Anna's Color & Style Inspiration

Color is always first and was always first. It was the first thing I desired to change in the kids' market when I started Misha & Puff in 2012. 

Why? 

Because colors in mainstream kids' clothing had become so safe, so binary, so clearly over-researched. You would see the same shade of nauseating pink in every store. The same uninspired, yet unmistakable blue targeted to boys. What about red or violet? Yes, even for boys!? 

My first child is a boy. What this was saying to me and to him felt unacceptable. How could you limit the full spectrum of what the world has to offer in terms of color? It hit me on a visceral level. 

So, color is where I started when I launched Misha & Puff. And color is still where I always start when I create a collection.

I've always been aware of color. 

At an early age, I was encouraged and nurtured to develop my own sense of style. My parents were sensitive people who understood how the creation of self is tied to how you want the world to perceive you. Clothes aren't insignificant, or frivolous.

I remember being a kid and going to a family friend's house, and they had two little girls who had clothes I'd never seen before: dyed leggings and tops in all these wonderfully weird colors for kids—muddy and earthy tones. And I thought 'That's really cool.'  

I grew up with this Dutch brand called oilily, and I worked there when I was 19 and 20. They offered a beautiful riot of color that just really felt exciting and inspiring for kids.

I find color inspiration everywhere.

I feel like we don't have to go looking for inspiration. For me personally, if my eyes are open, there's always stuff to see, even if it's something as simple as an orange twist tie on a craft paper bag in the kitchen. I'm a firm believer that if you open your eyes, you'll find inspiration. And I think I have a lot of references for being inspired by—or aware—of color. 

I'm also super inspired by sixties and seventies fashion as well as places, time periods, and cultures where color and style has more flexibility between genders.

When I started Misha & Puff, I was like, "What are the colors going to be?" It was incredibly important to me. I chose a brown that I called Nutmeg, which is still in the collection, and this dark navy blue, like almost black-blue—which was considered really weird and different for babies, but very Dutch in a way and more European inspired. Also a bright red, and ochre (which became Winter Wheat). 

The colors were gender neutral. These were colors that let you have imagination with them, too. They didn't tell you who they were for or what they were for or if you should even like them. Because I don't like that, being told "Well, these colors are for you and you should like them."

Instead, what if we allow and encourage kids to love the full spectrum of color and be inspired by it? I feel that's a really good first touchstone for kids to understand as they reach their full potential for developing their own style and taste.

Both of my kids respond to color very strongly. And my son has a specific personal style. In some ways, he's hard to shop for because he knows exactly what he wants. But it's always been super important to me to be able to let my kids have a voice in how they want to express themselves.

When it comes to developing colors for a season, there are always new ideas that I want to bring to the market. I don't look at trends or color forecasts. It's much more fanciful and inspirational for me.

Color's nostalgic quality also plays a role. I think that people have a lot of associations with color. I love it when customers respond to our colors—"Oh, I had red shoes like that when I was a kid!" Or "I remember my mother wearing a skirt in that color" or whatever it is . . . and it brings up these happy memories. The color takes on new meaning to them—something that is completely unique to the person.

Bottom line: I'm always looking at color. I'm always thinking about color. I'm always inspired by color. I feel like color is this never ending thing—that I'm never going to get to the end of color. I love that.

Does Misha & Puff have a signature color? I'd say it's . . . Persimmon.

Persimmon is the color that I started liking when I was pregnant with my son. I would see it randomly and everywhere—even in my dreams. It was a color that I'd never really responded to before, but it very much came up during my pregnancy. 

So when I started Misha & Puff, we used Persimmon on our hang tags. It was very much an accent color, one that I've used here and there over the years. It's a color we're going to use again in FW21.

Persimmon will always be that color that makes me happy when I see it—and one that feels like the closest we have to a signature color.

Has there ever been a color that surprised me in terms of how customers responded to it?

I think I really underestimated pink for our customers. We did a pink in our first collection, but very lightly. We featured a pink in 2015, and it was the color that sold the least. So I thought, "We don't have the pink customer." 

Then, we did a color called Dune in 2017. I named it Dune because I wanted people to see it as gender neutral. Again, it was the color that sold the least. So I thought, "Yeah, pink doesn't really work for us."  But then, little by little, I kept hearing how much people loved Dune. By 2019, Dune garments had become a collectors' item. 

We launched Faded Rose in 2019, and people LOVED the color. So then I was like, "OK, so now we do have a pink customer."

And that's what I love about color. Our tastes for color can and do evolve. And that's why, for Misha & Puff, nothing is off limits in terms of color. 

How I keep track of my color ideas 

I'll keep collections of images and screenshots on my phone. Over the years, I've become more organized about grouping things. So when it comes time to do a mood board, I can go back and look at everything I grouped together for a future fall collection, for example. 

I also take a lot of notes on my phone. Some of the notes might be just lists of colors without any context, so I might not always remember what I was thinking. Like maybe I wrote down "teal and orange and green." And I'm like "OK, what did I mean by that?" LOL.

How I approach style development 

I want to create Misha & Puff styles that signal timelessness, yet don't read overly stuffy or vintage. My goal: If in a few years you looked at a photo of your child wearing Misha & Puff, nothing would overwhelmingly give away the time period. 

In other words, I want to create styles that are timeless, yet wearable. That, of course, is the very definition of knitwear. It stretches and grows. And it lasts. To me, the most beautiful things are those that are used, and used well. Your favorite clothes should be worn every day. And why not? When we regularly wear (and repair) our garments, we're honoring the materials, the designs, and the artisans who made them. 

For me, knitwear is like jeans. Or a good pair of shoes. It will show wear and age, and then it will be better. It will be yours. 

What fuels my design work  

The ability to be evocative with clothes. Imaginative. Push the limits, and yet have the garments still be totally wearable. I want to perform my best self when I get dressed. The idea that kids are able to do this too, at an early age, brings me so much joy. 

The meaning, history, and memories created in clothes inspire my work as well. Nostalgia plays a big role. I have strong early memories of clothing. Not just mine, but my mother's. My father's. 

At the same time, it's not just about our own personal experiences with clothing. We must acknowledge that we're part of a larger narrative. Because if you're against fast fashion and trend-driven products that support a disposable culture, you need to believe in longevity and, as a result, the concept that for brands like Misha & Puff, we're not only making products, but also future memories. 

My favorite stylists are kids. 

The honesty with which they combine outfits—part comfort, part costume, part security, and part whatever else is in their imagination that day—inspires my work. I make a pair of plaid pants because they look cool. Because I know the parents will want them for themselves. And what happens to them when they show up in a child's wardrobe? Where does that child take them? That is when a garment comes to life.