One of the
additional pleasures of our short trip to the Amalfi coast was to meet up with
my old friend Paola and her family again.
We hadn’t seen each other for years although we keep in intermittent
contact. I always complain to Vito that
not only did we never get to see her (and let’s face it she only lives in Naples,
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| Fit for "Ladies Day" at Ascot! |
a two
hour drive from Rome), he had never even met her. We were always “going to go”, but you know
how it is, life gets in the way sometimes.
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| Beautiful hand smocking by traditional methods |
This year though, with our cousins’ timely visit to the Amalfi coast I
said to Vito it would be an ideal opportunity to drive to meet them via Naples
and stop en route to see Paola and he could finally say hello. So
that’s what we did. Today
though I’m not going to describe our trip to Naples for you,
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| Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner (London set) |
but take a side
step from what I usually do (i.e. describe things we’ve seen and done) and tell
you a little of what Paola has done instead. Paola is a
gifted designer who runs her own baby knitwear company from Naples.
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| Finished by skilled craftswomen |
A mother herself, she is well in tune with
the needs of busy mothers who demand quality as well as easy care garments for
their babies, and clothes that are beautifully designed and not mass or poorly
produced. The results of her hard work can be seen on her website for the
company which is called Chiaraluna, and if you have a look for yourself, I’m
sure you will understand why
I think her
stuff is beyond compare.
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| Easy care in original designs |
Using only pure
products, such as the best merino wool, pure cotton and mother of pearl buttons,
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| Finished by hand with mother-of-pearl buttons |
and with the garments finished by hand by skilled craftswomen, Paola’s company
offers top-notch products at an affordable price. And the range of designs and colours are just
fabulous. Not only that, on some items
there are different options, so you can choose exactly what you want for the
important baby in your life J
Paola also
blends the past with the present in charming ways. She uses traditional methods of smocking
that have all but died out now with mass production; no one want to take the
trouble to make them these days.
Paola
does though, and to wonderful effect
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| Winter is coming! |
as you can see in the few photos I’ve put
up here. But don’t take my word for it. Have a look at the Chiaraluna website
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| Check out the website |
for
yourself browse through the full range of Paola’s baby collection, and you’ll
quickly see what I mean. I can't possibly show you all the wonderful clothes on offer, but have only given a tiny selection here. You need to see the website for yourself. you can find it
here. It's available in Italian and English.
Christmas
is coming, and in many places in the world, so is winter.
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| Amazing range and use of colours |
Why not treat that special baby in your life
to something really special?
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| Choose from more modern or traditional styles |
Surely that
little person is worthy of only the best?
Won’t he or she looked soooo good, dressed up to the nines?
Check out the Chiaraluna website here.
