the making of....aw13 collection 'Summer Darkness'

My thoughts with this collection were based on my visit to the event Summer Darkness in Utrecht. Watching the people walking around in black cloths, dreadlocks and heavy black make-up and at the other hand the lolita's in soft girly dresses made me wondering why. Both seems to say 'don't touch me!'. The darkness frigthens people while the sweet girls seemed so fragile. Someone told me that this way of dressing will protects the wearers their soft and gentle innersoul....

I started to design 'something' with crosses, because I was inspired by the music and meeting the leadsanger of Cruxshadows. A cross is a sign of protection againts all evil. Along the way of the proces I learned from Carmen Bolanos to work with the indigoblue. Blue was used in the old English wars as a 'make-up' to protect the soldiers during the fights.

Choosing wool and handmade felt as my medium for making the garments I wanted to use the raw wool from the 'Zwart Bless' (Black Bless), given by my friend-farmer Marie-Josee. To test the possibilities with the raw wool in combination with the silks I made several samples for colourcombinations and textures. I have made the felt by myself and used the wool in many different ways.

The natural handdyed and printed silks worked perfectly for the airy lolita dresses, but also as a nunofelt for the tops and jackets. My sister helped me with sewing the fabrics under the felted dresses.

In my opinion the closure of the garments had to be more industrial. I found metalic elements which are normally used for electricity stuff. Together with rubber strips and rings they formed a good closure on the dark clothes.

In a next post I hope to show you more of the finished garments.