September means back-to-school.
Those of us from New England see in our mind’s eye bright sun, clear skies, and the brilliant colors of changing leaves.
But if we travel to the long ago and look through the backseat passenger window we see an early Carolina morning when the mist rises into a pale, lavender-washed sky. The highway cuts through a cotton field, dots of bright white in a soft haze. The air smells like wood smoke. In the mist stands a mailbox, loaf-shaped metal on a wooden post. It stands alone at the T of two dirt roads. Alongside appears a crew-cut boy with a book. Far off to the right rumbles a yellow school bus. When it reaches the waiting boy, it stops and swings open its doors. The boy boards. With the expert eye of a classmate, the girl in the backseat guesses he is headed for second grade. To her astonishment he wears no shoes.
After many misty mornings we know now that the pale lavender gives way to a bright sky known as Carolina blue. The land under it will lie fallow for only a few months, and while New England is still gray snow and black ice, those fields will turn a soft green. The backseat passenger looking out that window will see a school bus stop in the afternoon sunshine and swing open its doors. Lucky children will pour out and run home barefoot in the warm soil.
Our newest piece celebrates this glimpse of September with a cotton fabric in a soft khaki with lavender wash, the hazy white of a cotton field in early morning, and a hint of Carolina blue. Cotton’s marvelous crispness is featured in a skirt with full circumference knife-pleating and a shaped, pleated bodice. To see more of the Anikka Becker Carolina Morning dress, visit the Shop.
