Does it seem like we’ve been around for a while already? Or did it fly by for you?

I’m kind of in between. On the one hand, I can’t believe it’s been an entire year! A year of drawing and designing, ordering samples and organizing photo shoots, succeeding and failing in creating Instagram content to attract new and old friends - it went by quite quickly. On the other hand, when I think about how much has happened in the past year, for both Coletti (the brand) and Colette (me, the person 🙋🏼), our launch date seems like forever ago.

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And while we’re already full speed ahead into the second year of Coletti, it’s always nice to take a moment of reflection, so here’s a little recap of what the first year of Coletti looked like:

1. 6 designs launched in my two Summer Somewhere collections and 2 super special designs especially for our wedding guests this past November 🌴

2. 2 pop-up shops at Gasper Arts in Dania Beach and West Elm Dadeland

3. 2 collaboration events, Boss Ladies Brunch with Les Femmes Social Club at Mr. C in Coconut Grove and A Woman’s Dinner in Celebration of Mother Earth at The Lab in Dania Beach

4. 64 sales through Etsy, Instagram, and in-person (between pop-ups and friends)

I think those are pretty good numbers!! & I’m proud of what we accomplished, but it’s easy to get caught up in the rat race of the internet and all of these small brands going viral. So, for 2024, I’m coming back to why I decided to launch this shop, and I hope my plans will resonate with this community even more.

Besides some major administrative tasks, I’m planning two collections this year - one for summer, focused on a single country and exploring the flora and fashion of that wonderful place, and a second for Christmas that I hope to design for the whole family. I’m imagining Coletti family Christmas photos, but that’s just an idea 😉 The designs are all in progress, and I can’t wait to share more with you soon!

Additionally, when it comes to social media content, I’m going with a less is more approach. I got a bit exhausted with creating Instagram Reels last year, so much so that I had little creative energy for actual drawing and designing. So, for 2024, I plan to share less but hopefully more interesting content! I conducted an Instagram Stories poll last week with the below results and plan to create a few videos about my scarves’ stories soon. If you have any additional thoughts or ideas, I’d love to hear them. Please share by commenting on this post or replying to me directly 💗

Thank so much to each and everyone of you that has supported me this first year, whether buying a scarf, telling a friend or family about my shop or liking, commenting, saving and sharing my online content. Every single thing makes a difference in spreading the word about Coletti!

In honor of our birthday, we’re running a little sale over on Etsy. It officially launches tomorrow, but I’m giving Substack readers early access 🤗 Use the code COLETTIONE to save 11% on my entire Etsy shop (including sale and digital) now through 19 Jan.

As I pack my bags for the flight back to Miami, cheers to another year of it’s always summer somewhere ✨🌸

Xoxo,

Coletti

Sunny Day #1

This was my very first trip to Ireland, and despite spending most of the time working remotely, I managed to get a little bit of exploring in during the mornings. We spent a few days at the gorgeous Powerscourt Hotel, nestled in the Wicklow Mountains, and the cold and rainy weather had us already dreaming of going back for a winter spa weekend. But, one morning we woke up to sunshine, so I spent a few hours exploring the Powerscourt Estate, which was literal heaven for Coletti inspiration. I made an Instagram Reel of just some of the incredible flowers there, and I already started designing a scarf of the beautiful gardens. The Herbaceous Borders have 800 plant species alone! Plus, there’s a Japanese garden, centuries’ old Redwoods, a rose garden, and terraced Italian Gardens too 🌸 It’s absolutely gorgeous, and I totally recommend taking the short 30 minute drive south if you’re in or around Dublin ☘️

For the new scarf design inspired by Powerscourt, I am thinking about a bit more complicated pattern combining both flower motifs and the structural elements of the Gardens, like the gold plated gates, stiff hedges, and perfectly manicured floral beds. I’d love to know what you think of that concept! Does it sound like something you’d like to wear or it deviates too much from my usual flower power designs?

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Sunny Day #2

We eventually made our way further south and spent a week in Killarney National Park. Despite lots of rainy, windy days hiking, there was literally one 75 and sunny day, which miraculously, was the day of the second scarves collection photo shoot! The incredible Aoife Casey happened to be in the area, so we coordinated the entire thing less than 24 hours in advance. The photos are absolutely unreal and showcase the scarves so beautifully 😊 Listen to your gut, people!! I’m so grateful for Aoife, who nailed the Coletti vibes and totally understood the European Summer meets 1970s California aesthetic ✨ Here’s a sneak peek of the photos, which were shot on location at Muckross Park Hotel.

The scarves are on their way from the manufacturer now, and I am so looking forward to pinning down the exact launch date! I’m hoping for just after Labor Day, but I’ll announce on Instagram as soon as I know for sure.

Thanks for reading and hope to have these new designs in your hands soon!
Xoxo, Coletti

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P.S. I wore my trusted Uniqlo U Crewneck Tee through out the photoshoot, and I wanted to share that Mary from Billow Styling did an amazing round up of the best white tees on the market on her Substack, Closely. It’s an incredible read, if you’re interested: The perfect white tee(s).

Firstly, we can see our Romanian friends, like Adina, from Summer Somewhere launch campaign fame. Indeed, Adina is famous for many things, not least of which is being one of my dearest (and until recently, nearest) friends who so graciously joined me to model Coletti scarves earlier this year. She’s here for the summer/to celebrate her birthday, and, as such, I have followed her here (again). P.S. Happy birthday, dear!!

Also, Romania is actually nice! My favorite scarf from the first Coletti collection was based on little blue wildflowers from a hike in Transylvania, and I am most certain it will not be the last Romania-inspired pattern I will design. Gorgeous pink and purple hydrangeas greeted us with Napolitano pizza in Cluj-Napoca, and I will be drawing them as soon as I finish a super secret project that’s in the works 👰🏼

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Last, but certainly not least, we were here to attend Electric Castle, a music festival at Banffy Castle in the village of Bontida, where I was very happy to try out a playful new scarf style. You can find a tutorial from Claudya Moreira for these scarf flowers in my Instagram highlights. I followed that tutorial exactly, tied the scarf around one pigtail and then just repeated on the other side.

Unrelated, but I’m super excited to say I just ordered samples of the next Coletti collection, which will hopefully launch in August. Here’s one of the designs that I am SO excited about, featuring Lantana flowers I passed daily last summer on the short walk between our Airbnb in Postira, Croatia and the cool Adriatic Sea.

Hope you’re having a lovely summer and surviving the heat waves, wherever you may be. I’ll be back soon with photos of the rest of my next scarf collection 🌸

Xoxo, Coletti

There will be sneak peaks of new patterns! There will be petals of which I can’t resist taking 100 photos! There will be must-share travel recommendations if you’re into that kind of thing!

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I promise to keep it short and sweet if you promise to keep me informed of everything you want to hear from me here. I hope to make this a place to share what’s up with Coletti in a more informal tone, away from the worries of what ThE aLgOrItHm will make of it.

As always, thank you for supporting me in my creative endeavors 💗 Hope you’re all having the loveliest summer ☀️

xo, Coletti

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