Introducing Sarah Flint x Sense and Sensibility

From the Studio

Introducing Sarah Flint x Sense and Sensibility

I'm obsessed with Jane Austen, and period films more broadly. I've read Sense and Sensibility more times than I can count, and every time I go back to it, I notice something new about Elinor and Marianne. Elinor holds everything together quietly. Marianne feels everything out loud. Much like my sisters and I, growing up as one of four girls, nothing alike.

I've wanted to do something with this book for years, so when this collaboration came together, it felt like the equivalent of a superfan getting asked to plan the reunion tour. Building it into an actual physical collection turned out to be harder than I expected, in a good way. I didn't want a shoe with a movie logo slapped on it. I spent real time on where Elinor ends and Marianne begins, down to which thread color went on which shoe. That kind of care is usually invisible to the person wearing it, and I've been sitting on this collection for months without being able to show anyone. For someone notoriously impatient, this has been easy! I can't wait for people to finally see it.

That's how Sarah Flint x Sense and Sensibility came together: two shoes, each one built around a sister, plus two hand-painted scarves. This launches ahead of the film's release in theatres on October 16th.

Two Sisters, Two Shoes: How the Emma became Elinor and the Natalie became Marianne

The Perfect Emma is Elinor's shoe. It's structured, it's clean, it does exactly what it says it will do, which felt right for a character who is the most reliable person in every room she's in. The Natalie is Marianne's shoe, more romantic in its silhouette with an asymmetrical bow, which suited a character who leads with feeling.

Both styles are hand-embroidered with the same floral, a Japanese anemone, but the embroidery isn't identical across the two. I adjusted the placement and density of the stitching to match each sister's personality. Elinor's version is more contained. Marianne's is fuller, more scattered, almost like the flowers are still growing.

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Why a Japanese Anemone

I wanted a flower that could carry meaning without being literal. The Japanese anemone bloom is delicate but incredibly resilient; it comes back year after year, and there's a long tradition of using it to represent anticipation and sincerity. Both of those felt true to Elinor and Marianne, and true to the book itself, which is really a story about waiting for the right thing and being honest about what you feel while you wait.

Hand-embroidered, Stitch by Stitch: What actually went into the shoe

The embroidery is on linen. Some of the petals aren't stitched flat, they lift off the surface, so the embroidery has real dimension to it instead of just sitting as a pattern. It is about 23 hours of hand stitching per pair.

The Anemones Scarf and the Dashwood Scarf

Alongside the shoes, I made two scarves. I hand-painted the Anemones scarf myself, in a mix of watercolor and colored pencil, using the same floral that's embroidered on the shoes.

The second scarf, the Dashwood, was hand-painted by Katarzyna Strozynska-Goraj, a longtime collaborator of mine. It felt fitting that any one of the sisters, or their mother, would wear it.

The Dashwood carries so much color, and so much depth in that color, that it works with nearly anything you put it against. It's an autumnal scarf through and through.

Like all our scarves, both are made in Como, Italy.