Angela Holmes · designers · Droopy & Browns · Feb 05, 2014

Letter from America

We were recently pleased to hear from Gen, one of our readers in the US, who had enjoyed our focus article on Droopy & Browns and wanted to share with us her own 'find' in the form of a delightful merino wool dress designed by the inimitable Angela Holmes.

She wrote:

On my travels I've found a wonderful Angela Holmes dress, 100% merino wool in beautiful condition. I learnt a great deal about her from your helpful site. If you'd like photos I can send them.

"I'm in the Pacific Northwest - we're quite close to British Columbia and a surprising number of Brit designer labels find their way down here.

Naturally we wanted to find out more and see the well travelled dress, which is indeed an Angela Holmes classic.

Describing the dress, Gen wrote:

The gathering around the waist is exquisitely done, with beautiful inner tailoring. It's made from a smooth, lighter weight pure merino wool woven and does up the back with a long zipper. It's a size 14 UK. The skirt is very full with just yards of fabric.

A lady after our own heart, Gen also told us she does most of her shopping in charity shops, commenting:

How I found it is that I shop for most of my clothing in charity shops - both in my area (Pacific Northwest US) and in England (I stay part time in London but will shop anywhere). I'm a bit of a textile and clothing hobbyist and used to design and create clothing, upcycle and the like but haven't done as much of that lately. I'm always on the look out for good British designers, though, as I think they, along with the Japanese, do some of the most innovative designs anywhere. I really appreciate your blog!

It's certainly good to know that our blog attracts such a discerning readership and that our Droopy & Browns article provided some useful background for this beautiful dress's new owner!