CMT Blog: Archive

I'll admit. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but that doesn't mean I can't look like a songbird all the same. This week I had the opportunity to check out a photo shoot here in Nashville for the Alabama Chanin Spring/Summer 2009 collection called "The Songbirds." The idea was inspired by fashion designer Natalie Chanin's iTunes playlist that includes artists like Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Allison Moorer (pictured) and Alison Krauss, to name a few. Since I have many of the same songbirds on my own playlist, I knew I had to check out this clothing line.

The garments are made of organic cotton that is farmed in Texas, spun in Tennessee, knit in South Carolina and hand-cut, painted and sewn in Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi. "It's very handmade couture," Chanin told me between shots. While there, I had the chance to see Russ Harrington, who also photographed the line during New York's fashion week, capture images of singer-songwriters Abigail Washburn and Elizabeth Cook modeling the attire. The catalog will be out in a couple of weeks featuring many of these songbirds as well as a couple of collaboration pieces with Moorer's line, 1 Turtle Dove. I'm looking forward to "The Songbirds" clothing that will soon be available at Barneys and select stores in Nashville. Whoever said you had to be a singer to be a songbird?