bespoke uprising - review

I want to introduce you to a Canadian artist who takes children’s clothing to a whole new level. I adore her prints and clothing designs!

I first met Roisin Fagan at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, where we were ‘booth neighbours’, both showing our original work. Me with paintings, Roisin with these gorgeous quirky and modern designs on children’s clothes under the name bespoke uprising. Roisin has a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) from NSCAD (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design), and approaches clothing and fabric design from an artist's perspective. It shows!

I was first attracted by the colours of her fabrics – the painter in me loves colour – and was impressed to learn that Roisin dyes her own cloth – no wonder her clothes are more interesting than the usual!

The prints on these fabrics are screenprinted by hand from original drawings by, you guessed it, Roisin. They are quirky and graphic - more like drawing than cartoon, but more like doodle than sketch. Does that make sense? Take a look at some of these and see what I mean:


The designs are also wonderful. I adore the reversible pinafores, and was thrilled for the excuse to purchase one for my best friend, who’s expecting her little girl in September! The one I picked had a large print of a single paper airplane on bright blue on one side, and a print of repeated paper airplanes on red on the reverse. Both the parents-to-be are teachers – how perfect is that?

I have another set of teacher friends expecting their little boy in just a few weeks now, too! For them I chose a blue onesie with a paper airplane motif. Adorable.

I love giving my friends gifts that are handmade. It’s very cool to think that they will have the best-dressed babes in town and not just another Gap baby.

You can pick up bespoke uprising clothing and other goodies (tea towels, wallets, pillows!) at her website, or through her Etsy shop.

And you can enter to win a crazy bunch of bespoke uprising goodies on Roisin's blog!