If your summer needs a bit of jazzing up, if grey clouds and drizzle give you the blues, take a look at
Peach Berserk 's wild prints and funky cuts and design your own dress to lift your spirits. Based in Toronto, Kingi Carpenter lives above her shop/studio (shown below) and looks a living advertisement for her designs: fun, colourful and playful - not the wall-flower type. She runs her internet business and her silkscreen workshops from there too and ships worldwide.
Peachy Berserk's designs for tops, skirts, dresses and jackets can be matched with any of their 200 fabrics and cut to your precise measurements for a perfect fit. I have not tried the clothes nor ordered an outfit myself yet, but my friend Susan has and fully recommends the experience. The fun of it is to choose all the elements and come up with a unique piece that speaks as loud as you want of your personality.
How to design your own Peachy Beserk dress:
Dresses is where Peachy Beserk really come into their own. Most of the dresses are of the party variety - perfect prom-dresses, and can be tricky for a 40+ due to their high frill and petticoat content but there are enough options to find what works for you. Kingi confirms that she has an "all ages market". Select a cut from the cotton or silk lineups. Here is a model from the frilly variety to wake-up your inner flamenco dancer :
Belle Star
On a safer side, you could go for the
Classic stretch dress in cotton lycra at CA$89 or £55 :
or a long-sleeved number, in cotton lycra too, the
New York Stretchy Dress at CA$149 or £92:
If you are feeling more adventurous (and rich), go for the party dresses and go wild. At CA$395 or £243, you will want to make sure that the dress will work for you! Two of the most 40+ friendly cuts if you are happy to show a bit of leg, cleavage and arm. You can also customise the models with different sleeve or skirt length:
My Best Friend's Girl
Girl About Town
Once you have selected your cut, choose a print from a collection of names such as
Buxom berries,
Cowgals (a personal favourite with the slogan: "When they were bad, they were horrid"),
Happenin Hairdressers (hair accessories and ginormous hairdos) or
How to Meet a Man (an illustrated collection of tips).
This one is called
Sultry Silhouettes:
and this one is I haven't Got A Thing To Wear:
You
can pair up the print with any of the 50+ colours on offer and visualise on screen the resulting effect, which is great fun. Select cotton or silk, with a choice of raw or satin silk. Some of the dresses offer great customisation opportunities with different fabrics and trims.
With the "Dress designer" feature, you can build your own dress from different bodices, necklines, sleeves, and admire the result in different fabrics and colours...You can even choose your skin tone and hair colour for complete personalisation. Even if you are not going to order a dress, playing on the website is a joy in itself - a grown-up version of the paper-dolls dressing-up game! The Sale cart is also a good place to go - if you are up for it, a lobster print "Sea Time Delight" turquoise and black dress is yours for CA$79 or £49 (reduced from CA$129) - most of the reduced stock is not for the faint-hearted.
All the pictures used to illustrate the article are taken from Peach Beserk's website with Kingi Carpenter's kind approval.
For our Toronto based friends or visitors to the city:
Phone: (416) 504-1711
Address: 507 Queen Street West, Toronto ON, Canada
