Past Presence - Fall 2008 Video - Enjoy!

View our Fall 2008 Lookbook

BEHIND THE SCENES -- FALL 2008

This is my first blog post ever, so I'm sorry if it doesn't sound bloggy enough. I wanted to give everyone a little sneak peak of what the Fall08 Catalog will be like. Today I will post some backstage shots. Tune back for some of the real deal shots next week

The shoot was great and lots of fun (and lots of bagels). The models, Monica and Masha were wonderful and the whole team worked really hard. Kat, a very good friend and amazing photographer & cinematographer let us use her family's house in Great Neck which worked out perfect for the shoot. hope you enjoyed the post. if you didn't then just pretend you did, because its my first one and i'm sensitive and self conscious. au revoir -mimi

it's all about the shoes...

ladies love shoes. men love nice shoes on ladies. good shoes make life worth living, especially in nyc. hayden-harnett <3's shoes. 211 franklin street is shoeville, with no exiles.

ohmydog...everyone at hh is 100% freakily obsessed with shoes, me included. every time the ups guy drops by, 8 out of 10 times, there's a fresh pair of shoes being delivered to some lucky lady who's hoping that "this is the pair"...the magic pair that are super-stylish, comfortable, well-made, and not a total rent buster. the elusive footwear "one".

so, what to do about this all-encompassing problem? bags we have. check. awesome bags for both fashion and travel. apparel we have. check. great dresses and outerwear that we all love and help us refrain from nudity.

shoes were the only thing missing from the mix. time to design some shoes, obviously. so i did. i sat down on saturday, 4/27 and started sketching exactly what i was looking for. style. comfort. personality. crafty leather love. wearability with an edge. kicks with style and soul. interesting to look at. easy to love.

what came of the saturday sketch session? a collection of shoes for hayden-harnett that will launch for spring 2009. nine styles that range from a slide to a zippered cuff boot that can be worn over the knee. all in our signature soft, natural leathers we use on the handbags. seven weeks later, we have a fully sampled line and we're sending out linesheets.

we will be introducing our shoes to buyers during the collections at WSA in the venetian hotel at the end of july. super. hurrah! all the hh ladies love the shoes and i'm now testing out the first pair of personals that i ordered for myself, the iskia link wedge. they float around my foot. they are easy to wear with everything. they are badass and woven with a covered leather wedge heel. they rock and they roll. even ben likes them.

further sneak peeks of hayden-harnett shoes to come.
--toni

Fall 2008 Collection - Preview

Recently we launched our Fall 2008 collection with a little get-together at our new showroom. We thought it was time to offer everyone a peek at some of the styles we've been super excited about. We have a bunch of new and updated bag styles, fabulous new leathers and colors, and our best collection of dresses and outerwear yet. And it will all be available this coming July.



I think Toni describes the collection best: "I was inspired by the contradiction of the natural and unnatural: the man-made vs. nature. Vivid color welling up from and inky, dark background; metallics and slick patents are used for emphasis and pops of texture and unexpected color.



"Prints are inspired by nature and folk weaving, but then reworked digitally to read as modern, almost ghostly. The overall mood for silhouette in both apparel and accessories is about versatility and low-key luxury ... all the items are intended to transition easily from day to night. Design is inspired by both art-deco and primitive design as it would exist in hybrid for a modern world."

Viva Tropicalia! Spring/Summer 2008 Lookbook Movie

rhumba, samba, frevo. hayden-harnett's s/s08 collection is deeply inspired by a love for the passionate arts and culture of 60's brazil. vivid color, bold shapes, and hand-crafted detailing reflect the cultural flashpoint of tropicalismo. so, put on some caetano veloso or os mutatnes on the hi-fi, kick back and watch the surf roll in. remember, it is forbidden to forbid. from corcovado to sao paulo, we hope there's something perfeito for the artisan in you. view the catalog

--Toni

Spring '07: Just Around the Corner!

we're working away on getting the spring 2007 collection finished up and ready to show for september market. we have SO MANY great new bags and items coming...i can't wait until we get the sampling finished up.

new news: for spring'07, we're launching a fabulous (but casual) line of apparel. most of the dresses are very lightweight jersey. the main idea being that they travel and wear so well. seriously, you can roll our clothing up so small and throw it into your bag. change into them at the end of the day, and voila, you're ready to hit the town! i really think our fans are going to love the new line.

we're also launching belts for SP07...we have one style, the HARNESS belt, which will be available for autumn/winter'06. comes in whiskey, malachite, and vintage black.

hayden-harnett has asked two amazing new designers to join us (great friends of ours)...we're growing and couldn't have found more talented people to join our design team. sonia agostino, our apparel design director, who thoroughly kicks cold corporate design's ass. also, hanging out in our bklyn offices...madeleine (mimi) ayres, an incredibly talented graphic designer and artist. sonia is from NJ, and mimi is from argentina.

SPRING 2007 INSPIRATION:

MARK ROTHKO (illustrative work and color field)
BIBA
OSSIE CLARK
PARIS in the 60's (superb book...great for mood and silhouette)
EQUESTRIAN TACK & HARDWARE
BRIGHT ENAMELS
(slick finish/handmade and modern handcraft feeling)
TACKY 80's geometric plastic jewelry in vivid colors
(LOVE how hard they tried...)

MICROSCOPIC FOCUS on materials and unique usage/effects

UNEXPECTED ways of combining color/pattern that feel fresh and vivid or, on the oppostie scale, nearly invisible (black is out of the picture after the A/W06 goth aftermath)

MIX of color and pattern grounded with neutrals
CLASSIC silhouettes with a large nod to vintage late 50's early 60's...time to clean up our acts and "be good" as we prepare for unsteady govt, global warming, and uncertain economy.

BOLD DIRECTNESS and romantic escapism/capriciousness will be the two opposing moods that reflect our current schizo world psychology.

Above all else, a vintage and handworked feeling with modern sensibilities
of function and universal style...any woman can find pieces she loves and can work into her wardrobe.

more later ... over and out!
cross posted on Hayden-Harnett's myspace