I know we go to the University of Maine, the land of black bears, free spirits and god only knows what else…(meaning anything besides fashion), but regardless of this Birkenstock wearing, flannel covered student body, I knows there’s a least a few of you out there who do enjoy perusing through the most current issue of Vogue and checking out the seasons’ latest trends.
New on the college fashion scene is the brand, Emma Graham Designs, a collection of dresses, skirts and shirts by the Boston bred duo, Emma Mahon and Jackie Graham. The childhood best friends created their line in 2010 to co-create a collection of playful color with a feminine twist. After months of preparation and a move from their hometown of Boston to New York City, the two will premiere their first collection, Spring/Summer 2011, which launched at select retail partners nationwide in March of 2011 and also online at www.emmagrahamdesigns.com.
Mahon earned a Fashion Merchandising degree from the University of Southern Carolina while Graham graduated from Babson, the top-ranking college for entrepreneurship. Upon graduation, the duo chose to forgo the traditional path of diving into the workforce and instead put their creativity together to create a line of pretty and affordable clothing specifically geared towards the fashion-savvy female, ages 18-30.
Initially the line was created from Mahon’s Southern university experience where half the point of attending sporting events was to dress up since football games were such an integral part of the campus experience, something we here at UMaine are a little unaccustomated to (dressing up at games? Yeah right). While Graham’s classmates didn’t exactly dress to the nines for sporting events there were countless other occasions such as cocktail parties and nights out that did.
Recently, HerCampus held a national photo shoot that included Emma Graham Designs at http://www.hercampus.com/style/photoshoot-all-dolled-and-everywhere-go. The collection features an array of super cute dresses, skirts and shirts to wear out. These colorful and playful styles are perfect spring and summer outfits that would certainly make you the life (and style!) of the party. You can wear these to an outdoor bbq, spring formal or even dress them up to hit the town in…and by town you all know I mean the greater Orono/Old Town area.
This Spring/Summer 2011 collection has some of the perfect outfits for all of your upcoming seasons’ occasions. Some of my favorites include the Kristen Skirt which comes in a flattering salmon pink color and complimenting aqua beads which detail the front; there’s also has a zipper all the way down the back of the skirt. The second is the high-waisted, Dayna Skirt which comes in a variety of colors and flares out with a large bow in the back. Lastly (although all the pieces are too cute), is the Alyssa Dress which comes in 100% Italian silk charmeuse and has an all-flattering slight sweetheart neckline that ties in the back to give you a nice waistline.
A subsidiary of Emma Graham is the Campus Collection, which was created to fulfill the large demand for cute and stylish Game Day attire at large universities (like Mahon’s) where almost everyone dresses up in school colors. The Campus Collection is available at a select number of Southern schools for college students who are looking to look extra fashionable when rooting for their team. The Emma Graham Design Consultants are stylish students who represent the brand on campus and throughout the semester host trunk shows featuring the latest Emma Graham designs. Right now the brand has over thirty Campus Design Consultants at colleges around the country.
This new, ultra-chic brand is creating a niche in the market for cute and affordable clothing specifically targeted for college students. Too bad UMaine doesn’t follow the Southern etiquette of dressing up for our games…maybe we can change this! So check out Emma Graham Designs at their website: www.emmagrahamdesigns.comand follow them @EmmaGrahamDesig – Check them out!
Photo Credit: Emma Graham Designs