Two’s Company – Spring/Summer 1112

Our new collection for Spring/Summer 2011-2012 is about to hit stores. I often read interviews with designers about their collections and with all respect in the world for them, they often seem to...

You Must Read This

If you have any interest in fashion (if not, what are you doing here, exactly?!), you must read this post and blog in general by a former boutique owner and friend of ours, Lorena. In this...

What Is Sustainable Fashion?

Last month we participated in a discussion on sustainable fashion as part of Mercedes Benz Fashion Festival. It was a really interesting evening and others on the panel brought up some ideas about...

Maxwell on Sale

In a few weeks our Spring/Summer collection will be hitting stores. Before then, we’re giving you the opportunity to own a piece of history (ahem) – first season Bento. There are just five Maxwell...

My Hair Is Getting Thin

I don’t want to sound like a wanker, but I’m just going to come out and say this anyway. Bento pieces rock. I stand by the quality of the fabrics, the workmanship of the stitches and the effortless...

History

Tumblr

We’ve jumped on the Tumblr bandwagon… it’s quite addictive! We’re using it as a mosaic for all the bits and pieces we see along the way – take a look! www.thisisbento.tumblr.com

Bento & The Mercedes-Benz Brisbane Fashion Festival

Hey, Brisbanians! If you’re in town come along to the Fashion After Hours discussion this Tuesday (23rd August) at the state library to hear some great folks ponder the topic “Industry & Autonomy:...

if you only get one…

More Than People

I recently saw Marie Antoinette and – despite the critics reviews – I thought it was beautiful. Sure, there was basically no story and it was historically pretty loose on the details, but if you...

Beauty And The Beholder

Bento friend and blogger extraordinare Lady Melbourne posted two tweets last week that really got us thinking and the conversation juice flowing: “I think I was more fashion obsessed as a teen than...

A Sad Day

Good grief it’s been a tough season. Sales-wise, we’ve actually fared better than most. For us it’s been tough because we’ve had a bunch of our stockists close, and others just not pay. I’ve...

Jack + Bill

On Saturday I headed to 1000 Pound Bend in Melbourne for the Jack + Bill casting call. Jack + Bill is a pop-up PR agency run by industry heavyweights Porter Novelli. (For those who aren’t in the...

Be Selective, Not Impulsive

Quote from Hal Rubenstein, Fashion Director, InStyle Magazine (US) “The biggest mistake women can make in fashion today is to get caught up in the idea that they need a new wardrobe each season....

The Cost Of Desire

There’s a whole hoard of people out there that won’t believe this, but we’ll tell you anyway… not all fabrics are created equal. To put it another way, there are different qualities of denim. Of...

More Than Lace And Champagne

Almost anyone can print a tshirt or make a pair of earrings to sell and call themselves a designer. Here’s the bummer. There is SO much more to running a label than making pretty things. In fact,...

10 Becomes 20

Many of you will remember a short time ago we talked about the new icon that would begin appearing on our swing tags from next season to show that all our pieces go from concept to completion...

Bento in Fashion Journal

Great shoot, great shot - seen in the latest issue of Fashion Journal (out now). Blazer will be available from late next month. Thanks to super stylist Elaine Marshall for thinking of us

Pssst! One Day Only Offer…

For today ONLY we have a special offer to celebrate the 30th birthday of Bento designer Sam (that’s me!) Click the ‘shop’ link above and use the code bentobirthday for 30% off everything. But it’s...

Thanks Isn’t Enough

From my marketing days I’m really aware how rare a compliment is for a business. People will complain far more readily than they will say anything positive. It’s not necessarily bad – in a way it’s...

The Wedding

Even if you’ve never planned a wedding yourself, you’ve probably seen it happen. What is conceptually a fantastically happy and enjoyable day and process leading up to it becomes quite the ordeal...

Bento Loves The Lads

We’ve been talking since day one at Bento about whether or not we’ll do menswear. It’s definitely on the cards, but menswear is such a different market so you really need to get your timing and...

Our New Online Store

We’re pretty excited here at Bento today because we’ve just joined the Grand Social fraternity and opened our very own online store alongside fancy labels like Ellery, Ginger & Smart and our...

Bento Loves… Style Icons

Mmmm. Style icon. It’s a term that gets bandied around a fair bit these days. Of course, as quickly as someone is declared a style guru and icon they’re off the list again (Sienna Miller, anyone?)....

The Uniform

Do you have a uniform? Not a work uniform, silly. I mean a failsafe go-to look. Open your wardrobe – is it mostly denim? Sun dresses or suits? I rather admire people who have a personalised...

Colour Colour Colour

There are certain shades that I’m just obsessed with. Most of them are extremely vibrant. One that I’m a huge sucker for is that peacock blue / aqua / turquoise sort of shade … although every time...

Super Special Bento Offer

Next week, we’ll be opening our own online store with the Grand Social. As such, we have a very small amount of stock here that will go to the store. As my personal thanks to everyone who supports...

eNewsletter

Just a quickie… we’ve finally got around to formalising our enewsletter thing. Basically we send an email to people who like us once in a while to give them first dibs on great prices and tell them...

Full Transparency

We mentioned a while ago that we might be doing this, and here you have it… the completely transparent costs involved in producing a Bento garment. The t-shirt shown above will be available from...

How Many People Does It Take To Run A Label?

Last year I read Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. The basic premise of the book is that we fill the time we’re given to complete any given task, irrespective of the amount of work actually...