How We Made This: All the Women Collection

BY: NELLE HORSLEY, Oiselle Designer

I can’t actually remember the first time I saw Leah Goren's work, but you know that feeling when you see something you like, and then suddenly, you see that thing everywhere? That's what happened when I started seeing Leah's beautiful and sweet drawings all over the design blogs, Pinterest boards, and illustration websites I frequent for inspiration. 

In particular we love Leah's drawings of women. No vacant Barbie gaze here... just strong women pumped up on their pursuits. In motion, on track, owning their space in the world. The brush stroke style brings their strength to life in a way that is also light hearted. The whimsy game is strong!

First and foremost, we wanted to work with Leah to make us a print showing women runners in action. A representation of many fab and fast women.

In Leah's words, why she was down to collab with O:

"Staying active is so important in helping me feel confident in my body and sane. While I'm at a Pilates class or running through Brooklyn, I'm able to meditate in a way I would never be able to otherwise. My drawings are fun and playful, but it's important to me to show only strong, empowered women in my work. I hope that feeling can give a little boost to everyone who wears these pieces! All of my work is painted in gouache on paper, and then scanned onto the computer to finish the piece. Because these pieces are screen printed, I set up the images in layers, so each color could be printed on top of the next. For inspiration, I looked at a lot of photos of women in action, and drew from my favorite poses."

Once Leah's artwork was complete, we worked with our factory partner to turn it into an all over print, and then onto fabric. There are many incremental steps in this part of our development. Testing different colors, different fabrics, and making sure all the details come together.

The Hoodie, Sleeveless Sweatshirt, and Ball Cap are all original Oiselle designs, from start to finish. For the Hoodie, we knew we wanted that classic hoodie fit, but with an extra plush and yummy hood/collar. The sleeveless hoodie is fun and versatile, and we felt did a good job of matching Leah's style - strong, empowered women! The ball cap rounded it out, taking a basic style and making it special... with all the women!

You can follow Leah at @leahreenagoren on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or on her website.