INTERVIEWS
The coolest thing about the Sheep and Wool festival was seeing everyone in their creations. Knits, weaves, crochet, I saw it all! Everyone wearing their woven art was more than happy to share how they made it and where they go their inspiration. I was super inspired by all the gorgeous work and am now working on a piece of my own.
Yarns come in all shapes, sizes, colors and types. I found some soft, supple alpaca and some beautiful novelty wool and mohair blends. Their were natural hand dyed and super color synthetic dyed yarns from all types of animals. They even had angora yarn with rabbits on display. They also had all the equipment you would need for spinning yarn and weaving looms.
See the animals I saw at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.
Last Saturday I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival with my weaving class. I never knew there were so many types of yarns or sheep! I was also surprised by the amount of people interested in weaving, knitting, spinning, crocheting and other fiber arts. It was really interesting to see the animal and then samples of their coats - like a specific lamb with their wool out as a sample so you could feel it.
Check back tomorrow to see the yarn I explored at the festival
We all want to know what's in our makeup, what's in the fibers we wear everyday and what we put in our hair - right? Well...maybe we say we do but we just buy whatever is prettiest (or cheapest) anyway. The third stand out trend from the Capsule Show NY and Axis is all natural beauty. Almost all the makeup brands I stopped to chat with used all natural products and most of the designers I talked to referenced sustainable fabric or fiber purity in some way. Here are some of my favorite brands using sustainable practices and/or natural ingredients that still make gorgeous things I want to have in my closet and keep in my makeup bag.
Organic active wear made in the USA that is artistically dyed in low-impact dye houses? YES! I am so happy to have found LVR. We had a nice chat about the realities of producing unique products (try finding a dye house in LA that will take your small order of custom dye work on light knit fabrics- yeah not as easy as you'd think). Their yoga pants still have spandex so they won't fall off or stretch out. Working out has never been so earth friendly, painterly or soft. Shop their activewear online at LVR.
Wife-and-husband team Holly McWhorter and Bjarke Ballisager are the creators of Plant, an interdisciplinary design studio, online shop and wholesale distributor. Thier clean design mimics the clean ingredients inside the bottles. I could smell Copenhagen from a mile away and aha Ballisager is in fact from the capital of Scandinavian minimal. I want all the things. Shop for your own at Plant. They are based in Brooklyn and their spice kits and bodywashes are made in New York by a team of adults with physical, medical, mental and psychiatric handicaps.
Created by Joshua Morgan and Brad Scoggins, Little Barn Apothecary is on a mission to create safe, alternative and modern apothecary goods using wild harvested ingredients from their backyard in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Their products are simple and organic. Shop for face masks, oils and tub tabs online at Little Barn Apothecary.
Herbivore Botanicals, also 100% natural, safe and non toxic, was founded by Julia Wills and Alexander Kummerow in their Seattle kitchen. All of their products are also 100% vegan and focus on therapeutic ingredients. When I asked for something that smelled like fresh rose petals, they turned me around to smell their Coco Rose Coconut Oil Body Polish. Made from coconut oil and Bulgarian Rose absolute, this a match made in heaven. Shop their collection online at Herbivore Botanicals.
10 oil products were created to help you and your skin feel your best. Their oils are 100% natural, raw and vegan using premium cold pressed and organic oils. Their signature 10C and 10G are formulated to hydrate, nourish, heal and protect, featuring coconut oil and grapeseed oil along with a cocktail of Olive, Jojoba, Hemp Seed, Pomegranate. They are based in Australia. I'm using 10C daily now.
Read my recap of the NY Capsule Show with trend #1: Designer-Makers and yesterday's trend #2: Destination Sourced! For all my photos check out my Capsule Show NY Flickr album.
Here's part 2 of my Capsule Show NY recap. Travel is often cited by fashion designers as an influence. What makes these designers different is that they're focused on a particular place, produce in that place and/or evoke that place throughout their entire collection. Made in the USA is highly valued because it's assumed it's higher quality and that there are better conditions for the workers, but have you ever seen this Portlandia Reverse Sweatshop clip? It doesn't matter where something is made if it's not made responsibly. Being made in Bali, Tallinn, or Africa can be just as highly regarded if it's done sustainably and responsibly. Often it is even better quality, especially when it comes to artisan techniques. Overseas doesn't have to mean high minimums or sweatshop labor and inspired by travel doesn't have to mean exoticizing the local culture. Here are some of my favorite designers sourcing their brand and designs globally on their own terms.
Angela O'Brien and her husband Jim founded their clothing and accessories line in Bali, Indonesia, where they develop their products with local artisans and small factories to create sustainable jobs. When not living the island life, they are in SoCal where they have a boutique in Sunset Beach (one of my favorite beaches). Their A/W collection features intricate beaded goddess crop tops, fringe, simple prints and gown-like dresses you can wear all day in rosy maroon, chalky black and cream. It's like the wardrobe of a chic genie. While it's more fun to wear these pieces with your toes in the sand, they are just as functional for subway rides and layering under a winter coat. You can shop their current collection here: Cleobella.
Designers Hanna Riiheläinen and Emilia Hernesniemi met while studying in Helsinki, Finland. Their new work includes a fun purple crush velvet dress and top in their signature Mickey design, to-die-for wool coats, and a modern light denim bomber and pant set. Their minimal color palette, body-conscious shapes and graphic prints ooze of sophisticated Scandinavian design. They are based in Helsinki, Finland and produce in Tallinn, Estonia. You can shop their collection at RH Studio.
Tejido shop is a textile and accessories brand that works with artisan communities in North and South America. Back in 2013 they had a kickstarter campaign to work with an artisan cooperative in Arequipa, Peru and now sell to retailers like Free People and Club Monaco. I go gaga over their prints and like the more subtle purples and monochromatic pieces from their upcoming collection.
After working with Stella McCartney and Alberta Ferretti, Mariana Iacia created her own vegan fashion brand. Based in Brazil, Svetlana includes swimwear and ready-to-wear in bright colors with custom prints. You'll be able to shop her collection soon here: Svetlana -- check it out before I buy her whole collection.
Spanish-Japanese duo Clara A.Montsalvatge and Leticia Cano Baba are shirtmakers based in Barcelona, Spain. They design strong prints in simple shirt bodies for both men and women. They source their fabrics in Shanghai and sell online at Batabasta. As they say, printed silk shirts are always in style.
Indego Africa, a nonprofit lifestyle brand, is based on economic empowerment and education. They partner with cooperatives of female artisans in Rwanda and sell their handcrafted products online. 100% of the profits fund job skills training in design, production, entrepreneurship, and English and Kinyarwanda literacy for the artisan partners. You can shop their beautiful housewares, accessories and jewelry online at Indego Africa.
More photographs here from the Capsule and Axis shows! Read our first recap of the Capsule Show and check back for trend #3 tomorrow!
I spent Sunday exploring the Capsule Womenswear A/W 2015 and Axis Show in New York. It was the first trade show I’ve ever attended as a blogger and I'm happy to report back some new designers and interesting trends I discovered. I’ve been to textile shows in Los Angeles and done shows in San Francisco as a designer/maker, so it was new to be on the other side of the booth. Just as exhausting, but in a different way.
I’m not big on trend projections - I think fashion trends are kind of like self-fulfilling prophesies. The more you know about the industry, the more you realize how interconnected everything is and how much it literally comes down to who can get what fabrics and meet certain minimums and what dyes are available that year and what car color is projected to be popular in the next 3-5 years and who happened to cover what look first and how many people she convinced that it’s a thing.
Yet, there are some trends in fashion that are fundamentally changing the way the industry works, the way you shop and the traditional idea of trends altogether. While some of these trends have been going on for a while, they were super evident at this year's Capsule Show of Womenswear A/W 2015. Increasingly. these may be the only trends that matter for emerging designers. A new designer may not be able to compete with established brands for access to certain fabrics, certain trend projection research, a certain scale of production or PR that creates and sustains trends, but she can stay true to her vision and quickly bring new ideas to market. For many designers at the show, this meant producing locally, using natural and sustainable materials and mastering new and traditional techniques for unique garments and accessories. I predict more buyers will find the following trends desirable to their customers and that these concepts will continue to be valued by emerging and established brands in the many fashion seasons to come.
Not all designers went to fashion school, but they all at some point have to figure out how to create what's living in their imaginations. These designers have embraced traditional techniques, spent hours upon hours prototyping, and gotten their hands dirty with ink and their fingernails dirty with fibers. I'm confident they have poked themselves with a pin on many occasions and have stayed up all night tinkering around with a pattern, a hand-painting or their website (that they also run). There's nothing new about designers that are also makers, but it is notable that these designers are producing high quality work and running their own online shops and social media content.
Mary Kahle is designer and creator of her namesake line Kahle, which means unadorned or bare in German (funny we both have an affinity for our last names--Etxe is from my last name). Her line features hand-manipulated fabrics, raw edge denim, luscious wool knits, structured basics and sleek asymmetry. Kahle is based and produced in Brooklyn, NY.
Make it Good is the sister line of housewares craft line Nell & Mary. Their new collection features their signature original hand screen printed designs, textured knits and breezy silhouettes. Krista Stovel, part of the team behind both brands (also including Leah Stovel Bloom and Avery Bloom), showed the collection along with new Nell & Mary designs. Based in Portland, Oregon and produced in the USA, you can visit their online stores here: Make it Good and Nell & Mary.
Taketo Nishino and Ena Kizawa are behind this concept brand that uses upcycled Levis, found souvenirs from world travels with Japanese textiles and Italian thread. I really enjoyed the feels of each piece -- evoking Southwestern kitsch, film noir nostalgia and classic style. You can find more of their work on 5-Knot. They are based in Japan.
Virginia Blanca Arrisueño, the designer behind accessories line DeNada, brought a machine look to demonstrate hand made weaving at Capsule. It was mesmerizing to watch her loop the yarn and use a knitting needle to maintain a the same distance amongst the loops. I'm in love with DeNada's chunky knits and monochromatic color palette. DeNada is based in Washington, DC. Visit the online shop here: DeNada.
Sara Berks creates one-of-a-kind textile-based artworks. She uses simple frame looms and a variety of fibers to create colorful and whimsical landscapes that can complete a minimal modern apartment as easily as an eclectic cottage. You can purchase her work at the Minna online shop.
Created by Daniel and Brenna Lewis, Brooklyn Tailors started when the couple started giving custom fittings out of their apartment. After gaining a following of friends, they developed a menswear collection focused on fit, quality and design. They showed their new womenswear line of tailored suits, minimal prints and a delightful range of blues for fall. Brooklyn Tailors is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Theresa Lee and Jennie Chen are behind the socially conscious handcrafted bag line Future Glory. Their totes, backpacks, pouches and cases are minimal and chic, with quality construction and attention to the details. I love their Walking Rock Rolltop Backpack, which incorporates two classics: Pendleton Wool and Top Grain Leather. Shop their collection on their online store.
I first noticed Emerson Fry at last year's Thread show at Union Market. Their collection incorporates hand-painted details, unique prints, a subtle color palette and simple silhouettes you can wear all day and into the evening. Produced in the USA and around the world when using traditional location-specific techniques. You can shop online at Emerson Fry New York.
Meline Katchi and Mike Megrabyan created the Palette series of designer notebooks after filling their own notebooks full of sketches when working on footware designs. They also produce how to videos to help designers transfer their ideas to paper. You can buy their Sneaker Palette and Stiletto Palette journals online.
Aelfie Oudghiri combines her interests in global textiles and whimsy to design rugs, pillows and home decor. Aelfie rugs are handwoven in India and designed by Oudghiri in Brooklyn. She just finished some new picture frames that should be available on the Aelfie online store soon!
Carolyn Misterek started in leatherwork after studying painting and earning an MFA in Art History. Misterek uses natural hides and dyes, cuts, sews each piece herself. Matine is based in Washington, DC and you can purchase her minimal bags here: Matine.
Check back tomorrow for trend #2!
