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2010年10月13日水曜日

Cottons To Be Reckoned

Ever since I've had the genial idea to buy myself a sewing machine, I've been quite obsessed with learning not only about fashion and dress making, but also about fabrics. One one the oldest creations of mankind, fabrics have a long and quite violent history (remember the silk road?), and I found it as fascinating as the history of fashion itself.

Many nations boast their own traditional fabric making and patterns, as Indonesia (batiks and ikats, etc.) and Japan (chirimen and chiyogami pattern). Although we tend to take them from granted nowadays, the complicated and intricate designs, functions and meanings related to such traditional cloths are solid evidences on how we, human kind, value our own creations as more than just something to cover up ourselves.
Juicy Couture's "Juicy Crittoure"
The fact that their ubiquitous presences in our everyday life also prove that they are more man's best friend that a dog would ever be (even dogs are fashion victims these days!).
The recent super advanced researches like nanotechnology is taking fabrics to a higher platform, not just as cover ups, but as functional devices on their own.  The highly absorbent microfibers and heat-tech fabrics are now used in sophisticated fields, such as in the fire brigades, the space exploration and.. Uniqlo's recent market gain :-).

Today I'm not going to talk about any complicated or sophisticated thing. I'm going to introduce some of my favorite textile designers, whose creations I think are sorely underexposed and should deserve more credit than fashion designers.

Representing Japan, Etsuko Furuya is my foremost favorite textile designer. Her whimsical and colorful designs in her "Echino" (http://www.f-echino.com/) collections are an experience on itself, much like going to a amusement park with a cotton candy in hand, or visiting the zoo with a bag of jelly beans. Here are some of her loveliest creations, mostly printed in cotton-linen blend or double gauze cotton.
Some of Echino's collections
Piglet, my all time favorite from Echino
Made an iPad cover with it
Bold colors combined with hippy wildlife creatures or everyday objects are her signature designs. She also creates her own fashion line and ceramics collection.

The next one is Michael Miller (http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/), from the US of A. The quite long tradition of patchwork quilting in US is the main drive behind the rich culture of textile design there. In terms of cotton print patterns, I think the US has the most creatively funky and lovely creations of all time. Michael Miller in particular has some of the coolest cotton stuff, ranging from absurd comic prints, to adorable flowery pieces. Some of his prints I love so much, I don't dare touch them with my scissors!
Dysfunctional Family, Michael Miller fabrics
Paris, Michael Miller fabrics
The 50's Kitchen, Michael Miller fabrics
Jim Thompson (http://www.jimthompsonfabrics.com/) is someone I just have to mention. A designer who was also a US military officer, he was the guy who introduce the beauty of Thai silk to the Occidental world. His collections of silk scarfs are equal to even Hermes's (and quite as expensive). Apart from that, his fabrics are more oriented to elegant household decor, though they provide some stuff for apparel and trinkets as well. Here are some of the stuff from the designer house:


Lastly, the emporium of Liberty (http://www.liberty.co.uk/) from the UK is getting more and more of my attention lately. Although it's not exactly one designer per se, this house of design is currently so hot, that even Manolo Blahnik and Miu Miu of Prada decided to get a piece of their cake.
Manolo Blahnik for Liberty
I love their statement about vintage: "There's Vintage and there's Designer Vintage at Liberty. Vintage is not a fad it's a lifestyle".
W. Bourton's Paisley for Liberty
Their cotton is of high quality,  so fine and silky, and their designs are wide range, starting from classical flower and paisley prints, to bold colorful abstracts. They are also quite pricey (1.2m X 1m of fabrics cost the cheapest around $25). In short, they're the Coco Chanel of fabrics.
Satsuki A. for Liberty
One more thing I might add, in my humble opinion I think fashion is: 1% brand name, 1% attitude, and the rest is all about the fabrics (the cut, the texture, the color, the weight, the combination, the pattern, everything!).

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