Europe.

“Matches?” he queried, like a scene from a movie — when it was he who always had my day planned out in advance. “Absolutely,” was my response. “What’s happening at Matches?”

Yes, my London cabbie colleague was primed to fill me in on all the latest fashion events in the city — from art shows to new shops. He was a businessman, owner of his own taxi, and destined to experience a lower level of dementia in old age — thanks to his scholarly command of the mind-blowing maze that is London streets.

We almost always headed out first to the coolest store in London, known for its support of young and avant-garde fashion designers and artists.

MatchesFashion and Chopova Lowena

Then and now Matches continues to court cutting-edge fashion talent; and you can’t tell me that Virginia Woolf would not have worn Chopova Lowena. It was MatchesFashion who first discovered Chopova Lowena on Instagram, and AOC broadcasted the message in March, 2020.

Like her sister Virginia, Vanessa Bell would have adored Chopova Lowena at Matches. Based in London, recycling folkloric fabrics, deadstock materials and utilizing traditional craft techniques, the brand’s aesthetic was perfect for an artist intellectual who sewed her own clothes.

See Fall 2023 arrivals at MatchesFashion Chopova Lowena for Women.

MatchesFashion and Harris Reed

When Harris Reed, now creative director at Nina Ricci, launched his collab with Etro in November 2021, the collection was available exclusively online at Etro and MatchesFashion.

Today, you will find Reed’s Fall 2023 arrivals at MatchesFashion Nina Ricci for Women.

Matches Fashion and the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange

When AOC took us to Buckingham Palace in February 2018, to celebrate the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange, MatchesFashion co-sponsored the event with Swarovski and The Woolmark company.

Simply stated, Matches Fashion is all over Anne of Carversville for years — and in a good way. Bringing us together was a perfectly splendid idea, and I take no credit for it.

Bloomsbury, Matches and Me

It’s indisputable to me that the Bloomsbury artists and MatchesFashion would have gotten along swimmingly.

Except that disagreement imperils the world in 2023. The liberal values embraced by progressive artists, designers, art directors, photographers and models are under assault — and especially in America.

There may be sighs over the digital airwaves, but Anne is leading the charge to argue that it’s enlightened luxury brands that may be the world’s best hope for protecting liberal and progressive values — even if the mission is a stealth one.

When The Guardian linked into my British Vogue article with Kate Moss in Fendi Couture, being photographed at Charleston in Sussex by Mert & Marcus, all hell broke loose about four weeks ago today.

Intuitively, I sought to bring Charleston House into a connected story of Charleston, SC in America.

Charleston Beyond Bloomsbury

Given the connection between Britain and America, there had to a ‘now’ story here — beyond the name of a long-dead king of England [Charlestowne].

I queried all three of my AIs and only after reformatting questions at least 10 different ways, did Lulu on Squarespace AI inform me that Charleston, SC had its own ‘Charleston Renaissance’ at the same time as the ‘Harlem Renaissance’ and the popularity of the Bloomsbury crowd. Voila!

They all came together in Paris and in other parts of France. Naturalism and travel were key to opening the creative minds of Charleston Renaissance painters as well. We will explore these connections in the coming weeks.

Flemish Floral Paintings Led Us Out of the Dark Ages

These artists all were heavily influenced by the Flemish painters who were radical in their day, as enlightened minds emerged out of the Dark Ages of Western Civilization. As we speak, these Flemish-inspired Bloomsbury flowers prints and patterns are all over fall 2023 luxury fashion pages. Borgo De Nor really caught my eye at Matches.

Given France’s more progressive views on the entire concept of race — most recently referred to in my review of the Louis Vuitton Men’s Fall 2023 campaign — placing all these artists in Paris or in the countryside at exactly the same time, and often for extended stays, made the ground shake just a little under Anne’s ballet flats.

Throw a Young American Designer Into the Mix

Going on long enough — as we all know I can do and why we log over 4 minutes on an average AOC visit — practicality took over.

Reviewing the pages of the MatchesFashion website one more time, trying to wind up this story, my purpose was to call out the greens that abound in Resort 2024 collections, but are on sale at MatchesFashion.

It’s a four-month stretch from end of summer now to the 2024 resort season next winter.

Fashion frugality was on my mind, because the aspiring luxury consumer is executing a serious bit of wallet management in America.

Anne was being very practical and helpful in my search when the name Louisa Ballou popped into sight. What a fabulous name!

Louisa Ballou Is From Charleston, SC!!!

After Anne banged her hand on the side of her head in disbelief, then I saw her clothes — featured in the dominant green visual — speaking the design language of that beach-loving, progressive and open-minded, multi-racial group of global culture lovers so important to AOC. Then I began reading and searching for info on Louisa Ballou.

“Why am I not surprised! And she has a design library without limits, influenced by her mother. Does Ballou have any books about the Charleston Renaissance?”

Fashion Stories Beyond the Clothes

At Anne of Carversville, these stories are never only about the clothes, and today is no different.

Selling luxury clothes and innovative ideas — and especially sustainable luxury — is fundamental to what’s going on in AOC world. But so is the protection of humanity’s forward motion — especially around fundamental ideas of free thinking, personal liberty and social justice.

Every day, the future of American democracy is front and center in my mind and strategic planning, often with old-school Republicans and Independents, as well as progressives like myself.

Green Color at a Great Price

Simultaneously, I am making the case for green color, luxury style at a good price at MatchesFashion — and my newly-discovered, emerging designer Louisa Ballou.

It’s all called multi-tasking with a strong dose of human persuasion. . . . for a cause bigger than ourselves. It’s a crazy mix at AnneofCarversville.com, but this is my tribe.

Today is no exception. Peace out. ~ Anne