DeeAnn Carpenter
Fashion Designer & Artisan
Driven by her enchantment of American west aesthetic, and her love for sewing, artisan DeeAnn Carpenter established her custom clothing brand with the notion of transforming Native American indpitrf vintage Beacon Blankets—circa 1920-1950—into unique, museum-quality outerwear. With a distinctive cutting technique, DeeAnn expertly captures and preserves the color schemes, patterns, and pictorial designs from the blankets and turns them into personalized, high-quality jackets, coats, and capelettes that stand out from any other apparel on the market—in style and skill.
Born and raised in Mankato, Minnesota, DeeAnn began sewing and matching pattern designs with fabric at the age of nine as soon as she first learned to thread a needle by her grandmother and her mother, both master seamstresses. It wasn’t long before she was making her own clothing, buying fabric from her allowance, and receiving lots of compliments on her creations by school mates. She was inspired by the validation in her work, and most of all, by that fact that she was wearing something no one else had.
It wasn’t until DeeAnn was an adult that she became interested in making clothing for other people. Encouraged by the same compliments on her creations she received as a teenager, and never one to pass up an opportunity, DeeAnn soon found herself with a steady list of clients for her skillfully crafted apparel. This endeavor eventually led her to designing canvas bags, and she started her own custom design, retail, and manufacturing operation offering custom logo and design for the advertising and promotional industry for several years.
Looking for her next adventure, DeeAnn packed up her belongings and moved to Aspen, Colorado in 1991, where she discovered Beacon Blankets, and soon became an avid collector. These blankets, circa 1920-1950, illustrate the artistry of Native Americans who gave their designs to the Beacon Manufacturing Company, originally in New Bedford Massachusetts, in exchange for blankets for their reservations and to sell at their trading posts. Unfamiliar to the blankets, she came across some in an antique shop and instantly fell in love with the beauty and artistry. She felt that the texture of the fabric, the patterns, and the colors all lent themselves to be wearable. So DeeAnn made a prototype jacket out of a blanket, and Adore Design’s wearable-art was hatched. She sold them in ladies boutiques throughout Aspen and the Midwest and found herself quickly looking for more blanket inventory. And she hasn’t stopped since.
Much of DeeAnn’s custom orders have come from people who actually see her wearing her one-of-a-kind, art-inspired outerwear. They ask: “What are you wearing?” Where did you get it?” “What is the fabric?” and “Can you turn around so I can see the whole thing?” To which she always replies: “Well, I made it from authentic vintage Beacon Blankets, circa 1920-1950. Do you want one?”
DeeAnn was inspired by her grandaughter Vivienne Rose to create her very First Beacon Garmet
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