Dear All,
Mother’s Day is approaching. Moms rock every day and are to be celebrated every minute. I want to say a few words to these super beings: I am in awe of you. When, as a mom entrepreneur with 3 young kids, things seem to get completely out off hand I think of all the women who get up every morning (often before the sun is even up) to care for their family, fight against all odds, and sacrifice a lot to make things smoother. Without a magic wand. And this gives me stamina.
I feel privileged to work with kick ass, talented and kind mom designers, creatives, business partners and client champions who understand that life is easier and happier when we, women, support and celebrate each other.Love,Soumountha, Another Garde Founder
It has been quite a year, with the last three months being a mad roller coaster since we launched our online store. Being a burgeoning venture in a highly competitive industry is humbling and there were many times when we asked ourselves: what is the point of all of it?
And to be honest, nothing would make any sense if we had not met all the wonderful women who came to our pop up shops, owning their lives, their styles, their bodies and just nailing it full stop. Nothing would make any sense if we were not working with designers like Schai who digs deeper and deeper in her passion to create pieces for dapper women or Moses Nadel who makes every single stitch of his bags himself. Nothing would make any sense if we did not have your support whether you are purchasing from our store or like our social media posts or browse through our collections. This coming year, I feel endowed to work more and better to fulfill my promise of creating an inviting, inspiring and empowering online experience for strong and confident women. We will continue searching for designers who understand you.We look forward to collaborating with kick ass bloggers like Accidental Icon who pushes the boundaries of intelligent fashion. We will develop partnerships with more women creatives and entrepreneurs. Finally we hope to connect with more brands and women outside of the U.S.- exciting. I hope you will continue supporting our journey and I wish you a joyful, creative and prosperous year !Love,SoumounthaFounder, mama, woman for women#anothergarde #liveit #loveit #ownit
Planning a pop up shop event in the heart of the Garment district in 10 days is plain crazy, right? Welcome to the world of Another Garde. We did it. And it was insane, exciting, scary and humbling.
Thursday last week was our first meet, show and having a laugh event at the swanky boutique hotel The Refinery. The spontaneous move came out of a team conversation: ‘what do you think women who come onto our site think and feel?’, ‘should we do a survey?’, ‘should we hashtag a question on Instagram?’ Nah. Let’s do it the old and fun way: get to them and drink Champagne together.
Womenswear designer Enda and jewelry designer Sarah Magid came to celebrate and individually chatted with everyone about their creative process and what inspires them. We also debuted timeless and quietly bold pieces from Suk Chai’s label, Schai and exclusive Cloud Mutton pouches designed by Moses Nadel.
All across the room, we could hear the ‘awww, it is so soft…’ whispers.
It was a blast to catch up with the many women who stopped by to say ‘hello’ or ‘bonjour’ and tried on the styles we curated in their own ways. Who knew that H.Fredriksson’s dresses looked so sexy with a belt on? Women came straight from work, scrambled for babysitters at the last minute, brought their girlfriends, and came out for a day/night of fun. They discussed their own ideas of beauty, style, fit and why they wear the clothes they wear. They also challenged us: ’where is your evening cocktail dress?’, ‘where are your Plus sizes?’, ‘can you explain the price?’ etc.
We did not expect it any other way. It was inspiring to see intelligent, creative, and assertive women discover, review, touch and (hopefully) fall in love with our designers.
We loved it so much that we are back for an extended holiday pop-up boutique, December 2nd - 6th December at the Refinery hotel. Save the date and hope to see you there!
