Campo Dei Fiori Collection - Autumn Winter Holiday 2014 - Is Here

Hello friends,

First of all, thank you for all your patience.  Many of you have asked when you could see images from the catalog and photoshoot, and many of you have asked when you can buy the pieces you saw at NYFW in September.  Finally, I have the collection ready for you. Now. Today.

For the new collection, Jourdan wears a version of the Stella blouse in Blue Leopard and Black Silk Charmeuse, paired with the Flavia in Giraffe Wool, as previously worn by Victoria in the fashion show.

Maxey wore the Stella blouse in Orange Pebbles and Blue Digital Snakeskin Silk Charmeuse and the Flavia skirt in Atari 8-bit Chevron Brocade for the fashion show.  I had Frances wear it for our lookbook.

Bernadett wore the Stefania dress in Gold Balloons 4-ply silk with Gold Leopard contrast cuffs, collar, and yoke for the fashion show.  Frances wore the same dress for our catalog, but I made this dress in a number of different versions for the collection.

Maxey wears the Stefania in Blue Gerbera silk crepe de chine with Butternut silk faille trim, as well as a version with no contrast at all.

She also wears the Stefania in Horoscope White Italian merino wool jersey, a super fine gauge knit that insulates the body while being nearly translucent.

And Frances wears the Stefania in Blue Gerbera silk crepe de chine with Taupe Paintbrush silk twill trim with an accent belt.

As well as the Stefania in a Pink Jigsaw silk twill with black silk charmeuse contrast.

In the show, Frances wore a Sofia silk jersey dress in Black and White Wire Fence print, which immediately sold out.  For the collection, Frances wears the same Sofia cut in French Apricot silk jersey,

while Jourdan wears the Sofia in Blue Player Piano silk jersey, so named because the pattern reminds me of the punch card paper strips that make automatic vintage pianos play their tunes.

Finally, Mimi wore the Paola maxi dress in a one-of-a-kind fuchsia, brown and orange horizontal stripe. For the collection, Jourdan wears the Paola in a beautiful and soft Jade Green Italian merino wool jersey, with a softer, heavier hand than the Horoscope wool.  Each Paola in Jade Green has an individualized lining of fine cotton jersey in a pattern different from any other Paola out there.  A secret pleasure for the wearer.

I hope very much that you get the chance to touch and wear these garments soon.  Currently, Bombshell in St. Paul, MN and Boutique Larrieux in Milwaukee, WI have their Campo Dei Fiori collection pieces in stock.  MS.SVG in London, UK will have them starting in January, and Madison Plus Select has several pieces online for worldwide shipping.  Additionally, AbbeyPost had a special exclusive run of the Stefania dress made just for them in Gold Leopard and Black Hashmark, and Gwynnie Bee has a large selection of sizes of the Stefania in Pink Jigsaw only for their subscribers.

I am always looking for new retailers and new ways to get Cabiria to my customers, because the differences in quality are best communicated through personal experience.  I will be going to the Curvy-Is-Sexy trade show in Berlin in January to introduce the brand into the European Continental marketplace, and I'm happy to reach out personally to store owners where you shop.

Also, I'm always open to listen to what customers are really clamoring for in the marketplace.  As long as it is a cut and quality level that fit in with the Cabiria brand, I see no reason to ignore the collective expertise of so many plus size shoppers out there.  Cabiria was started to provide a choice!

One happy, beautiful, confident customer at a time.  That's how Cabiria is going to become a premier brand for discerning women all over the world.

Happy holidays everyone, and please shop the collection while it lasts!

                                                                                 All the best, Eden

Timing is Everything, Slow and Steady (and TV Stuff)

Hello friends,

I hope all of you are enjoying your summer. It's been waffling back and forth between heat waves and monsoons here in New York for weeks! As many of you know, I also went on an incredible trip to the Upper Midwest this summer as well, which allowed me to meet the customers and store owners who make this whole adventure possible. Thank you again.

One question that came up a lot was "Are you doing a Fall/Winter Collection?" A very good question, indeed.

Originally my funding had come from Kickstarter, which supplied a very helpful push to get production for Cabiria, but wasn't enough to cover multiple seasons. I had assumed I would sell out of my dresses, and that money would fund subsequent line development. This is the reasoning that comes from a fine art school education, and very little business knowledge.

Sales have been incredible (thank you!), especially for a brand new line. Reception has been entirely positive, and press keeps building more awareness. I've accidentally found astounding allies who know what they are doing far more than I do, and have put me directly in the right places at the right times. What that means is that with only 1 season's micro collection under my belt, I've attracted *media placement, an investor, and the interest of several larger retailers who want to carry Cabiria. This is unprecedented, seriously, and I count my blessings, for sure.

*While they're not the clearest shots, here's the lovely Ashlie Atkinson in the Sofia in Oxblood Beetle in the pilot of "Us and Them" on FOX Television!

I also need, for the time being, to keep my day job in order to have cash flow to build the inventory lines and pay the rent. I am lucky in that regard as well to work with dear friends in an industry I love - in this case, I'll be wardrobe supervising a television series. I know some people may be able to do it, but I do not know how to efficiently perform at high levels on two jobs that are 90 - 100 hours per week each.

Quality and details mean everything to me with Cabiria. Professionalism and customer service, rapid follow through and production supervision for development are all very hands on. So rather than try to force through a Fall/Winter collection that's half-baked for time reasons, I am going to quietly develop both a Fall/Winter Collection and a Spring/Summer Collection for release early next year. I am going to concentrate on having product I believe in, and that my vendors would be proud to carry. I will have time to find the right fabrics, and develop the right silhouettes based on on my design sensibilities and your incredible feedback. I will develop more tops, as well as dresses with sleeves and more tailored pieces in a range of high end fabrics. I will do this right, or as right as I can get it.

Thank you everyone for understanding, and know that Cabiria is still going strong. Stronger than ever, thanks to you all!

All the best, Eden

Store Tour and New Press (Happy Summer Everyone!)

Hello friends,

As summer heats up, we've really been cooking over here at Cabiria HQ! We shipped to the newly opened, newly revamped Re/Dress NYC, we're in the works for a big wholesale order to a vendor you already know and love, and we're working on how to get the Fall/Winter collection produced. So much good stuff!

But this is definitely the biggest news: We are hitting the road for a Store Tour! As a big thank you to all the lovely Upper Midwestern folks who have been selling out Cabiria's dresses at Bombshell Boutique in St. Paul, Vive La Femme in Chicago, and Boutique Larrieux in Milwaukee, I am going to be coming to do 3 in-store events and bringing lots of Cabiria pieces for you to try on and take home with you!

I'll be coming to
Milwaukee, WI to Boutique Laurreiux (315 N. Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202) on Thursday, June 20th from noon - 7pm

Chicago, IL to Vive La Femme (2048 N. Damen in Bucktown, Chicago, IL 60647) on Friday, June 21st from 6pm - 8pm

And St. Paul, MN to Bombshell Boutique (794 Grand Ave St. Paul, MN 55105) on Saturday, June 22nd from 4pm - 8pm

I know the shop owners all have fun stuff planned, from giveaways to manicures to cupcakes, so please come out and meet me! I can't wait to show you my dresses and meet you all.

We also have the glorious Michelle Landriault of Affairs Magazine proving to be the best kind of fan. Not only has she now featured us once in her magazine, but she bought another dress and featured us again! And this time, she got StrangeFate Photography on board and did an entire photo shoot to show off how she wears her new Cabiria Sofia in Giant Peony silk dress. Can I just say how much I love this lady? If you click on the "Affairs" link, you'll see her whole photo shoot!



Next we have the lovely Cynthia Schames of fantastic e-commerce site Abbey Post modeling the new Valentina in Blue Splatter that she bought at Curvaceous K on NYC's Lower East Side. She didn't want to take it off, and wore it out of the store! I love that.


And finally, from last month's Madison Plus Select Press Event, we have a photo from Tracey Iglesias's blog Ascending Butterfly, featuring the Flaminia in Tropicalia, the Francesca in Robin's Nest, and the Sofia in Black & Ivory Lace silk jersey. And me!


Please get in touch with the stores closest to you for more details regarding the in-store events, and if you want a store near you to carry Cabiria, let them know! Happy summer everyone, and see you soon!

All the best, Eden

More great news (69% funded!) and an explanation for some critics

Hi friends,

Today was another great day for Cabiria's Kickstarter campaign moving ahead. We're 69% funded on Day 4! Thank you! First thing this morning I met with a lawyer from the Fashion Law Institute Clinic from Fordham University. Yes, there is something as specific as a Fashion Lawyer. Although the woman who runs the program is smartly dressed, it's regarding the specific laws around contracture for sales, licensing, labeling laws, indemnity, delivery, as well as intellectual property protection and trademarks, etc. for a business where garments are knocked off all the time, and designs are difficult to protect.

This may sound cutthroat and not in the spirit of starting a creative project, but as an artist it's also important to think like a businesswoman. Upshot is that I got some great pointers and referrals. Yay!

here I am heading out to a networking event last night in Flaminia in Black Cherries. Tiny Empire State Building in the hazy background.

Afterwards, I found out that we'd been mentioned by The Brickhouse of Style and Skorch Magazine on their social media platforms, and the store Wells & Verne in Portland, OR and Nina Blakemore in London, UK are interested in carrying Cabiria as well! We're international, baby. (hey - the new James Bond is coming out. I can't resist a little Austin Powers impression.)

Then off to the patternmaker, Michael Bevins at 4 Seasons Fashion, right down the street from swag provider Gregory's Coffee to do some final pattern tweaks before being ready for grading and production.

In the past few days, I've gotten a lot of compliments and kudos from people really seeing the value of this line. But, being in a public forum, I've gotten a few critics on one specific question, and I'd like to address that.

Why don't you make higher than a size 24?
The implication in this question - actually it's been outright stated - is that I am becoming part of the problem that excludes plus size consumers greater than a size 24. Since I stop at a size 24, I suppose it's a valid accusation. However, it's unfair to lay the ills of an entire industry at the feet of one small designer simply because I'm accessible with a face and an email address. Succinctly, it becomes a financial decision that I had to make to have any solvency ever.

It took me 2 years to get this project up on Kickstarter, after years of just mulling it over in my head. I worked several jobs, didn't go out and play too much, and saved my money in order to pay for the development and initial launch of the line. I called in a lot of favors, but some things are still costly and set as a fee, such as use of people's factories or services. They in turn have spent money to keep their doors open, much in the same way that many of the indie boutiques Cabiria wants to be in are self financed and run with a very narrow margin of error.

Pattern development and fittings cost money. Each size that you add to a line adds development and grading costs to the line, which is why numbered sizes tend to fit truer than 1x, 2x, 3x, etc. But it's money, which I'm on Kickstarter to help supply.

a long article on grading and pricing

a long article on what's involved in developing a line with a patternmaker and samplemaker

Also, most brick and mortar plus size boutiques carry up to a 24. Yes, it perpetrates a difficult cycle, but why should a tiny business absorb more risk on top of all the inherent risks already in place? Again, I have a face so I am on the block, but there are LOTS of people with more money than I have who can take the financial risks and change the system. For instance, Marc Jacobs talking about having a plus line, but where is it? And Oscar de la Renta making "plus size" up to a 16. And Ralph Lauren saying they're using the first "plus size model (she's a 12)", when I clearly remember Guess? using Anna Nicole Smith at a size 16 in the 1980s and my dad showing it to me. Just three off the top of my head with much deeper pockets and false promises to the plus community.

I am one woman doing what I can within parameters that will allow slow and steady growth and survival. I am also very proud of trying to forge a path with a very unique line in beautiful fabrics and fabrications, and that's why I'm on Kickstarter.

All the best, Eden

Below are first fitting muslins for a master pattern, taken in 2010, when I first started working on this project.

Another Crazy Day of Goodness! (64% funded!)

Today was day 3 of the campaign. We are 64% funded, and gaining traction in the world outside my friends and family. Don't get me wrong, my friends and family are STUPENDOUS, but you can't build groundswell in a closed environment. What this means is that word is getting out in the Kickstarter world, Plus Size blogging world, people who want more fashion options, and people who believe in loving yourself and the body you're in today, and dressing well within it. I like this world!

Today has also brought some amazing attention. Marie Denee of The Curvy Fashionista, Gwen DeVoe of Full Figured Fashion Week, CeCe Olisa of The Big Girl Blog, and Patrice Grell Yursik of AfroBella Blog all shared word on their various social media platforms. Diana Rajchel of FatChic did an additional article about the Kickstarter campaign and featured the pitch video on her blog this evening, and I have a meeting with Aimee Cheshire of Madison Plus to show her the samples next week.

In the most fulsome press report to date, the blog Manolo For the Big Girl wrote an astoundingly great piece on Cabiria and on the Kickstarter push and I'm really honored that it's so good and, well, out there. I really felt like this was a writer got the message, and that's a thrill.

What an amazing adventure this is - scary because it's a whole new world of information and a very real deadline with real consequences, but thrilling because we should all be so lucky to learn so much and be supported by so many.

More posts coming soon! In the meantime I leave you with a photo from Cabiria's studio/ Kickstarter HQ. I'm sure they do it exactly the same way at PBS...

-Eden