You've seen my two Bow and Drape pieces previously in my two outfit posts "School Girl" and "Crop Tops and Excel Sheets," but I wanted to talk to you a bit about the company and my experiences with them. Bow and Drape, like eShakti, is a clothing company focused mainly on cool chic clothing that you can customize.
I actually met Aubrey Pagano, CEO and president of Bow and Drape, briefly in their Boston studio before they moved their whole operation to New York, and purchased a discounted sundress from her. With my curiosity piqued at this small clothing venture, I wanted to know more about the company and their clothing.
This little mission statement is taken directly from the Bow and Drape website and the sweater at the center is a key piece of their clothing line. It's one of their staple items that you can customize using their website. Bow and Drape was officially launchd on October 2012 after generating over $30k in Kickstarter funding.
Like the sundress I purchased, Bow and Drape originally had a rotating collection that featured dresses and other "seasonally appropriate" attire. I remember last year they were experimenting in shorts, smart blazers and cute tops during the transitional spring season. You can still find links to these items on their FaceBook page. I'm actually unsure if you can still purchase these pieces, but if you click on the links in the photo description you're brought to a working page on their website that I assume you can purchase from.
Cute stuff right? |
So how does this customization thing work? Well, I've ripped an image directly from their Kickstarter explaining that for you!
Previously, with other dresses and more "customizable" items of clothing you could choose the sleeve length, skirt length, color, material and accents. Right now, on their main page, it seems like they moved towards a simpler wardrobe with customizable sweatshirts and shirts with cute appliques and sweet embroidery.
By clicking on "Customize Your Own" you'll be brought to a page where you can pick the base item. Their customizable tops, sweatshirts and accessories range from between $18-$58. From there, after selecting an item of your choice, you'll be brought to a pretty awesome interface, where you'll design your custom piece and watch it come to life before your eyes!
I really enjoyed the customization experience that Bow and Drape gave me, but I preferred the custom suiting and dress options over their cute sweatshirts and tops. Personally, I prefer things that aren't really embellished so the pieces I designed only have an embroidered unicorn in discreet places.
They have a really great return policy as well! Especially since they're customizing clothing items all day. So long as your Bow and Drape garment is unworn and the tags are attached, they'll take the return free of charge within 60 days of purchase.
If you're short on ideas of witty quotes you can check out their "Best Sellers" page.
Currently they're also running the #pun-isher contest, where you can put your wittiest (non copyrighted) quote up for a weekly popularity vote! If your quote beats out the rest, you'll get 10% commission of every shirt they sell with your exact design. You can read the rules here.
Packaging
I was really impressed with the packaging and presentation of the items I ordered. They came promptly and in this cute little reusable bag.
See how excited I was? I got the excited shakes! Therefore...blurry photo.
Everything came wrapped up super cute and super neatly in this little love package from Bow and Drape. It came with a little note...
Pieces
I only own three pieces of clothing from Bow and Drape. A dress and two tops! I really love the black and white tops I customized, I think they're great basics in colors that I already wear often. Black and White. Not too complex, right? They fit well and their quality is good for the price I paid. I would say that their clothing quality is comparable to Top Shop items.This sundress is what led me down the Bow and Drape rabbit hole. It's 100% silk and in size XS. It's constructed well and has a inner lining on the bottom half of the dress. Overall, I like it and the summer that I purchased it I wore it quite often! Looking back, I think the elastic waist design of the dress leads the back to be a little too "poofy." There's a lot of excess material there that I don't like visually.
I've been eyeing a crop top for a long time, but I was waiting to find the perfect one...and this was it! I loved the little mock turtleneck, the texture and the zipper detail. As I mentioned before, the overall quality of these pieces is reminiscent of Top Shop. The material of this top is stretchy and thin, so if you don't wear the right bra a lot of lumps and bumps will show through. There are also little plastic "hanger holder" strings attached to the crop top, I've cut mine off, but previously I would just stuff them into the top itself and it looked like I had tapeworms crawling on the inside of my top. I advise cutting those off if you get one to get the most joy out of your crop top.
This last piece is probably my favorite. It's a basic black sweatshirt with a beautiful texture and a simple zipper detail down the sides. I can wear it on it's own like I did here, while I was apple picking, or layered, like I did here in my School Girl outfit, so it's a very versatile piece that stands out on its own.
Overall, I would buy from Bow and Drape again, but I think I'll either purchase from the archived dresses, suits, and shorts on their facebook page or wait until a piece really calls to me.
Let me know what you think! What are you favorite pieces from bow and drape? Leave them in the comments below!
Bow and Drape
Website
Great post! The black is my favorite but I actually love that dress you have on! And the unicorn detail is so cute!
ReplyDeleteWhat size did you choose in the black sweatshirt? I can't decide between S or M (don't want it too snug under the arms but don't want to be swimming in it either). You seem about my size and you look beautiful in it!
ReplyDelete