Fiveloaves Twofish Clothing

Earnshaw’s September 2010  “Coast to Coast”

Once Upon a Line

Leave it to a history major and a former costume designer to successfully combine two things little girls love: story time and pretty clothes. That’s what happened when sisters Heather Haas and Kit Kuriakose teamed up to launch Fiveloaves Twofish, a San Diego-based brand that’s making waves with sophisticated yet whimsical looks for girls and teens.

“I write a story to go with the line every season,” said Haas, who narrates the label’s runway shows with these imaginative tales. “I always tell the story through the eyes of a little girl,” she explained, noting that the Spring ’11 collection invites youngsters to take a voyage to Polynesia with bold floral prints, gauzy hula skirts and white summer shift dresses evoking a tropical paradise. “By the end of her trip, the islands have embraced her, and she’s wearing a ruffled off-the-shoulder dress.”

This vivid attention to detail is a perfect summary of the duo’s design aesthetic. “We call our studio an ‘old world design house,’ where European tradition meets California cool,” Haas said. The pair sticks to clothes for girls ages 6 through junior sizes, ensuring that their mature silhouettes are perfectly tailored to fit their bodies. The label’s crisp cotton tops and sleek jersey dresses may be refined, but bold colors and fun patterns—such as yellow polka dots and giant red poppies—keep the clothes fresh for the tween to teen set. Some of the brand’s bestsellers are its bold, bright accessories, like rainbow-hued headbands with oversized daisies and chunky, beaded necklaces. “We love big details on the little body,” Haas said. “It’s such an exaggeration—it’s so cute and so unexpected.”

Despite the European emphasis, the sisters are serious about using only American-made materials and making efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. “We really avoid shipping, if we can,” Haas explained. Most of the label’s fabric comes from California and all of the sewing is done by hand in the company’s studio.

Haas said the idea for the brand began brewing when she started sewing clothes for her daughter, Abby. “It got to the point where people were begging me to [let them] buy her clothing.” Today, Abby serves as the pair’s resident authority on children’s trends. “A lot of our designs are actually my daughter’s ideas,” Haas said. The concept for the label’s fall line is still top secret, but look for another narrative weaving history and fashion into a fascinating mix.

Kit got married on September 11th.  The wedding was magical and seamlessly blended Indian traditions with an easy California attitude.  Many of the guests felt like they were at a runway show with all the attention to fashion.  The bridesmaids and flower-girl dresses were done by fiveloaves twofish.  The bridesmaids dresses are made out of Indian Sari’s.  Each dress is a different silhouette in a different color, the unifying  factor was the purple and gold border along the bottom of the dresses. The bridesmaids wore headbands that boasted huge over-sized jewels.   The Flower girl dresses were made out of  raw silk and three tiered.    The girls wore double flower fuchsia headbands and carried ribboned maypole sticks.  The smallest member of the party, Charlotte, wore a party dress made out of remnants of the Indian Sari’s with a bow fit for a princess. 

These silhouttes are all for sale in the design house.  These Juliet inspired dresses are wonerful for this season.  Stop traffic this fall in one of our “Juliet” dresses in an Indian Sari or a knit.  Come in and try one on!

Kit’s wedding is on Saturday!  Those of you who designed a dress, thank you so much the winner is Ellie an we will post her design as soon as we can figure out our scanner.  What do you expect, we are fashion designers we work with textiles, trims, pretty things not technology.  Anyway, Kit went up today to pick up her dress!  How many of you would be picking up your dress 4 days before your wedding!  The family has all come into town, things are getting pretty crazy and I must say it is very hard to balance making name place holders and getting our shipping out!  We are very excitied about the dresses, the headbands, etc.. everything is so cute and by the way the bridesmaids dresses are all for sale and are part of our fall collection.  We will post some pictures soon! As for now enjoy our summer clearance sale!!