Recently, we have noticed the same crochet beachwear cropping up again and again on Instagram. First, we spotted Kourtney Kardashian, (the most stylish Kardashian, in our opinion) wearing an off-the-shoulder crop top and high-waist bikini bottoms in white crochet. Then, Gigi Hadid’s Coachella wardrobe included a similar crochet one-shoulder bikini top, and finally, we saw Fashion Me Now’s Lucy Williams wearing a beautiful pink and white striped crochet dress during a trip to the Caribbean. Insta-sleuthing hats on, we managed to track down the culprit: Bali-based brand She Made Me.
Started by designer Chloe Dunlop in 2012, the crochet-focussed brand sells bikinis and beachwear, with everything made from 100 per cent cotton. While her first collection was made by hand with help from her grandma, she has since upped sticks from her native Australia to Bali, where she works with local artisans, ensuring that they share in the profits of the business, while she also outsources some of the weaving to women in India.
With one bikini taking one or two days to make, and some dresses taking up to three weeks, it’s a time-consuming process that produces beautiful, lovingly-made pieces. The amount of time taken to make each piece of course means that there aren't thousands of each design produced, with the scarcity factor definitely adding to the brand's appeal. Indeed, when an influencer wears something and posts it on their Instagram account, the brand often sees pieces sell out, alerting customers as to when they will be restocked online.
As Dunlop explains on her Instagram account: ‘We work with a woman owned-and-run production house in India, where our clothing is made, which runs a program to empower disadvantaged women. Every piece of our crochet swimwear and clothing is hand-crocheted by artisans in Indonesia who work autonomously from their villages.’
Now stocked on numerous fashion sites globally – including Revolve, Moda Operandi and Free People, as well as the She Made Me official site – pieces start from $170 AUD for a bikini top or bikini bottoms, to up to $600 for a midi-length crochet dress.