CUSTO GROWING: AUTUMN-WINTER 2010-11 COLLECTION

After launching Custo’s first children’s collection to much acclaim, the designer has now created a second, much larger and complete collection that is just as impressive as its men’s and women’s collections.

Custo and David Dalmau have put much love and care into creating Custo Growing, and the result of so much dedication has produced formidable results: the project has grown just as much and as quickly as the children themselves.
Designed for boys and girls of 4 to 14 years, Custo Growing is a complete and extensive wardrobe that is neither naïve nor childish, but comprised of colourful and fantastical garments and accessories that are just as intricate as their adult counterparts. This season, there are many more garments to delight kids, and many more accessories to achieve the desired look.

The collection embodies the essence of the Custo brand—the power of prints, the unexpected nature of the materials, the wealth of detail, the style of the garments—and adapts them to the particularities of the children’s world. The garments were designed to withstand children’s boundless energy, incessant movement and crazy ideas. However, they were also made to be flaunted and, much to parents’ relief, can all be put in the washing machine, even the footwear and environmentally friendly leather coats.
With an optimistic and positive spirit, Custo Growing’s philosophy encourages fun, expressivity, mixing, and the desire to give kids the opportunity to wear original clothing that is uncommon in the children’s world, and not at all boring.

THE GIRLS’ COLLECTION.
The dreams of girls who are flirtatious, rebellious, crafty, fashion-crazy, naïve, disobedient, cheeky, vain, cheerful, complicated, lazy, dance-loving and even the odd grump will be made a reality with the garments in a collection that mixes two universes: wardrobe staples that embody the soul of Custo Barcelona, and more daring garments in keeping with its trademark Lowxury (low cost + luxury) concept.

Cotton t-shirts and fine wool jumpers play with necklines and sleeve lengths, and serve as an excuse for using the fantastical prints that fill children’s dreams. Pleasant landscapes, daisies with long eyelashes, polar bears under a turquoise sky, lush flowers, majestic birds, love-struck cats, heaven on earth, enormous necklaces, brooches and jewels, and the frantic activity of the Suki doll colourfully compete with graphic prints, slogans, lines and stripes of different widths and miniature flowers. And as a staple, there are t-shirts and fine-knit turtlenecks in mixed colours.

There is a large variety of hooded sweatshirts and cagoule t-shirts in plush and cotton, featuring floral prints and beadwork, or dyed in juicy degradé tones with a drawing or slogan on top. The rib cotton cardigans and tunics have been dyed directly onto garments with enormous stains in loud colours.
The most original pieces in the series are striped, loose coats in antique colours, with hoods and belts, made of raw plush, and with the stitching in contrasting tones; the t-shirts with cotton bodies and silk sleeves which play with prints are also special.
The colour palette is cheerful and energetic with decisive touches of juicy colours in bright tones: apple green, vibrant sky blue, fuchsia, lemon yellow, pastel pink, snow white, orange, violet, royal blue, tomato red, pistachio and billiard green. Positive declarations of principles, and infectious doses of good cheer.

Patterns are intricate when it comes to blouses, tunics and loose shirts; these mix slightly oversize shapes with traditional, folk, oriental or romance-inspired cuts. There are also garments that are deceptive at first glance, and which look like two layered pieces, such as t-shirts over blouses.
These are made of cotton, silk or soft matte viscose that looks like fine wool, and are often dyed in degradé tones. The colourful and figurative prints of some djellaba-neck tunics are combined with other, subtler prints like tiny Liberty-like flowers, rustic rayadillo, Vichy check or two-tone stripes.
Jewel-adorned or frilly plastrons, bell sleeves and plaited trims are just some of the more eye-catching details.

The collection has been designed to deck kids out from top to toe and layering is big, making for more succulent mixes. There is a greater variety of bottom parts to enable endless attempts at the jigsaw puzzle that is Custo Growing.
Aladdin pants for Scheherazade-aspirants are made of antique velvet and come in bright colours. Turkish trousers with low crotches play with stripes and fluorescent stitching and end at the knee. Matte viscose Aladdin pants, also with low crotches and a fine flannel effect, are ankle-length and have little Liberty prints for a spicy look. And then there are the leggings: the easiest garment to mix and match, and ideal for somersaulting.
Girls’ skirts are flirty and feminine and, cut in flowing materials like silk, they brim with movement and pleats. The perfect attire for dancing!

The large array of dresses will leave indecisive little girls momentarily flabbergasted. The more sophisticated ones are Lowxury-inspired, with silk floral and animal prints that are transformed by vibrant colours; these have beautiful decorative plastrons or necklines trimmed with contrasting plain silks, and are loose, flowing and with lots of movement. Dresses also come in bright velvet with coloured trimming adorning the hems.
In addition, fine-knit cotton or wool is used in dresses for everyday wear; these are comfortable and have a hippy air, with stained and faded effects, multicoloured stripes and large, stick men prints.

Coats are the focal point of this collection; many are reversible and all are snug, and made of such incredible fabrics as environmentally friendly fur. Despite their appearance—imitation leopard, fox or goatskin—they can be washed in the washing machine.
The collection is mainly comprised of coats, jackets and even reversible waistcoats. On one side they have prints and on the other bright coloured fur or animal prints. The waistcoats, with pastel-coloured drawings, have coloured imitation goatskin trimmings, and are reminiscent of the flower-power waistcoats of the seventies.
Padded, shiny vinyl coats in different textures and shapes have thermal filling to protect against the winter cold and are adorned with fun details like quirky buttons.

THE BOYS’ COLLECTION.
With the same philosophy of fun and comfort, we have Custo Growing for boys. Jumpers, sweatshirts and t-shirts are wardrobe basics where cotton and wool are given pride of place. Prints change their register and colour, and are less pastel-coloured than in the girls’ collection; although a series of dolls drawn on a white background give prominence to pink and other pastel shades.
Prints ask for peace in the world, they watch as a penguin skis by or a dog rides a Vespa, or play with figurative drawings that travel the desert, the streets of Miami, or the pages of a comic, all spiced up with stripes, stains and faded dyes. Many of the garments have sleeves that contrast with the body, as if layered.

Shirts are rustic with peasant stripes or faded window check, and dyed in degradé colours. They are adorned with embroidered badges and coloured buttons.
Jeans, cargo pants and bermudas are worn big and baggy—like the big boys—and are made of cotton serge and denim with embroidered details, lots of pockets and dark, plain and stained colours.

This collection is also at its most exquisite when it comes to overcoats. Large, thick wool jackets in mixed fibres and colours are cut like blazers or double-breasted. Reefer jackets are stamped with digital motifs or made of environmentally friendly leather and elaborately adorned with embroidered appliqués in vibrant tones. In addition, there are duffle coats and gabardines with large prints that parody the British style. Finally, the quilted jackets—made of technological materials that are very warm—come in the form of bomber and padded jackets; they have stockinette, fur collars and trimmings and multicoloured embroidered details with contrasting lining and sleeves.

ACCESSORIES FOR EVERYONE AND A NEW INNOVATION BY INVENTOR CUSTO.
In the accessory collection, we have the invention of the century, courtesy of Custo Dalmau. These are multicoloured boots that were inspired by the après-ski boot and are a logical offshoot of the designer’s delicious winter sneakers.
Warm ankle boots that are quilted and have insulating ergonomic soles and tie with multicoloured Velcro straps; they boldly stand out from the quilted fabrics and multicoloured fur or animal prints of some of the girls’ models, with tigers and monsters adding a note of cheer to the boys’ versions.
And the most surprising thing about this invention is that, like the sneakers, Custo Growing’s après can be washed in the washing machine.

The new sneaker models are still featherweight and aerodynamic, but come in more vibrant colours. The laces come in contrasting colours and have embroidery and stitching details, as well as a thousand and one other adornments.
The footwear collection has also been extended to include rubber rain boots with prints, and trekking boots that mix dark leathers with nylon prints, and lace up to the ankle.

Rucksacks for school with cheerful drawings, shopping-style bags with handles, woollen scarves and foulards and silk and pashmina add the finishing touch to a children’s collection where there is no shortage of detail… or dolls!
Custo Growing completes the series with a whole range of rag dolls. Good monsters, fantastical animals that look like rabbits, bears, dogs and cats, and which are made of an array of fun materials: felt ears, button mouths, heart lips and stitched cheeks in soft and smooth quilted fabrics. These are the friends of Suki, who, dressed like an astronaut, looks out from inside his spacesuit with surprise.