Ahhh 2021. What an odd year for everyone that was. It was the second year of the pandemic, and we, like so many, were looking forward to things getting a little more back to normal. Alas, it did not. But, nevertheless, Splendette kept its pecker up, and we had more ranges than ever to bring some vintage inspired joy to the world.
First up we had Valentine's. We had never had a Valentine's range before (although we had always loved seeing everyone's red, pink, and white stacks) so we didn't really know what to expect. It only went and pretty much bloomin' sold out in a couple of hours! We knew it was going to be popular from the reaction it had when Eeva did the sneak peek in our Facebook group, Splendette Stack & Style Society, but didn't expect it to fly out quite so fast! We are always blown away by everyone's support towards our collections, but especially when it is something we have never explored previously. We restocked Valentine's a few more times throughout the year, but finally called it a day on those colours. Why? Well, you'll see very soon (*hint hint* new Valentine's is coming in 2022).
Duotone was so popular in 2020 that it needed to be refreshed and revised for 2021 with new colours and carvings. The collection came out just in time for Easter and there were some fabulous combinations that made for egg-cellent stacks. Café & Lait with Dragonfly & Nymph were probably my favourite as I'm currently going through a vintage western wear phase, but I loved the vibrancy of Lime & Zest with Freesia & Honeysuckle. Most of the range is now sold out thanks to a mega sale for Black Friday, but if you're a smaller sized Maiden, or a larger sized Duchess, you might be in luck!
Summer was soon upon us in a flash. To us, summer is usually a whirlwind of events such as the Rockabilly Rave (can't wait to be back on that dancefloor in 2022!) and trips away to see family, but 2021 was still a little different. So what did we do? We brought the tropics to us! The Tropical Cane collection was another new adventure for us as we gave three different variants for the cane colours. There was no way we could chose just one for each of the six colours! That mean that there were fifty-four bangles to chose from (in each size!), twenty-four earrings, eighteen necklaces and eighteen hair barrettes to choose from. It was a lot of choice but it was so much fun seeing everyone's decisions and reasonings behind their stacking. I have to say, the Tropical Cane bangles paired with the traditional Bakelite style Heavy Carve Fakelite have been some of my favourite stacks of the year!
Autumn and winter have brought an influx of four brand new collections, plus a revamp on the last of the glitters (will get to those later, promise!). Halloween is always so much fun to work with, and seeing everyone's reactions in the Facebook group when Eeva showed the glow-in-the-dark jewellery for the first time might be a personal highlight of mine this year. The collection was such a nostalgic trip in Splendette Towers, and it cued many exciting squeals of "charge them up!" and "turn off all the lights" followed by "ooooohs".
Giving back to the world is definitely something that we want to do more of in the future here at Splendette. We have done percentages of certain sales going to charities before, but this time we wanted to something special. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month in the UK so Eeva got her designing cap on to create some boob-iful bangles, earrings and necklaces. For the Cancer Awareness collection, every item sold will raise £1 to Breast Cancer Now, a UK based charity who use donations to aid in their world class research and life-changing care.
Autumn always inspires a more 1930s and 1940s style in us. This year's Autumn Fakelite collection was no different. The five colours for this range were gorgeous jewel tones and the carvings had a definite Art Deco vibe about them. There were three firsts for this collection. The Multicoloured Stretch Bangles went down a storm, as did the Fakelite Hair Combs which gave a flash of colour to vintage hairstyles. There were also five types of bangles for each of the colours, two Narrows (one in the fakelite colour, and one in black), two Midis (again one coloured and one black but both with matching carvings) and one Wide to tie the set all together. The combinations for this collection were just as stunning as the matchy matchy sets.
The last of the fresh collections was the eagerly anticipated Christmas range, full of mid-century inspired bauble designs and scrumptious Candy Canes. We thought that Valentine's and Halloween were going to be our fastest selling ranges of 2021 but you lot proved us wrong! Most of the collection was sold out in less than an hour, and we had to get in extra elves to help us pick, pack and post everyone's goodies off in time for the festive period.
As I mentioned briefly before, glitters were playing a central part in the launches this year. We wanted to make sure that everyone could enjoy all the goodness that glitter brings so we brought back the full rainbow of colours in bangles in all three sizes, plus matching bead necklaces and fabulous new drop hoop earrings. There are now seventeen colours of glitter to add some sparkle to your outfit, and we're working on more for 2022!
That brings me nicely onto what to expect for the new year. We have so much in store for 2022 and we cannot wait to show you all. Splendette is getting a bit of a makeover, we already have two collections at the sample stage including Valentine's pretties and new floral goodness for Spring, plus we will hopefully be able to get out and about to see you lovely lot a bit more! I know we say this every year, but we really are so grateful for every order, word of support and virtual hug you give us! I know I speak for Eeva as well when I want to extend a massive thank you for choosing Splendette in 2021!
