Why Burgundy Always Comes Back
Fall officially arrived this morning, which seems as good an excuse as any to talk about burgundy. Every few years, someone announces that burgundy is back. It shows up on the runways, works its way into the fall trend reports, and suddenly we're being reintroduced to a colour that managed perfectly well for generations without our help. I always find that a little funny. I'm not sure where burgundy goes between these great returns, but everyone is very excited to see it again.
Maybe it's September talking. The mornings are cooler, the trees are starting to think about changing, and I'm mentally replacing everything in sight with wool, leather and some shade of brown. But I've always loved burgundy. Wine, claret, oxblood, those dark reds that sit next to forest green, navy, camel and cream. It's rich without being showy. It can make an old wool sweater feel sporting, a good coat feel almost regal, and a sweatshirt a lot more interesting than another grey sweatshirt.
Burgundy has also never belonged only to fall. You'll find those deep reds throughout old sporting wardrobes, traditional tartans, university colours, riding clothes and country interiors. Put it beside tweed and brown leather and it looks like it's been there forever. Put it with camel or cream and it's polished. Navy makes it classic. Denim makes it casual. Maybe that's why we keep declaring it back. It never gets strange enough to go out of style.
I've been thinking about that a lot lately, because while I was looking at fall colours and planning what comes next for Canadian Huntress, the two conversations turned into one.
The Things That Last
The things I keep coming back to aren't especially complicated. Wool. Leather. Plaid. Tweed. A substantial woven shirt. A beautiful knit. A proper coat. Clothes that feel good when you put them on and still make sense several years later.
The colours are familiar too. Forest green, navy, camel, brown, rust and those deep reds again. They belong to the outdoors without having to announce it, and that distinction has become increasingly important to me.
Huntress Changed
Or maybe I did.
When I started Canadian Huntress, hunting was front and centre. It was in the name, the clothing and the community we were building. None of that history is going anywhere. But I've gotten much clearer about what I want the next version of the brand to look like, and just as importantly, what I don't want it to become.
I don't want everything to have to look like hunting apparel in order to prove Canadian Huntress belongs outdoors. I'd rather you could tell without us having to say it.
That's where the next version of Canadian Huntress gets interesting to me. It's still sporting, still country and still connected to the field, but I'm looking at it differently now. Wool. A well-cut jacket. A substantial woven shirt. A beautiful knit. Plaid or tartan when it belongs. I've always loved the slightly European approach to sporting clothes, where practical and polished aren't opposites. A tweed jacket, wool sweater, good trousers and boots make sense in the countryside without making you look like you came dressed as the countryside. I admire that restraint.
That's much closer to where Canadian Huntress is headed. Think ranch life meeting the country club, with enough sense not to take either too literally. Clothes for a conservation dinner, lunch in town or a weekend at the cottage, made for women whose connection to the outdoors is a real part of their lives and who don't want it to be the only thing their clothing says.
The more obvious field pieces still have a home. CHX Wildfowl™, blaze and everything made specifically for hunting belong over at CH OUTDOOR. Splitting the two gives each brand room to do what it does best, and gives Canadian Huntress room to become something different.
Which Brings Me Back to Burgundy
So yes, you'll be seeing burgundy around Canadian Huntress. We've conveniently timed it for the moment everyone is telling us burgundy is back, which makes us look more fashionable than I planned. The trend report is a happy accident. The real reason is that burgundy already belongs to the world we're moving toward.
It works with tweed, denim, camel, forest green and brown leather. It can feel sporting without looking like hunting apparel, and rich without trying too hard. One sweater can go to a cottage, a restaurant, a meeting and a dinner and make sense at all four. Buy a good one this fall and you'll still be pulling it on years from now.
I'm less interested these days in what we're supposed to want next and more interested in why certain things never stopped working. We replace simple things with newer, more complicated versions, then rediscover the original and call it a trend.
So the plan is to look at what lasted, work out why, and carry the best of it forward: the outdoor heritage, the practicality and the sporting influence, with better materials and a little restraint. CH OUTDOOR can handle the duck blind. Canadian Huntress can wear the burgundy sweater to dinner afterward.
It's a different direction for us, but it feels like the right one. A little more refined, a little more grown up, and much closer to where Canadian Huntress is today.
Outside Looks Good On You™
Until next time,
Dana
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