Into the Heart of Agnys
When we set out to create our first collection, we wanted to give girls more than just pretty clothes - we wanted to wrap them in a story that would inspire them to live their faith boldly in today's world.
The Agnys collection was originally inspired by Agnes Dei, Latin for Lamb of God. So the question became: how can we make this imagery come alive for modern girls?
From our brainstorming three key themes emerged:
- The Lamb of God imagery is a beautiful symbol of the mystery of suffering and redemption
- We need to instill virtue in ourselves and our children in order to withstand pressure to conform to the secular world
- And it's important to always keep Christ, the Lamb of God, close to us as we walk our faith journey
We took these themes and wrote a poem about a fictional character named Agnys. The poem serves as an allegory for Christian girls living in today's culture.
Standing up for what you believe in is becoming increasingly difficult - if it's difficult for us as adults, imagine what our daughters are and will be facing. It's natural for children to want to fit in with the crowd. And not to mention the messages they receive from media and culture that contradict what we are teaching them at home.
Agnys is not perfect, nor does her story offer false promises of an easy path. Rather, we wanted to illustrate how extremely difficult it is to “look evil in the eye.” But when you suffer for, and with Christ (the lamb), it will lead to a redemption that goes beyond even our earthly life.
Through Agnys, we want to embolden girls - and their families - to be brave in the midst of adversity. And being brave means to always pursue the good, no matter how hard it may be.
We brought this story to life in a short film:
Inside the Collection
The garments in the Agnys collection were designed with careful attention to detail. First, the main focus is “Agnes Dei” or Lamb of God which is woven into our brocade print. In fact, the name of our character, Agnys, was inspired by Agnes Dei.
Second is the Hawthorn flower, which some stories say was used to weave the crown of thorns. The Hawthorn in this collection represents the mystery of beauty in suffering.
Lastly, we embroidered each garment with the hidden message, “Pursue the Good,” which comes from the definition of virtue. We wanted this to be sown on the inside of each piece to symbolize that, when it comes to our faith, it’s more important about what’s inside our hearts than what’s on the outside.
We hope the story of Agnys and the garments encourage young girls - and their families - to live their faith boldly. Because today, more than ever, our culture needs people living heroic virtue.
