Dear Lil' Devas News July 2015 July 7, 2015 00:00
Greetings everyone, it's Rosie and I'm so lucky to be writing to you from Brittany, France!! It's that favourite time of the year again, summer :-) Please do not mind that there is more "news" in this email than usual; there is a lot to share with you.
On the way here, at Charles de Gaulle, the most beautiful thing happened. There was a piano (of all the unexpected things) right in the terminal where our departure gate was, welcoming anyone to sit down and play. When we first came across it, a policeman was playing "Did You Ever See a Lassie" - which i'mtold is the tune for "Liebe St. Augustine" in German, and I don't (still don't know what it is in French, does anyone?). Children were grouped around him, some dancing and some just awestruck. Later I was sleeping on the floor in front of a big window, (we had a 6 hr stopover before the flight to Brest). Still have chuckle about that, my rolled up warmest pants were my pillow, had my grey bamboo dress on over a pair of jeans, my chocolate infinity scarf wrapped around my head and shoulders with my lilac sleep mask on - ha!
As I gradually awoke I felt that i must be still dreaming...the hallelujah chorus had started, it was so ethereal and beautiful that i felt I might be in heaven instead of on the floor at CDG!... and it was live, the acoustics in the terminal were amazing. The Charles de Gaulle workers have a choir. What a sight to behold; people dressed in their flight-crew uniforms, people with their reflective ground crew gear on and some people in plain clothes all gathered at the piano singing their hearts out!! At that moment I wished that everyone I hold dear could have been there with me to experience this.
Speaking of people who are held dear, before going further: Announcing this summer's new design! The design was created by Vijanthy. In case you are new to DLD, Vijanthy is our Production Manager - the woman to thank for conducting all of the daily workings of our little business.
When Vijanthy was in Sri Lanka the last time, she brought me back a 100% cotton woven caftan. Such a simple garment, but so elegant. She used the caftan-style for the pattern for the tees - but in jersey knit fabric. This style is quite popular in stores this year, but always out of satiny-polyester fabrics. We are happy to be able to offer them to you in either 100% cotton jersey or our bamboo jersey - much cooler. Some of the colours are in a limited quantity. A really wonderful addition to the DLD line, because they add a layering prospect. So handy to just throw on well, anytime if you need to all of a sudden look a bit more "put together". Elegant, AND comfortable. "Instant Elegance Relaxed T-Shirts for Women"
This could be a really long e-mail. I do have quite a lot of news. We went to Montréal in early May, and thank you to everyone who sent suggestions as to what not to miss in Montreal. I must admit, that I personally didn't do anything except look at fabric, and wish I'd had the foresight to do a photographic exposee, because it would have been fun for you to see me come out unscathed.. (who'd have thought fabric shopping could be dangerous - ha). I climbed and climbed over rolls and rolls and rolls and up high into the rafters. It was truly my own private amusement park, so much fun that I didn't end up getting around to purchasing too much at all! Must go back. When you see us calling any of the colours by a French name, you will know that it is the "Montreal fabric".
Then when we got home, a little hiccup with the new website had to be addressed. That was - it had been gradually becoming evident that aspects of the design that needed changing, could not be changed. The new platform we had switched to was not Rosie-friendly at all. AND the person we had looking after it turned out to be not so "Rosie-friendly" either. Seriously. Can you imagine that??! So, with the epic generosity, elbow-grease and expertise of a veteran DLD-enthusiast we changed platforms again (I like to think of it as building and moving into a new house). Everything is ok now, very copacetic :-) And thank goodness that Vijanthy has such an amazing skillset and was able to step in as designer while I had my hard-hat on!!
Gollygee folks! (I want to say "guys" but recognize that most of us are "gals" - but not all) anyhow, gollygee folks! - having the reviews that you've put on the website has been an unexpected gift to us.
What has been unexpected is that this public format has inspired an even higher level of pride in the people who work with us. The reviews are like accolades. Can you please put more in? You can be absolutely sure that they will not go unnoticed, in fact, every word you write is devoured! Wonderful.
I should mention that the "Clearance Section" is open again.
And, finally.. as always, please don't hesitate to communicate with any questions, suggestions or just plain observations. I am always so pleased to hear fromyou. I suspect that some of the replies that I've sent recently have been going into people's spam folders. If you write to me, and don't hear back for more than a day, (you know that i love to write back to you), please check your spam folder. One thing that I would like especially to know about the design of DLD's "new house" is: when you are on a page devoted to one of our items (say the Linen Dream Pants), is it obvious to you that you can click on the big picture, and it will open so that you can scroll through the rest of the pictures?
Mentioning the regular Linen Dream Pants has caused me to realize that i haven't let you know that we have a new colour there, it's Tan. And, gosh, other new colours are: Licorice and Ochre for the thicker linen dream pants and two new immensely beautiful colours of the thicker cotton (for the long skirts and thicker cotton dream pants men's | women's): Ocean and Grape. 2 colours of the thicker cotton have had name changes - Paprika is now Garnet, and Orange is now Terra-Cotta.
Much, much love, Rosie.