Eliza

“The weather cleared … and we halted on the Promenade. “The seaside,” they said: we gazed around us… for we had never seen such openness, the blue windy world seemed to have blown quite flat, bringing the sky to the level of our eyebrows.”

Cider with Rosie. Laurie Lee.

“A pretty spring dress, reminiscent of  English summers spent by the sea.”

From the Olive and George collection, drawing inspiration from the Norfolk fishing communities of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Eliza is the very first Charl dress.

Eliza is directly inspired by my collection of antique night dresses and pinafores. Simple in shape with slightly puffed, bracelet length sleeves, several rows of pin tucks on the skirt, a centre back zip fastening finished with a hook and eye closure.

This style is named after “Eliza West” who was one of the finest Gansey knitters in Sheringham in the early part of the 20th century. She made all of her husbands clothes: from his knitted underwear, to his Sunday Best Gansey jumpers and passed her knowledge down through her family so that the Wests were still knitting Ganseys into the 1970s.