After spending the afternoon with our girls in the most beautiful setting, on a perfectly sunny and crisp day, shooting photos of a dress we have poured our hearts and souls into...we reflect.

Our dream for Charlie was born many months ago over a small table in the middle of a Panera Bread.  She has taken on many forms since her inception.  Charlie today, is a dress that celebrates the magic of childhood.  It's color.  It's happy.  It's friendship.  It's sharing secrets.  It's giggles.  It's classic.  It's fresh.  It's peaceful.  It's kind of magical.  It's a lot surreal.   

We have made pattern changes and edits to nearly every element of this garment since receiving our first production sample.  We learned why our colleagues in this industry don't all make scalloped dresses.   They are simple and beautiful to look at, they are excruciatingly difficult to execute.  We have an amazing production team, and seamstresses with 40+ years of experience, and only one, yes ONE, could successfully execute the sleeves and collar of this dress—so that's what we did!  I think we all had days we felt abandoning the idea of Charlie would have been easier than exhausting our resources and patience, but we are so thrilled we stuck it out.   

Over the last several months, we have laughed, we have cried, we have learned, we have grown so much...we have grown so close.  Every day in our Charlie Chapter brought challenges and triumphs and frustrations and victories.  We took on what we now know is one of our most difficult patterns, first, all while starting a new business, being moms, and trying to figure out what the heck we were doing!

We overcame tags with typos (thougtfully).  We learned what a direction card is.  We mastered the art of compromise and communication. We now all know what a vector file is.  We can tell you the content of most fabrics by sight.  Through broken legs, medical set backs, a recession, two major U.S. holidays, and the Chinese New Year…We did it.  We learned  how to make delicious lemonade out of a huge pile of sour lemons. We did what a lot of people told us was not only impossible but also unrealistic.  We not only survived, we landed on the other side with huge smiles on our faces and a little dress that is even better than we could have imagined.

We are so humbled by the support and encouragement we have all received from our families and friends through this journey.  We still can’t believe it is finally here.  We have talked about this day and tried to envision what it would feel like, be like, look like —nothing could have prepared us for the satisfaction, pride, anxiety, excitement and emotions we all feel on the eve of our first release. 

We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for believing in us and our little dream, for believing in the beauty of childhood and for allowing us to enhance your daughter’s little world through Bijou.  We hope you love Charlie as much as we do, and are so excited for what’s next! 

xoxo,

"Nothing is impossible, even the word itself says 'I'm possible'!"

-Audrey Hepburn