La Bottega di Brunella EVERYWHERE! 

Buying notes from Positano, Italy, October 2017.

For LeslieJane in West Vancouver, Canada.

We arrived in Positano after a day of rest and ready to meet our wonderful La Bottega di Brunella family to buy our next spring summer collection for LeslieJane. Walking through the steep and narrow cobblestone streets with the sun shining and the heat on our backs, there is really nothing like this wonderful town on the rocks. We can’t believe this is where we come to work! As soon as we walk in to their flagship Brunella store we are greeted with smiles and open arms. A few of their staff even remember my sister and I from the previous year. We get the chance to chat and talk to each other about the year that has passed. Everyone here is so friendly and kind, they welcome us with treats from the local shops down the street. Before heading to their studio upstairs to see the new collection we look around the store and get inspired by absorbing the myriad different types of gorgeous natural fibres and styles that the Brunella family produce and sell in this—their flagship store and production facility—in the middle of this ancient fishing village turned tourist mecca on the Amalfi coast. Before delving into next season’s collection we get to poke our heads in the back room where all the magic happens; their cutting table, sewing machines, threads, bolts of linen and more fill a huge production space seemly carved out of a cliff face. We’ve never seen anything like it. The sweet smell of linen is everywhere.

Next season’s collection is at our fingertips. Get ready for new colours, new shapes and new fabrics. There is so much to choose from, no wonder it takes us countless hours to perfect our orders. My mother Maura, sister Pina and I—yes this really is a family affair—make our selection from well over 200 garments of every description from skirts, pants and dresses to kaftans and jumpsuits all in Brunella’s signature fabrics and all made in-house. As much as this is work, what fun we had!

Our return drive along the Amalfi coast in Italy is a bittersweet; it’s always an adventure getting to the airport in Naples on the Amalfi coast’s harrowingly narrow road where busses pass with the finest of margins. We pass lemon trees, olive groves and the Mediterranean sea crashing against this iconic stretch of Italian coastline. There really is nothing like the beauty of Positano as the southern Italian sunshine beats down. Our minds turn back to home in Vancouver, and putting together a perfect selection for all of our favourite clients, a piece of Positano for their wardrobes and for their travels, too.

- Simone Kingman for LeslieJane