Floral prints, both new and timeless, set the tone for the AvA Charleston collection, the newest summertime assortment of effortlessly relaxed silhouettes that embody the everyday elegance of the lifestyle brand.
the Charleston Collection
As its name suggests, the Charleston collection is inspired by Ala’s recent trip to the southern destination - a city whose charm, history and pastel-lined architecture served as an instant inspiration for her latest series of prints. “I fell in love with Charleston, with its gardens and bellflowers,” says Ala, who’ll be opening an AvA store there in May 2022. “The collection is symbolic of that. The fact that we’re opening a store there makes for a wonderful symbiotic relationship.
The Charleston collection’s newest floral prints include Angel’s Trumpet, an interweaving web of bell flower-shaped pink blooms and green stems, Blue Noisette, a swirling cascade of blue, purple and yellow roses atop a smokey blue-gray, and Southern Bouquet, a series of floral bouquets in a melange of red and purple roses, white lilies, and smaller vine-like blossoms. “These prints came out of my time spent last summer painting in my studio in Newport,” Ala says. “I’d go to the flower market all the time and buy these big bouquets of flowers.
The final print in the Charleston collection is a reintroduction of the Moraine print, now called Crimson Glory, from a previous AvA Summer collection. The vibrant rose and orange clustered print is inspired by the gardens found along the Eastern End of Long Island and in particular at Ala’s former Water Mill home, Moraine. “I like the idea of bringing back archived prints, of taking something used and marrying it with new ways to wear our clothing,” says Ala. “With AvA, you don’t necessarily need to coordinate our prints with the pieces you bought it with. You can bring something back and suddenly it works really well.”
New cotton styles in voile and eyelet anchor AvA’s signature assortment of mesh and stretch knit staples, pieces that look great during the day at lunch, whether you’re in a seaside town or the city. Also included in the collection is the AvA White Drop, a limited assortment of best-selling styles reimagined in crisp white woven knits and airy cotton pique.
“The idea was to round the collection a bit and make it more practical,” says Ala. “You can’t always wear mesh. These are pretty styles that are fun to wear out at night, on a date, or just to enjoy yourself.”