Designer Cara Bloom is creating y2k inspired fashion that will make you feel limitless

Fashion

Aug 2, 2018 @ 5:00 pm By Kade Russell

Cara Bloom is the festival designer we have all been waiting for.

Her collection is inspired by the 90s and early 2000s and it is SO much more fun than the brands that keep doing the same, tired looks for festival season. Cara has managed to pull personal memories, past fashion trends, and festival wear all together in her latest collection that you are going to love.

The pieces are so vibrant, flashy, and colorful that you will never want to take them off – and you don’t have to! Cara has designed this collection to be worn beyond the party and incorporated into your everyday wardrobe.

The designer has enlisted the help of fashion, photography, film, stagecraft, and design artist, Marina Fini, to collab with her on the the latest collection. Marina is known for creating otherworldly scenes to serve as the backdrop for her pictures.

The hallucinatory, psychedelic scene in which she has created for this project pairs so perfectly with Cara’s collection. Keep scrolling below to see all the pictures and an interview with Cara Bloom, and don’t forget to shop her new collection!

Can you tell us a little about this collection?

Sure! These are my first 2 original collections. For first collection (model, Alees) we had an amazing graphic designer on board, Erin Rose Opperman (@theerinrose on Insta) who was the artist behind all the fabric for the sublimated (all over print) pieces. The second collection is chaos, a lot less cohesiveness but still equally as fun.

Where did you draw inspiration from?

All my original pieces have the same theme; coming of age. Collection 1 is literally and very specifically based on personal events that happened in my life the summer of 1999 and just the entire year of 2000. It was the summer after 8th grade and my freshman year of high school.

I think for most people, that year is extremely pivotal and formative. For me, it was that times infinity. I could literally sit here and list all the crazy events, people and reasons why it was the most important year of my life but to summarize, it made and destroyed me at the same time. It’s the only point in time, for me, that my childhood, adolescence and adult(-ish)hood all collided at once and it was a doozy.

What is your process from start to finish?

The process starts somewhere in the neighborhood of the question, “But would that even be possible/wearable?” It finishes somewhere around me pleading with myself, “Okay, Cara that’s enough. Please stop. This one is good, leave it alone now.”

How did you decide to have Marina shoot the collection?

Prior to approaching Marina about shooting, I had been following her on Tumblr and Instagram for several years. I was, of course, drawn to how vibrant and colorful her work always is, but also her unique shooting style/talent and fun positive energy. Not to mention, she has a really amazing and unique sense of style herself! I just knew she would “get it.” There was never any question or even a second choice, for me, it was, Marina or “fuck it.”

What do you want people to take away from your work?

A lot (laughs). If I had to pick, it would definitely be that my work/story has something to do with combatting all the stigma behind mental illness and what being mentally ill actually means in 2018. I’ve had a really intense uphill battle with depression, anxiety, and ADHD for over a decade.

But, for me, the most difficult part about the whole thing was proving to my parents and everyone in my world (mainly myself) that yeah, I’m mentally ill, but I am also SO many other more important, more relevant things. We all have something. There is nothing to feel ashamed about, and it absolutely does not have to limit what anyone is able to accomplish.

What are your favorite pieces?

My favorite pieces are the rainbow pvc dress and the red heart 2 piece set.

Where can people find the clothes?

Select pieces from both collections will be available at Dolls Kill (dollskill.com) next year.