[ CIO CIO SAN ] Vogue Russia August 2012

 

 

It saddens me that may days of perpetual summer are, for the meantime, over. I've been back from my Slovenian sojourn for but a week and the shops are already full of darker tones and chunky knits. I've not seen a proper English winter for over a year since I've been wandering the globe, sunning myself in the likes of India, Laos, Malaysia....the list goes on, and as you may have guessed, I am somewhat reluctant to embrace the cold. That and the fact that I think I may have actually forgotten how to dress for Autumn/Winter. Nevertheless I find solace in the idea that even though the days may be shorter and the nights colder, there will always be inspiration from afar to send my mind spiralling back into my days of wandering. 

Thus, in true cross-season spirit, I spent ages trawling the web for recent editorials that don't leave me thinking that summer's actually, official over and I found this very on trend Geisha inspired shoot by Sebastian Mader for Vogue Russia, August (because we still have one day left...).

Covering almost all of AW 2012's biggest trends from print on print and convex curves to gothic grunge and my favourite, brocade, stylist Natasha Royt rocks the Geisha vibe with an accessory rich oriental opulence meets all-Russian ritz. 

A polar opposite to Marie Claire Australia's interpretation in The Flower & The Willow back in July, no?

Images: Visual Optimism

[ JAPANESE WAVES & SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS ] Gloria Shizico Yi

Another day, another Latitude prompted post. Meet Japanese fashion designer and graphic artist Gloria Yi Ling: fresh from London College of Fashion, her sophisticated 'East meets West', Fine Art inspired approach to fashion is sure to charm the likes of London's most cultivated fashion crowd before you can say 'A/W 2013'. I could just say I 'met' Gloria during Saturday's post-fashion show Design Salon in The Painted House, but that would be somewhat of an understatement. I was pretty much bowled over by her effervescent personality before I'd even had chance to scold the band of unruly teenagers nabbing bits of Samara's 'candy floss trees'. Bouncing merrily around the Faraway Forest, brightening up rained out punters with talk of her collection and confessions of adoration for her beloved Labrador, Favor, chancing upon Gloria was such a delight I just had to share her story with the rest of you. So here's a Q&A with the Labrador-loving designer herself:

1. You hail from across the waters, from the faraway land (for us!) that is Japan and where a lot of your design inspiration comes from. So what made you want to study in London?

I lived in both LA and New York, then I went back to Asia where my mother and father were living, but in between all of this I visited London for the first time in 2005 and it was love at first sight. I fell in love with all the museums and that was it. I’ve not thought about living or studying in any other place ever since.

2. Evidently part of your collection has been inspired by Hokusai’s famous woodblock print of The Great Wave of Kanagawa, a work synonymous with 19th century Japanese art. Why did you choose this one in particular?

I was looking for a certain craft to help build my collection and discovered that Japanese woodblock printing was similar to the way I use screen-printing for my own textile design, so I decided to combine the two techniques to create something new. I also mixed this style with influences from the culture of the Scottish Highlands - it’s what inspired the draping effect in my collection. I just really love the idea of a culture-clash; the way the chemistry of the two opposing elements can create something innovative and exciting. 

Two of my prints have actually just been selected to feature in the upcoming exhibition ‘Bite: Artists Making Print’ which opens at the Mall Galleries in London later this year. I’m so fortunate to find people in London who love my ‘East meets West’ style! 

Click the link below to keep reading about Gloria Shizico Yi

[ THE FLOWER & THE WILLOW ] Marie Claire Australia July 2012

Having just left Australia, it seems quite serendipitous that I should stumble across this diaphanously sensual shoot for Marie Claire Oz. The editorial features model Ollie Henderson entering as apprentice into the exotic world of Japanese Geisha. With an air of wistfulness and with a nostalgic nod to a time saturated in tradition rather than high tech gadgets and sleeper pods, photographer Richard Truscott and stylist Jane Roarty have delicately fused the traditional with the contemporary through the art of fashion.

Accomplished in music, calligraphy, dance and the intricate art of the tea ceremony, Geisha, themselves models for the art of Japanese high culture, are unfailingly adorned in perfectly tied Kimono, with each strand of hair carefully oiled into place and each step and gesture perfectly executed. Today there remain only one to two thousand Geisha practising in Japan.

Image source: www.visualoptimism.blogspot.com

[ JAPANESE FANCY ] Taj Mahal, Agra

Once referred to by Rabindranath Tagore as 'a teardrop on the face of eternity', iconic in its white marble purity, you think of India, you think of the Taj Mahal. You think back to all those stunning images of the pristine white Taj set against a background of sapphire blue sky and you sigh with appreciation for its beauty, longing to set eyes upon this wondrous sight just once in your lifetime. You wake up at 5.30am, ready to see the sunrise behind the Taj, a moment shared with but a few other early risers. You jump eagerly out of bed, look out the window....and yes you guessed it, its raining! 

So that was my experience of the Taj, as you can probably guess I was pretty peeved having bused it all the way out to Agra. Typical. Here's a tip: don't visit India in the monsoon season! However, every down has its ups, and I found mine at the front of the Taj in the shape of two very pretty Japanese girls who had thought it only right to dress for the occasion. Check out their coordinating printed saris! Later I saw one of their male companions walk past in a very regal looking Indian costume. 

Click below to see more images from inside the Taj and around.