Summer is fast becoming a washout, let’s face it. It almost feels like we've had no summer at all as weeks go by with grey clouds, showers and barely a ray of sunshine in sight. As we pack away our picnic blankets and swimsuits far earlier than planned *sob*, we're reaching for our raincoats, umbrellas and soon enough; cosy knits. Summer evenings in beer gardens and long walks along the beach are becoming a thing of the past.. which only means one thing. Autumn is coming!
What does Autumn look like for you?
Cosy nights in front of the TV, or simply ‘cwtch’ed (see what I did there) up with a warm blanket reading a good book?
Autumn, at Carla’s Cwtch is huge, which leads on to another favourite of ours, Winter. And what does Winter mean? The big C word! But that’s a whole other blog!
The gorgeous change in colours is a huge inspiration. The vibrant greens of the beautiful valleys of Wales that we are so blessed with will soon turn to oranges, reds and yellows. We TRY to ignore the fact that the rain becomes more of a frequent occurrence (let’s be honest, it’s Wales!) but what we really love about Autumn, is the fashion!
If you watched our recent live stream on Instagram and Facebook, you will know that Carla and I have been doing lots of research on Autumn trends for 2023. Not only trends in fashion and jewellery, but in the home. We looked at Primark, SHEIN, Matalan, B&M and The Range and we were pleasantly surprised at what we found. The change in colour palettes this year is fabulous. We are seeing lots of latte coffee and neutral colours, complimented with maroon, burgundy, burnt orange and forest green. A muted burnt orange has replaced the vibrant pumpkin orange of last year. So, it made perfect sense for us to use these palettes to influence our designs!
Less is more
The low-key, neutral colours definitely gives us the ‘less is more’ vibe. When looking at autumn-in the-home inspiration, it’s clear that the vibrant mustards and bold oranges of the autumn world have been replaced with coffee colours and dusky pinks/reds. Still giving off the cosy, serine energy that we all so desperately need from time to time! In the fashion world, we found there isn’t so much pattern and bright colours; particularly in casual-wear and even, party outfits! Clothing seems to be very plain, earthy and toned-down. Cream teddy coats, heavy jumpers, gorgous layers, brown cord pinafore dresses, tan boots and sage trench coats. Plaid and check is still big at the moment, but the reds have been replaced with soft greys and browns. Personally, I do love a pattern.. more floral the better, in my opinion.. however, I think I can totally get on board with the more neutral colours, simply because it’s far easier to accessorise with these colours! Not having to worry about a clash, picking the right shade of colour or shape of jewellery. I love that you can add as much or as little colour as you want, you can add a pattern, a different texture.. you’re spoilt for choice. This applies to both home and fashion!
All that being said, we have noticed that woodland/forest animal prints in the home are still pretty huge! (I’m all over this, as I said, I love a pattern) I picked up the most gorgeous bedding from Asda recently and it’s the beautiful dark forest green colour with the cutest animals (squirrels, foxes, hedgehogs, deer) with a scattering of nature; leaves, trees and even blackberries. This also gave us inspiration to introduce the woodland/forest colours and animal themes in to the autumn collection. We love the idea of bringing those rich woodland colours in to your neutral outfit choices!
Must-have essentials
For some people, picking an outfit is one of the biggest decisions of the day (this is me!), a lot of time and thought goes in to the process! For others, particularly all you extremely busy super- mums out there, and I speak from Carla’s experience of having 3 children, it’s a *open the wardrobe* and “that’ll do” job. In some cases, it’s the struggle of finding jewellery to match the knitwear, layering and raincoats. This autumn, our aim is to make accessorising your jumpers and bobble hats - easy, and make the “that’ll do” style - fashionable. Making you feel good, makes us feel good!
We wanted to create jewellery that will take you right the way through to the winter season, come rain or shine, whatever the occasion, because:
1: We need to save those pennies, the big C will soon be upon us (eeek!).
2: Wouldn’t it be lush not having to worry about whether your jewellery is going to match all your different outfit choices?!
This is where “Cappuccino Fashion” comes in. When you think of cappuccino, coffee comes to mind, naturally (I’m more of a tea lover myself) but latte naturals are hot trends for Autumn 2023. #cappuccinofashion
Chocolate
Mocha
Hazelnut
Tan
Beige
Cream
Ivory
Blush pink
These very neutral and simplistic colours will go with, pretty much, any outfit in your autumn and winter wardrobe.. something we all need - essentials! Whether you like to follow the fashion trends or whether you like to stand out and be unique in the way you dress, we wanted to design autumn jewellery that fits all!
So, how did we narrow down to the designs we’ve chosen?
Well, it was tough! Carla and I are known to get carried away when we get together, in every way imaginable (you can tell we’re related). We had all these amazing ideas but when it comes down to the nitty gritty and realistic ways of looking at it, some of them were just not doable (boo!). It’s really difficult not to get carried away in this industry, the things you can create are endless but as Carla is the only creator in this growing machine (for now), she hasn’t got endless amounts of time to turn all these wonderful ideas in to a reality, sadly!
We looked at last years sales, what worked and what didn’t work as well and we always love introducing some new designs in to the mix, so we started with the most popular; pumpkins. Pumpkins are a massive hit in autumn, of course, everyone loves a pumpkin! So we decided to keep the pumpkin design inspired by the “cappuccino” colour palette. Don’t worry, we are introducing a burnt orange and forest green in to the palette for those who love a splash of colour! While designing, we took in to consideration that designs like pumpkins and leaves aren’t for everyone, so we’ve made sure there will be more subtle shapes and different sizes in the autumn colour palette. Hopefully, something for everyone to add to their jewellery collection. Designs that will make a statement but also, essential to complete any outfit. That’s the goal!
Don't forget we also have the beautiful Carthen range, inspired by Welsh hertage but also the perfect addition to your Autumn/Winter wardrobe.
Get in touch!
We are beyond excited for autumn, we can’t wait to share our new range with you and we are dying to hear what you think! Look out for updates on socials and email for the launch date. Not on the mailing list? We would love for you to join and get your discount welcome code.
Pop us a message on our socials, feel free to comment with your thoughts or ideas, send us an email, fill out the contact form on our website or even better, come and say hello if you see us at a market. We love a chin wag! You’ll be seeing a lot more of me on our socials, I’ll be sharing my styling ideas with you all and creating all-things-autumn content so keep an eye out.
From Carla’s Cwtch to you and yours, we hope you have a wonderful August!
With love, Victoria (CMO)
Everything I have ever ordered has been made to perfection. The details are phenomenal and beautiful, xxx love love love
kelly rooke