Bali - Spring/Summer 2012

Welcome. Let's go there.

In Bali, you are surrounded and embraced by happiness. It's real. It's potent. You can see it on people's faces - a mix of dancing celebration and transcendent, spiritual bliss. It comes from knowing the power of one's own happiness is nourishing to everyone else...and a desire to fuel that love in all people. It shows in every detail. From the smallest nuance (smiling eyes) to the grandest gesture (temple offerings) always created with kindness.

Our journey took us from the capital city of Ubud to the laid-back surf vibe of Kuta Beach, with many stops in between. Our guide Agung, whose name means great, took us under his wing the whole way. We stopped by Katut's motorbike shop and headed off on a Bali safari, through bat caves and monkey forests, where we were awed by the lush botanicals of the jungle and the dramatic beauty of the terraced rice fields.

We were lucky to spend time with artisans, learning about the art of ikat weaving -- ikats are dyed in individual strands and woven together into vibrant patterns. We were blown away by the beauty, technique and variety of ikats we saw in Ubud, Bali's cultural and art center. We also tried our hand at the Indonesian art of "batiking," designing and dying our own textiles using liquid wax to create the pattern.

One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to a small mountain village of Pacut. On the way there, we visited an elementary school, where we had the pleasure of meeting the local children and donating some school supplies. We also learned to play Gamelan music and weave hats. To top it off, we participated in the full moon festival where we took part in ceremonial processions, creating our own offerings. We watched the richly costumed girls dancing the Legong and the poleng cloth-wearing men dancing the Kecak (Poleng cloth represents yin-yang and protection and we saw it on police officers, trees, temples, statues and even a bench). We joined the dancing and singing ourselves as part of the gamelan band. We felt honored and enriched to become part of the celebration.

Bringing it home

Back in San Francisco, we had so much inspiration to draw upon. We started with Bali Arts & Crafts, our spring preview, in celebration of all the diverse arts of Bali. The ikats and batiks begin to come to life in girls' pieces like the Adat Batik dress and sarong short and Jasmine Ikat harem pants and a cute little romper for baby girls. We created the Legong Dancers tee for girls to honor all the Balinese dancers. You'll love the wardrobe harmony emanating from our Poleng skirt and dress for girls and the bold boys shorts.

We turned our Bali Safari into the theme for our Spring collection, debuting in late January. Cepat! Cepat! It's time to hurry up and jump inside the typical Bali jeep on our fun new boys' tee. It's another in our continuing line of graphic tees inspired by the "let's go" phrases of our destinations. Of course there's a safari jacket that looks great on boys (and makes a great "borrowed from my brother" piece for girls). We even named one of our boys polo after Agung, our great Balinese guide. Our boys tees are an island full of Bali fun -- scooters, tigers, elephant kings, crocodiles, frogs and more. We created some fun new silhouettes for girls, including the knot dress in 5 ikat and batik inspired patterns. The twisted knot waistband gives them a sarong sensibility -- it's a new twist on the knit dress. Throughout our Bali explorations, we came across a lot of print mixing. It inspired us to create our own modern version in 3 beautiful printed dresses for girls -- it's pretty times two. The lush natural environment of Bali comes alive in botanical jungle prints for girls (Look for dresses of Ginger Flowers, Dancing Ferns, Lukisan Gardens and of course, Jungle Flowers).

Bali, a little place with a whole lot of happy, captured our hearts, our souls and spurred our creativity. Come back in March and see the dressy side of spring and the first wave of our surfy summer vacation.

A Journey In Photos