Courting the Coat - on coats and jackets this season

Another one of my pieces for Femina.in. This time on the necessity of the season, the coat and jacket.

Femina is one of India's oldest Women's magazine. I recall it from when i was little. According to Wikipedia,

Femina is a magazine, published fortnightly in India. It is owned by Worldwide Media, a 50:50 joint venture between BBC Worldwide and The Times Group. It is primarily a women's magazine and features articles on Relationships, Beauty & Fashion, Cuisine, and Health & Fitness. It also features articles on celebrities and various cultural facets of Indian women.

Femina was first published in July 1959. It has organized and sponsored the Femina Miss India beauty pageant since 1964. From 1994 to 1999, it also sponsored the Femina Look of the Year contest to send an Indian contestant to the Elite Model Look competition.

A little piece of history right there.

Green Design: Clothing with a Conscience

I was recently asked to write on fashion, textile and design by the team at Femina.in. I love writing these pieces in my spare time. It gives me as a fashion professional a voice and greater insight in probing and writing on a subject.

The first piece i wrote for them was this one on Green Clothing or Ethical Fashion. The article lists relevant Indian stores and manufacturers in the green fashion space.

Let me know what you think.

Alice

Interviewed

Recently i was e-interviewed on this Yahoo Group Creativegarh. It was a kind of get to know one another scenario.

The interviewer is Navin Pangti and i thought some of the questions he posed were really worth pondering over. Thus the post.

Creativegarh: What does being 'creative' mean to you?

Me: Being creative to me means allowing my neurons to weave magical pictures in my head... to connect afresh each day, giving me insights, ideas, answers and inspiration. Being creative to me is: Finding answers, posing questions and crafting things of beauty, meaning and value to me.

CG: Can you give us a brief overview of your life as a creative person?

Me: Wow, some question that! :) Brevity, hmm...

Well, I've always felt like a creative being. My mom noticed that about me early on and encouraged me to colour and draw and make things by hand. The mechanics of things interested me, as in how one can make the windows and doors of a doll house open and shut, and how things (2D material like fabric) can be moulded to fit a 3D form. Fabric, colour, light and motion have always attracted me. I think colour, light and movement are the earliest things we are designed to respond to. I've always been something of a recluse, though most would not recognize me as that, and design, art, science and stuff like making up song lyrics as I sang, kept me absorbed.

One thing that I can't do with gay abandon is paint. A blank canvas used to scare me growing up. That is something I need to give another shot. I have the deepest regard for artists who have found their voices and means to self-expression in this medium.

The progress to designing clothing was very instinctive, and before I knew what it was termed, I had decided I would like to work with moulding fabric as per my wishes, pretty much all my life. NIFT happened and I was onto and into a career in Fashion Design.

More than fashion, it is design that engages me. The so-called glamour and clamour don't leave much of an impression on me. And at one point during my career this mindlessness almost made me question whether the industry as it is, is a space I am meant to be in. Presently I'm past that milestone on introspection highway.

CG: What are some of the ways, besides your main, chosen creative field, that you express your creativity?

Me: Well with my love of colour and light, the visual media, photography is something I really enjoy. In the coming months I plan to upgrade to a better camera, which will allow me greater functionality as well as quality to creating images.

Then there is interior design... which I've mainly explored in my own home. From choosing colours and deciding on colour-blocking techniques, to designing beds, closets, seating spaces and more, I've done a good many projects.

I love designing shoes, and was solely into that during Hindi lessons in school. As part of my career I've done some shoe design work as well, but I'd love to do more and have people wear and enjoy my designs.

A recent love is designing costume jewelry... but more about that baby as it develops.

I've done a fair bit of writing, mainly on fashion and style for publications like Rediff.com and tips4me.com, to the Complete Wellbeing Magazine. I write a fashion blog at http://styleasylum.blogspot.com.

Oh and I've been dancing since childhood, from when I'd practice and put on little dance items for my parents... lol, patient them, and later choreographing and performing dance pieces with friends. I've learnt a little bit of both classical and other forms, and instruct in one which is a form of contemporary dance. I teach a batch of architecture students as part of their extended curriculum apart from my own intermittent workshops.

CG: What or who are some of the inspirational influences on your creativity?

Me: I can't say there are any one or two influences. I think my real inspiration comes from a divine source; from some space within, the universe perhaps! That is how I know it to be. In the outer world, anything unexpected and out of the ordinary can be the spark. The colours in a painting, origami motifs, a culture, fabrics and textures, all things natural; just about anything can be the springboard.

CG: What are 'those little things you do' to keep yourself in the creative flow everyday?

Me: One essential I cannot go without is my practice of Pranayams which I 'religiously' do every day. Another is to keep my funny bone in shape. Laughter keeps the mind and heart open and lighter. On particularly stressful days I get myself a dose of Mr. Bean before bed. I will sometimes address a project in positive terms like 'the awesome Ladakh travelogue', or 'the gorgeous floral collection' in my head and keep the notes I made on it close at hand. These inspire and keep me on track. Staying organized helps a lot as well.

CG: Have you found ways to integrate your creative and 'working' time and tasks and if so, how?

Me: Well, working in fashion helps to a great extent, (I get to sketch and colour and work with beads and baubles!), but fulfilling my varied creative interests can sometimes be a challenge. As I realize and read, the work-life balance is the biggest conundrum facing Indian professionals today. I use weekends, vacations and the odd sabbatical to make time for my other interests.

CG: How successful have you been able to find a balance between creative satisfaction and social acceptance? If so, how?

Me: Social acceptance has not been too great a challenge in my career. Probably cause fashion design as a profession is pretty well accepted and established. I have had to assert myself some, and set certain boundaries, and once that?s done I find doing what I feel like is mainly about putting in the time and energy. My parents are pretty darn supportive. In my case creative satisfaction and social acceptance aren't interdependent so to speak.

CG: What new idea or area of creativity has inspired you recently? How did you become aware of this new inspiration?

Me: I think we need customized cupcake-icing parlours. Lol... ok seriously, well with the recession having set in and the effects of it showing on the retail market, I'm looking at developing a line of fashion accessories and later clothing which is chic, stunning and VFM. I know I'd like that. And I'd like to tap consumers who think likewise. I love statement necklaces, and brooches and t-shirts and I want to offer these at great prices while thoroughly tripping myself out making them!

CG: What words would you offer to other creative people to inspire and encourage them?

Me: Ok, i'm going to enumerate these:

1. Do what brings you joy, what excites you. Learn to transmit that energy via your work. It makes a difference. That's something i'm working on.
2. Stay true to your vision. The difference between people who call themselves creative and who really are creative is the presence or absence of vision and original thought.
3. For a creative person the worst place to be in is the state of non-creation. Give your creative energies their outlets. It's okay to be a bit afraid when taking that creative leap. Get over it.
   
4. And finally, ask and you shall receive. Learn to ask for what you want, but before that get to know what you want. That takes some meditation.
   

CG: What do you have to say about Creativegarh and its efforts?

Me: Exceedingly commendable. CG is a space that's grown to become a part of my inbox and life to quite an extent. I keep coming back to it and hope to be a greater part of it in times to come. CG is a space for ideas, idea people, sharing and encouragement, inspiration and opportunities.

CG: Where can people have a look at your work and contact you? If you have a website, please do post the URL. Do you blog? if yes, can you share the URL(s)? A small note of why and how you blog would be very helpful.

Me: I'm in the process of setting up my own website. Meanwhile, I blog, but not very often. My design blog is at http://styleasylum.blogspot.com. Your feedback is welcome. I blog: a) when I have the time and b) when something really knocks my socks off. I rather not do a half-hearted job of it.

CG: Any online profiles/links (facebook, linkedin, twitter, flickr, ryze, etc.) you would like to share with other cg members?

Me: Not really... shared a bunch already. I am on all these networking platforms though. Good god.

So there you have it. :) More updates soon...

Spotlight: Designer Kate Cusack

Meet Kate Cusack a Brooklyn based designer-costumer who creates jewelry pieces and sculptural work from unusual material. Unusual material you say? Yes, metal-tooth zippers and plastic wrap if you will.

According to Kate herself, she makes costumes and wearable art. And that's just the term (wearable art) that can be employed to describe her line of Zipper Jewelry. It recently caught my eye on fellow blogger Choeny Wagma's blog, where i can safely say i was immediately taken by the sheer genius of her work. Made with a unique and contemporary design aesthetic Kate's pieces are truly one-of-a-kind.

Kate's zipper jewelry was first noticed in 2002, while she worked as a window-dresser, creating five Marie-Antoinette-style wigs made entirely from plastic wrap for Tiffany & Co.'s 5th Avenue store. The lady in the visual merchandising department who had hired Kate admired the zipper pin she'd affixed to her jacket so Kate made the second zipper pin as a thank you.

Since 2003 she took to making jewelry like bracelets, necklaces, brooches and pins out of metal-tooth zippers.

She points out:

"It’s ironic that most fashion designers try to hide or disguise zippers in their creations. However, I love zippers’ shiny metal teeth and I want to show off, not hide, their sparkle and their sinuous flexibility."

These handmade pieces sell for between $70 -$400, with custom pieces going up to $1000.

Zipper jewelry can be bought at Kate Cusack's Etsy shop.

Packaging love!

I simply love this 'Knickers of the Week' pack packaging idea by Stella McCartney!

Based on the concept of the knicker drawer, this delightful pack comes emblazoned with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday all the way up to Sunday, ending with 'Bits and Bobs' beyond.

The lingerie inside of it isn't bad either.

All in all i think it makes for a lovely gift idea (for someone close...), and i can see it fit right into my wardrobe alongside my real underwear drawer! Can't you? :)

Sustainable Silk - a possibility

This is really interesting... young designer Elsbeth Joy Nielson from the Netherlands has discovered a way of producing silk without killing silkworms. As per the norm silkworms are thrown into boiling water when they cocooned themselves - which is the end of life.

The designer has been experimenting with an idea of sustainable silk production: before starting the cocooning she puts the silkworm on a shaped piece of carton board which is held by a stick that is centered on the downside. The silkworm then starts trying to escape from this platform - without success of course as it fall down at the edges of the carton. In the two days of crossing the carton in the search of an escape the silkworm so spins a random net of silk. The result is a very delicate texture made of silk which you can see in the picture. After this procedure the puts the silkworm back, lets him spin his cocoon and become a silk-spinner butterfly.

The only problem is that the butterfly has been breeded to produce silk for centuries and now his wings are not big enough that it could make him fly. Well - maybe biotechnology can help on that problem.

The resulting scarf demonstrates the fabric's exquisite beauty.

Via Roger Live.

Gap and Pantone T-Shop

Earlier this month Gap and Pantone set up a pop-up shop on 5th Ave in the company’s ‘concept store’ space.

Combining the popularity of Gap t-shirts and the prowess of the worldwide color coder’s energetic shades, Gap and Pantone announced the opening of a color-filled t-shirt shop in Gap’s rotating concept venue adjacent to its flagship store at 54th and 5th Ave.

The Gap & Pantone T-Shop will be open till Sunday, Feb. 8.

“We wanted to create an explosion of color and bring some warmth and optimism to our customers,” said Patrick Robinson, executive VP of design for Gap Adult and gapbody. Noble intentions those.

Pantone Inc. provides professional color standards for design industries. Each year, Pantone selects a “color of the year.” 2009’s color is PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa, a warm, engaging yellow that Gap will spotlight with exclusive Mimosa tees available for purchase at the Gap & Pantone T-Shop.

Brand tie-ins such as this should hopefully help Gap out of the financial doldrums the company has been seeing in recent years. For Pantone it brings the concept of colour-coding, from the environs of design studios, to the consumers, and makes for a good exercise in brand-building.

As an aside, i'm looking forward to more instances of Pop-up Retail globally, and wonder when the Indian market would be ready for a concept such as that. For more on Pop-up Retail visit trendwatching.com.

Runway fashion

For those not from within the fashion business, you would imagine that designers mainly pay painstaking attention to the clothes and hair and makeup looks they put together. But more-so now in recent years than ever before, designers spend a lot of time and energy working out every detail of the show, from music, to runway, to backdrop and lighting.

The runway forms a setting which supports, plays up and portrays a more complete vision of the collection on show.

Take a look at these interesting runways from a clutch of fashion weeks.

Wood chips strewn on the runway at the Ausländer show at Rio Fashion week Fall/Winter 09.
Photo Courtesy: Refinery29.com

Seen at Rio Fashion week Fall/Winter 09, this runway is a collage of passport size photographs.
Photo Courtesy: Refinery29.com

A roughly hewn wooden runway at Lanvin Spring 08.
Photo Courtesy: Piercemattiepublicrelations.com

In Delhi, designer Tarun Tahiliani goes temple-style with golden spires, lotus blossoms et al.
Photo Courtesy: Coutorture.com

Icicle-shaped chandeliers and a blue backdrop set the tone at Gaurav Gupta's Fall/Winter 08 show.
Photo Courtesy: Coutorture.com

In Mumbai, Sabyasachi Mukherjee goes regal with a burgundy velvet runway and ornate chandeliers. Fall/Winter 07.
Photo Courtesy: nj.com

Photo Courtesy: Refinery29.com

But the award for most original concept and execution has to go to designer brand Redley who's show at Rio Fashion week took place in the middle of a jungle on a mountaintop about an hour outside of the city. As lensman Pete Miszuk relates, "During the show there were huge butterflies floating everywhere in the air. It was completely surreal."

Wearable Peace

I recently came across the work of Kali Arulpragasam, sister of rapper M.I.A and ex-ad executive who left the big game world of advertising to study jewelry design at Central Saint Martins London. She went on to create an edgy, avante garde jewelery line that highlights world issues through highly original pieces that push the traditional boundaries of form, design and reason.

Retailing under the London based label Superfertile I first caught sight of one of Kali's previous collections entitled 'Terrorism affects Tourism' while working on a jewelry project myself.

Intricately etched pieces which tell the story of countries torn by war and terrorism. Places we associate with strife and grief emblazoned and encapsulated on pendants for wearing, almost akin to armor.

In an interview to the New York Times, Kali of Sri Lankan origin voices, "There’s more to these countries than guys with guns standing in rubble."

"What are the plants like? What music are the kids listening to?" she asked and ventured to portray.

Images are hand-cut and plated together to create a mural in gold and silver: Haiti’s depicts children playing soccer under banana trees; Sudan’s shows cows and fishermen.

Some customers, Arulpragasam says, have taken to hanging them on the wall. “That’s the irony of it,” she mused. “People are treasuring them, while the actual nations are being destroyed.”

The necklaces, $800 to $1,000, can be custom-ordered from superfertile.com.

Trendspotting: Hemline Economics

I just read this piece on the New York Times website which i thought was an interesting trend deviation and thus worthy of sharing.

Bill Cunningham with the New York Times put together this multimedia trend spot on the fall in hem-lines observed on dresses and skirts on everyday women on the streets of Paris and New York.

"Revolutions to fashion usually begin because of world events. Will fashion history repeat the drastic hemline changes that followed the 1929 crash?" he ventures.

Above from left:

L'Wren Scott Headmistress wool dress, £1,830.51.

Donna Karan Diamanté cashmere dress, £1,323.
Thomas Wylde Madagascar silk dress, £628.43, all available at Net-a-Porter.com.

With photos shot over September 2008 into the New Year, Cunningham relates that this period appears much like the post-recession era of the 1930s, when hemlines plunged along with the downward spiral in global economy.

While younger women are still showing preference for the prevailing full skirted minis, with ample leg on display, the 30 somethings are unmistakably gravitating towards more modest hemlines that finish at the calf.

Above from left:
Wren Skating Skirt, about $275, available at Mick Margo and Thistle & Clover
A.P.C. Corduroy Full Skirt, $200, available at A.P.C. and La Garçonne
Karen Walker Wool Full Skirt, $365, available at Creatures of Comfort

What's different though is unlike the 30s, women now wear pants. Pants appear in the form of fall 08's favoured look of opaque tights worn under cropped jackets and coats. But again this look finds patronage with 'em young 'uns.

An interesting set of observations if any.... Take a look yourself and come back with musings.

Plantable Eco Calendar 2009

I dig all things green (though i'm not as green as they come, oh well, i do have a few decades wherein to get my act together), and i love creative design. So whence the twain meet in terms of a Plantable Eco Calendar for 2009, i had to share et blog all about it.


The Plantable Eco Calendar, as it's makers the Botanical Paperworks company reveal is twelve months of completely plantable(!) pages made with 100% post-consumer waste and 100% recyclable into wildflowers. Notice the little seeds in there?!

Keeping track of the year with this 5 x 5 inch handmade plantable paper monthly desk calendar creates beauty and leaves nothing behind but flowers - and a completely reusable tin. When a month passes by simply plant the seed-embedded page and wait for wildflowers to grow. :)

Could it get more awesome?