If you didn’t know it, we’re telling you now: Chinese New Year is coming!
I’m in the throes of my usual love-hate relationship with Chinese New Year and the accompanying stresses. There’s much to be done — decorating the house, buying goodies, preparing the food, and getting the whole family dressed. I decided earlier on to make a bit more of an effort this year since my mother-in-law is now staying with us and there is an increased chance that folks might pop by to visit. But as the days speed by, I’m getting more anxious about everything that needs to be done!
Thankfully there’s one thing that I need not worry about each year, and that is getting new clothes for my kids. I know I can always go to Elly! If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ll know that Elly is my regular go-to stop for CNY clothes. My kids have variously appeared in their CNY campaigns (like in 2015 and in 2013), and if you go to their store at Cluny Court, you might spy 3-year old Noey up on their wall! You can say that they have definitely grown up with Elly!
I continue going back in part because of my dear friend Audrey, who is one-half of the super sister duo behind Elly. Audrey has wanted to design and sell clothes for just about as long as I’ve known her, and I’m so thrilled for her that she has Elly, where she brings all her creative energy, talent and passion to the fore. The other reason is, of course, because their designs are simply gorgeous. They are just hard to resist!
After last year’s hot favourite Home collection, I did wonder what they would be able to come up with this year. Well, they did it again this year with Elly’s 2016 CNY Collection: Blooms and Brollies!
The five custom designed fabrics for Elly’s CNY 2016 collection.
One feature of Elly’s CNY offerings is that they print a portion of their fabrics for their CNY collection that are specially and uniquely Elly. This year they went one step further and added custom embroidery to their dresses and shirts, which I think looks amazing and adds just the right touch for CNY!
Matching boy-girl sets in Red Geometric, with different embroidery designs.
Match fabrics with cute berms for boys too!
A lot of thought goes into the design of their fabrics and you can read about the design process of this year’s fabrics in this post on Elly’s blog.
The MOST exciting thing for me this year though, is that after years of feeling envious of the kids in their outfits, this year, I get to wear Elly too!! This year, Elly adds a new line to their CNY collection with Ladies Tops in matching prints! You don’t usually see me being all matchy with my kids, mostly because they are usually so picky about their clothes and don’t necessarily want to wear what I want. Luckily for me this time, Mei also found it hard to resist getting into one of Elly’s dresses, and doubly excited about wearing the same design as her Mama!
We took a while to decide on what we wanted because my little girl now has her own opinions about what she wants! Thankfully we both loved the yellow geometric flowers and our final selection was the Ladies Top in Yellow Geometric Flowers for me and Emily Dress in Yellow Geometric Flowers for Mei. How do we look??
Mummy-and-Mei outfits for the new year (and beyond!)
The little miss was most chuffed that we were wearing the same outfit. “Look, Mama, we’re wearing the same dress!” she said excitedly. I could get used to this! It was fun having my little mini-me. The fabric was comfortable and the embroidery was really lovely in person. I especially loved how the embroidery gave Mei’s non-traditional dress enough of a Chinese touch to make it CNY-appropriate, yet easy to wear throughout the year as well. Of course, I was most happy about the fact that I also got one new year outfit for the year settled ahead of time! Yay.
I also couldn’t resist getting Noey and Mei AND their little cousin E a set of matching outfits in the turquoise/red umbrella designs. Can’t wait to show them to you and the rest of the family for CNY!
Do check out Elly’s CNY 2016 Blooms and Brollies collection on their website: www.ellyloves.com, or just pop down to their store at Cluny Court to check it out in person! The sizes for their cheongsam collection this year extends up to 12-years and they have a range of other non-cheongsam dresses (like the Emily that Mei is wearing above) if you want to eschew the cheongsam route, or to provide variety for Day 2 and beyond.
Happy shopping! I’m off to check more things off my CNY to-do list!
The Elly Store
Cluny Court
501 Bukit Timah Road, #02-31/33
Singapore 259760
Web: www.ellyloves.com
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