24 December, 2010

VII: In Bloom

Summer Editorial for So Much To Tell You: featuring HANDMADE IV Nettle Fiber tops, Penny Sage Dress (both @ Miss Crabb) and some magnificent Zora Boyd jewellery from Wunderkammer (some of which hopefully sits under my tree this year)


Styled by Pebbles Hooper

Season's Greetings!



-A.

14 December, 2010

VI: NO Magazine, Issue 12

A few of the white pieces from my current range HANDMADE IV have appeared, to my delight,  in the current Anywhere issue of NO. The images effectively demonstrate their spring/summer wearability; being predominantly made of raw and recycled silk fibers.



Apart from grabbing my attention for obvious reasons, the editorial (featuring model Vilma Putriute) presents effortlessly composed images, which atone for their predominantly narrative nature -An element in fashion photography that I wish we saw more of.




These were:
Photographed by Karen Inderbitzen-Waller
And Styled by Zara Mirkin


Thanks, to you both.

-A.

12 December, 2010

V: More Past Press

 Here are a few more editorial press moments from last year :



 



Images From/Styled By:
No Magazine - Zara Mirkin
Remix Magazine - Dan Ahwa
Pulp Magazine - Sonia Greenslade
Simply You - Natalie Bridges
Canvas (Weekend Herald) - Alice Rycroft


Many thanks to all those mentioned above, and more.




-A.

07 December, 2010

IV: Past Press

For the past couple of years, there has been considerable 'slackishness' on my part, concerning the documentation of press and other such PR aspects. Now that I've got some (but not too much) free time, I've been trying to gather all that past press coverage. Some of it unfortunately can't be found or remembered, but most of it is here:

Bits of old press from the Internet that I found. There will be more to come; hopefully when I get my scanner fixed and can thus start working on recording some printed publications (Or knowing how technologically challenged I am, possibly coax someone to do it of me
! -Any takers?) Anyhow, do feel free to click on the images below for some links.


  

-A.

28 November, 2010

III: Nettle


Here are some images of my latest Nettle Fiber capsule/project; in a wee bit amateurish backyard-installation-gone-awry. Ha. Anyway, the pieces are a continuation of HANDMADE IV; showing a further exploration of 100% natural plant fibers. Here, they've been treated in small naturally dyed batches (Indigo and Berry), where the unintentional changes and inconsistencies in colour mingle with intentional sun bleached and bleached details.

Nettle, a summer-friendly fiber, can easily be worn, once treated appropriately over time; so the pieces will tend to get deliciously softer and more malleable with each wear and wash.




Only SIX limited pieces made to sell.
-All currently displayed and available at Miss Crabb.


Summer has gloriously arrived -Enjoy!

-A.

23 November, 2010

II: Swing Tags

 The intrinsic message from maker to buyer (designer to customer etc), without being the live garment itself, is the Swing Tag and/or Label. The ones I've produced myself, utilize nifty tools such as a customised rubber stamp, Twinings Earl Grey tea, Bockingford Watercolour paper, printed stickers (scanned in my handwriting), hole punch and a Staedtler fine pigment liner. The swing tag includes integral information through which a potential customer may see in depth, the of detail and uniqueness of each limited piece. They also include this season's watercolour woodblock print; which features a tree made of bones and the name of the collection (HANDMADE IV).

Other information available inside each tag/booklet :

    * The title/name and type of garment
    * Individual Date, on which the piece was finished
    * A chart of its fiber composition and treatment
    * Care instructions



These particular tags in tea stained paper will be featured on each of the new Nettle Fiber pieces that I've created -There are only SIX pieces of this small capsule; in a slightly lower price point, while still retaining the integrity of each garment in being cohesive with its adjoining range and more than anything, its uniqueness.

The Nettle Fiber pieces are naturally dyed in two new colours; including improvised shapes and features, such as gussets, thin straps with bleached ends and loosely hand stitched darts. This exquisitely summer-friendly fiber will take shape in the from of cropped tops, loose singlet tops, dress and jumper

-All available, shortly this week, at Miss Crabb.

(And new images will be up soon, so keep your eye out for them!)


-Areez.

16 November, 2010

Here it is: The much-procrastinated First Blog Entry

Having begun with considerable anxiety concerning what this blog may imply, it would suit to begin with clear directness. Here are its intentions and purposes:

One – Hedonistic gratification.
Two – To provide a news supplement for my knitwear projects.
Three – (This is the most difficult one to admit) To act somewhat as an inspiration journal.

Who knows how long this may last, but I do hope to include weekly (or at least fortnightly) updates on the work I do; along with illustrations of what I find aesthetically charged at each time.

So to officially begin; here is something I wrote quite a while ago, but feel as though it appropriately applies today.


Internalised evocations of the sublime, into which one may be immersed:
The way I see it, the world of fashion lives on a tiny, slowly dissolving capsule crowded with figures. All of whom, evoke certain sensibilities in accordance to work aesthetically intertwined with the past (but many tending to forget this very fact). The essence of this appeal today, aside from being intrinsically personal, lies within the fragmentation from being merely culturally and socially imposed. There is a recollective instinct that determines how one may react to certain types of beauty; thus deeming this ‘aesthetic charge’ as defined by none other than the internalised past.


Titian's Venus of Urbino

A repudiation of past values, while still referencing them in Manet's Olympia







Yasumasa Morimura makes the aesthetically ignored aspects of Manet's work visible


Like a palimpsest of intertextual references, think of it as a vinyl record with layers of meaning between the apparent cracks. The memory subliminally alerts one with justifications of how, why and when something can be considered an object of beauty. Now off you go, to experience what only you may.



My very best: To the past, and the future
-Areez Katki