Titania Inglis’ spring/summer collection is bold, minimal and geometric, yet with an unexpectedly soft, sweet side.

Subscribing to a philosophy of lush minimalism and a less-is-more aesthetic, Titania Inglis’ spring/summer 2013 collection features visually striking yet wearable pieces made for a city girl with attitude.

Diagonal lines and fluid geometry create interesting shapes that are highly flattering and appear almost sculptural on the body. The color palette is restrained and materials like leather are mixed with contrasting fabrics like flowy chiffon. The pieces are all designed to be seasonless and transition seamlessly from day to night.

Inglis’ garments are all made in a small factory in New York, using sustainably sourced fabrics like Japanese organic cotton, French vegetable-tanned leather, and deadstock wool from New York’s garment industry.

Born in Ithaca, New York, to Chinese and Scottish parents, Titania Inglis studied at Design Academy in Eindhoven and FIT in New York City and is now based in Brooklyn. She apprenticed with renowned designers like Camilla Stærk, Jean Yu, and ThreeASFOUR before launching her eponymous line just a few years ago.

In 2012, she was awarded the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award in Sustainable Design. ELLE named Inglis one of fashion week’s next big things, and her work has been featured in Vogue, The New York Times, PAPER Magazine, WWD and other leading fashion publications. It’s safe to say that we will see more of Titania Inglis in the future. She is not only one of today’s brightest stars of sustainable fashion, but of fashion in general.

Lookbook photos courtesy of Titania Inglis
Photography by Edwin Tse / jewelry by Nettie Kent / hair and makeup by Kumi Hosoda / styling assistance by Boya Zhang / model: Glairy Kohv, Muse

The post Bold, Simple & Sustainable: Titania Inglis’ Spring/Summer ’13 Collection appeared first on EcoSalon.

Black and white is one of the hottest trends this spring. Get inspired by Louis Vuitton, chess boards and harlequin squares.

One of the hottest trends this spring is, without a doubt, the combination of black and white. The good news is that it’s very easy to copy, and that garments in these basic colors are very unlikely to go out of style. Get inspired by Marc Jacobs’ Spring RTW collection for Louis Vuitton, featuring large checks and harlequin patterns.

1. Zebra Stripe Gilet Sweater by Edun
Made in Africa, this Zebra stripe gilet sweater has a vibe that is both very current and very retro. Made from 100 percent wool, it will also keep you warm during those cold few months we have left until spring comes again. If you want to totally channel the Louis Vuitton-style head-to-toe look, there’s a matching skirt that you can pair this top with.
$148, Edun

2. Vans Checkerboard Slip-Ons
These classic slip-ons by Vans need no formal introduction. They have become part of skate culture and contemporary style, proving their iconoclastic relevance from the street to the fashion pages all around the world. “Their popularity comes from unmatched quality,” the company says, “and they have hence become a big time influence on our Off The Wall efforts to innovate, every step of the way.”
$47, Vans

3. Berlin Harlequin Messenger by The Sway
This handcrafted, made-to-order bag allows you to channel the harlequin trend while still ensuring that you are investing in something that will stand the test of time. The discrete pattern is made of high quality reclaimed patchwork leather and suede. Double trend points for the recycled cotton lining, which features a great black a white pattern.
$418, The Sway

4. Trigo Vertical Clutch by VOZ
This cute little clutch features an eye-catching black and white crisscross pattern. It’s made from 100 percent all natural wool, lined with 100 percent cotton, and naturally dyed with mud, berries and herbs. VOZ, which means “voice” in Spanish, “translates rich indigenous craft into contemporary styles, creating change through beauty.” Through design education and innovation workshops, the company empowers Mapuche weavers in Southern Chile, offering a new voice for their exquisite art form and a way for them to earn a living.
$189, VOZ Apparel

5. Stevie OTK Tassel Platform Boot by Cri de Coeur
These vegan boots give a nod to luxurious 70s style with slouched ultra-suede upper and platform heel. They’re made in an ethical, sweat-shop free factory in China and, despite the 4-inch heel, comfortable as can be. The tassel is an unexpected detail that gives these boots some attitude. And for you crafty people out there, here’s a great DIY project to spice up a pair of boots you already have.
$125, Cri de Coeur

6. Flare Top & Short Short by Titania Inglis
New York-based designer Titania Inglis’ is a master of stylish minimalism and totally nailed the black and white trend in her Spring 2013 collection. This flare top is made from hand-painted Italian silk/organic cotton twill and has a vegetable-tanned leather overlay. Pair with short shorts, made from raw Japanese organic cotton denim.
Available for pre-order: Titania Inglis

Collages by Johanna Björk. Top photo via style.com

The post On Trend: 6 Black and White Styles for Spring appeared first on EcoSalon.

Zero waste fashion designers step up the aesthetics to be more pleasing for the masses.

Zero Waste Pattern Design seems at first glance to deal unashamedly with only the front end of the fashion cycle, with the theory going that if the designer agonizes over eliminating waste then consumers only need worry about what to do with the garments when they don’t want them any more. But it is much more than just a matter of asking “Have I used ALL of that piece of cloth?” as doing only this would potentially result in garments that no one would want to purchase.

With zero waste pattern design, and indeed all sustainable fashion, aesthetics cannot be at the expense of the environment, just as much as the environment cannot be at the expense of aesthetics. There must exist a harmony between both, and thankfully many sustainable designers have found it.

It is a strange thing however, that many of the worlds zero waste designers come from two such apparently different parts of the world, New York or Australasia. Australiasian designers who explore these ideas include Material By Product, Mark Liu, Timo Rissanen and Julia Lumsden. There are a number of New York based designers who use zero waste fashion design philosophies in their work, notably the iconic Yeohlee Teng.

I spoke to last year and this year’s Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation winners Tara St James and Titania Inglis this past week, fresh out of their New York Fashion Week shows. Here’s what they had to say.

Mark Liu

What is your sustainable fashion philosophy and how were you motivated to take your work in this direction?

Titania Inglis: My philosophy came from my mother, who taught me from a young age that it was better to buy a few beautiful pieces of clothing than lots and lots of not-so-great clothes. With the end goal of a small wardrobe in mind, I try to make clothes that are versatile and can often be worn in multiple ways; that feature high-quality, long-lasting fabrics and finishing; and that are both of the moment and yet well-proportioned and classic enough to wear for years to come.

Tara St James: To date I haven’t focused on one single sustainability philosophy, instead I try to examine several aspects of ethical design to evaluate which are a good fit for my brand and which are not.  For example my very first collection, entitled The Square Project, was a study in zero waste pattermaking, while of course using all overstock or sustainable textiles, and to this day I still implement a lot of zero waste in my designs.  I also work very closely with artisan weavers and knitters through Source4Style and other outlets. And I produce about 90% of my garments in New York City.

Ironically I was steered towards sustainability in 2004 when I started my previous brand Covet and was sourcing new textiles in China where I found a bamboo jersey I loved. I say ironically because I no longer work with either bamboo or China, but it opened my eyes to the concept of ethical sourcing, and that’s when I started researching different textiles and production methods. There has been tremendous change since then, I’ll say that.

Titania Inglis, Spring 12

How do you incorporate this waste reduction/elimination philosophy into your design and/or production processes?

Titania Inglis: Again, I believe strongly that classic, beautifully made clothes are the best antidote to waste. That said, with an eye to cradle-to-grave sustainability, I recycle all of my fabric scraps and try whenever possible to cut smaller pieces from existing scraps; try to choose 100% cotton and 100% wool fabrics that are easily recycled; and recommend on the care labels that garments be aired out often and washed less, both to save on water and to ensure that they last longer.

As far as zero-waste pattern making goes, my Spring/Summer 2011 collection was based around that technique, and I approached it both through bias cutting and origami folding, creating two origami-pleated bustle skirts and a bias top and dress that were cut from simple shapes that could be interlocked on the marker to eliminate fabric waste. Because there was a tiny bit of fabric that wasn’t used in the pieces, I called it my “Almost Zero” collection. Some of the pieces have since reappeared in successive collections, with the bias T-shirt becoming one of my signature pieces.

Tara St James: I’ve found it much easier to reduce waste on an individual level and less so when larger production quantities come into the picture. If I’m designing, cutting and sewing something myself, I can easily control how the garment is made, but to scale both the design and pattern to include different sizes and fabrications has been a challenge, although not an insurmountable one.

Tara St James, Spring 12

How do your customers respond to your ethical goals and resulting products – how strongly do you market your products as ethical?

Titania Inglis: While I do offer information about my philosophy and production methods on my website, I choose to market the line first and foremost as a fashion line, leaving the ethical standards as an added benefit. Clothing is a unique product in that it’s meant to be worn, so the look of it, the fabric choice, and the fit come first when a woman is shopping. If she loves a piece and will wear it forever, that’s far more environmentally sound than if she buys it for its ethical production methods and then leaves it in the back of her closet because she hates the look.

Tara St James: I don’t actively market my brand as ethical, I want my customers to buy the clothing first because they love it, and they usually only find out the sustainability of the brand after they’ve spoken to the shop owner or done some research on the brand.  However there is a rising population of shoppers who seek out ethical fashion and want to support local designers. With them I’m happy to be as open sourced and transparent as possible. After all, the story behind the clothing is my means of creating a dialogue with my customer. I don’t want that dialogue to end when they’ve made their purchase.

How do you see yourself improving on your current practices – what’s in the future for your company?

Titania Inglis: The biggest challenge is always fabric sourcing. I’m constantly on the lookout for beautiful new organic or sustainably produced fabrics; I’ve traveled to London and Tokyo for sourcing, and found amazing materials there. This season I sourced a gorgeous vegetable-tanned leather from France, and I’m dying to make handbags or shoes from it as soon as I find the right collaborator.

Tara St James: I would like to start researching more technical and recycled synthetic textiles. I love using natural fibres such as hand woven cottons, wools and silks, but when I examine the water consumption for some of these fibres, it’s difficult to ignore the reality and is pushing me towards longer lasting, more versatile textiles such as recycled polyester, which can also be printed by companies like AirDye, who I worked with on my Spring 12 collection.

The post Zero Waste Fashion Touts an Overabundance of Style appeared first on EcoSalon.

Titania Inglis, winner of this year’s Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award in Sustainable Design, gets street cred with her first New York Fashion Week show.

The show started early for Titania Inglis. Bedecked in black – lots of stylized black – guests waited upbeat, mingling behind black curtains. It was Inglis’ inaugural New York Fashion Week show, made possible by her recently announced 2012 win of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award in Sustainable Design. It was clear that something award winning was about to take place. And, it felt as if we were part of Inglis’ cheerfully somber production. So, like good cast members we waited in the entryway of the Eyebeam Art & Technology Center, a non-profit enterprise and one of the country’s leading media art centers.

The stage was set for Inglis’ own shade of black, uplifted and far from bleak – a seamless blend of preppy plaid and gothic darkness. It was as if two, vastly separate, high school cliques instantly merged into one, very cool and non-cliquey band of fashion mavens. So, it came as no surprise when I overhead Inglis characterize her collection as “My So Called Life all grown up.”

Street-tough models bedecked in vegetable tanned leather from a farm in France, (where they guarantee the entire cow has been used, from food to fashion), in herringbone, recycled cotton plaids, asymmetrical skirts and soft fabrics like raw Japanese silk and Cupro glided by effortlessly.

Inglis, I discovered, has a special affinity to Japanese design – in part attributed to her preference for minimalism and in part, as she says, because “Japan just makes high quality textiles.  They also know how to work with the shorter organic cotton fibers in a way that we don’t in the U.S.” Despite her penchant for The East, she brings it back west with local production in New York City.

With just one month to put her show into motion after winning the prestigious 2012 Ecco Domani award, Inglis didn’t seem to cut corners.

“I wanted to create something clean, sophisticated and wearable for the everyday,” Inglis told EcoSalon. Simple as it sounds, the beauty lies in the details, like the contrast piping inside the garment and her attention to each piece’s “skeleton,” as she calls it.

When asked about her recent win, she appeared nonchalant and merely acknowledged, “My life has gotten a lot busier.”

In a show of support, last year’s Ecco Domani winner for Sustainable Design, Tara St. James of Study New York, congratulated Inglis and, as Inglis told me, offered words of caution over previous phone calls.  “The award is great, but it’s also just the start. It doesn’t guarantee you success,” Inglis paraphrases.

It may just be the beginning for the young designer, but it also feels just right.

Here are some highlights from the Titania Inglis show below:

Images: Jennifer Barckley

The post EcoSalon at NYFW: Titania Inglis appeared first on EcoSalon.

Revisiting a series that launched a knitwear line, became required reading in some knitting groups, and even got a few off their meds.

When we launched Using Your Hands to Soothe the Brain last January, it was with the goal of educating people about the simple mental health value of keeping their hands moving. Whether knitting, sewing or weaving, chemical changes can in fact occur in the brain to alleviate mood maladies and in some cases, mental illness like depression. The more people we interviewed, the more we discovered. But before it even launched, this series was inspired by two women: A dear friend who overcame depression and anxiety (and consequently two powerful medications for it) with daily knitting, and a blog post by Alabama Chanin designer, Natalie Chanin.

Chanin, a sustainable designer and now gratefully a bi-weekly columnist for EcoSalon, had caught my attention when she cited neuroscientist Kelly Lambert, author of Lifting Depression on the Alabama Chanin blog:

“Lambert shows how when you knit a sweater or plant a garden, when you prepare a meal or simply repair a lamp, you are bathing your brain in feel-good chemicals and creating a kind of mental vitamin. Our grandparents and great grandparents, who had to work hard for basic resources, developed more resilience against depression; even those who suffered great hardships had much lower rates of this mood disorder. But with today’s overly-mechanized lifestyle we have forgotten that our brains crave the well-being that comes from meaningful effort.”

That meaningful effort was explored from two angles in Part 1 with textile artist and sustainable fashion writer Abigail Doan of Ecco Eco and Occupational Therapist and Founder of FiftyRX3 Jill Danyelle. Doan, who was “fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with the soil, build fences, spin wool, and learn a variety of fiber-crafting skills,” growing up on a farm says working with one’s hands creates a “one-to-one relationship that makes everything else simply fade away. It’s a healthy sort of addiction that replaces other forms of disease.”

Part 2 affirmed Doan and Danyelle’s own finds but explored another aspect of hand work: how using our hands not only enhances our sense of well being, but how it also creates a sense of self-sufficiency. Owyn Ruck, one of the founders of Brooklyn’s widely respected Textile Arts Center says “Even in a sense of finances, we are taught to feel that money equals freedom, but what if you didn’t even to need to buy half the things you did, you could make them or simply make something last longer? That’s freedom.”

Designer Titania Inglis enjoys her own fashion freedom by creating a sustainably produced, eponymous clothing line. Having begun her career in the hopes of being a successful graphic designer, Inglis also agrees the positive effects of using our hands to do meaningful tasks can benefit our overall health and well being.

In Part 3, of Using Your Hands to Soothe the Brain, Inglis says “I love clothing design for its communicative and aesthetic possibilities, but also very much for the craft of it. Many designers prefer to simply hand off sketches to a pattern maker, but for me, the process is the design. It feels a bit pompous to talk about the integrity of the piece and purity of form, but those are qualities I strive for, and I really can only get there with my own two hands.”

What can we learn from this sustainable stretching out of the fashion movement that harks back to the glory of heritage and craft? One might say that perhaps we have lost much in the translation of living fast paced lives filled with convenience. That rethinking the use of our hands to create and mend and touch is a missing part of our successful life equation. That, simply put, strands of fiber and our ability to know how to do something with them might ultimately hold the key to our spiritual happiness. At the very least, it’s fun to create our own wardrobe.

Image: Bruce Turner

The post Vintage EcoSalon: Using Your Hands to Soothe the Brain appeared first on EcoSalon.

Textile expressions are shaping next season’s ethical spirit

It is amazing to think that the Spring/Summer 2012 fashion week presentations have been underway for close to a month now. We kicked off the season with our announcement of the Ethical Fashion Show in Paris during the first few days of September, and now things have come full circle with the close of Paris Fashion Week today. Plenty of designer and runway celebrities have reveled in the media spotlight, but some very deserving names on the ethical fashion and textile innovation scene might have slipped under your radar. Read on for highlights of the bright new design stars we currently have our eye on.

New York

Kaelen S/S 2012 with Coclico shoes

EcoSalon was on the scene during New York Fashion Week (NYFW), and for the first time ever a (Sustainable) Fashion’s Night Out at the Textile Arts Center in Manhattan set the stage for fashion as a vibrant community outreach initiative. As a fiber and textile enthusiast, I was rather smitten with Kaelen’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection presented at Drive-In Studios. What’s not to love about cool macramé fringe and pleat dresses presented in a stand of birch trees? Designer Kaelen Haworth made wood nymph chic (and Steve Nicks redux) seem transcendent. The pairing with ethically made Coclico shoes was pure genius as well.

Titania Inglis S/S  2012 organic dip-dyed peak dress

Brooklyn-based designer Titania Inglis had a whole lot of textile brilliance going on with her latest collection featuring natural dye methods, local production collaborations, and zero-waste experimentation. I love that Titania creates garments that are versatile as a suite of designs that dovetail efficiently together.

The above dip-dyed ‘Peak Dress’, created with natural dye expert Isa Rodrigues at the Textile Arts Center, has timeless appeal. The chic styling with Bliss Lau jewelry accents the fluid geometry of the draping. The peak dress was created out of Japanese organic cotton voile with a stripe texture, dip-dyed with logwood for the gray hue, and a mix of natural dyes for the peach hue.

Titania Inglis S/S  2012 collarless jacket and pleat short

This collarless jacket and pleat short are also great investment pieces as separates to re-invigorate an existing wardrobe. Materials include a dip-dyed organic cotton denim pieced with a dead stock cotton twill for the jacket, and the same dead stock cotton twill for the short.

Ivana Helsinki S/S 2012 celebrates ethnic prints for Indian Summer

Another favorite textile-inspired line up at NYFW was Ivana Helsinki’s Indian Summer collection. Finnish designer, Paolo Suhonen’s artistic melding of ethnic patterns and graphic feather motifs pave the way for a trend-free and border-defying form of global nomadism. I like that Suhonen always looks to her Scandinavian roots for ongoing inspiration and indigenous source material as well.

London

Mary Katrantzou S/S 2012 takes digital printing for a bold ride

Designers at London Fashion Week certainly were not shy about bold innovation in textile printing technologies, and many would agree that Mary Kantrantzou is still a clear frontrunner in the wild abstraction and remixing of patterns that are mind-blowing on the runway as well as hot on the retail scene. Spring/Summer 2012 was no exception for Katrantzou, although some felt that her pop art ‘brushstrokes’ were a bit too broad this time around. Regardless, I like that this designer pushes her medium to create textiles that fuse repeat patterns in nature with a textured maps of metallic car parts.

Ada Zanditon S/S 2012 ethically-produced Poseidon Dress

Ada Zanditon was, as usual, a must-see show on the ethical fashion circuit, and in keeping with the current trend to host film or installation projects in lieu of a full-blown runway show, Zandition’s Poseisus collection did not disappoint. The pièce de résistance was this Poseidon Dress, which pays homage to the principles of biomimicry as well as the plight of endangered seahorse species off the south coast of London.

Felicity Brown S/S 2012 marries Victorian grace with hand-dyed tribal patterns

One of the most romantic expressions at the London shows was Felicity Brown’s S/S12 exquisitely dyed and adventurously draped dresses. The designer describes her intent best: “Taking inspiration from Victorian lady explorers in Africa, such as Mary Kingsley, Felicity imagined how the influence of the tribes’ women would infuse into their dresses and create a hybrid of the two opposing cultures. The stiff rigidity of the neckline and corseted bodice is reworked with fluid, laser cut silk jersey tubes that have been hand dyed with a deconstructed tribal pattern. The contrast and tension between soft femininity and strong cage like structures are another theme that resonates powerfully throughout Felicity’s work.” – S/S12 press release

Michelle Lowe Holder’s zero-waste designs at Estethica

On the accessorizing frontier, Michelle Lowe-Holder created a stunning showcase of her zero-waste cuffs, collars, and neckpieces crafted out of fabric and textile wastage for London Fashion Week’s Estethica. I also love that this designer also styles her look book shoots in a manner that defies gender, age, and racial stereotypes – totally modern, in the best sense of the word.

Milan

I am basically going to skip over the Guccis, Puccis, and The Sartorialist street style shots from Milan Fashion Week. We know that the Italians are unbearably stylish when it comes to making upcycled boyfriend jeans and cobble-crushing stilettos look killer. I am married to someone who was born in Milano, and trust me, he can make a plain white shirt look like a million bucks.

Km/a’s recycled parachute coat melds materials and conceptual storytelling

I do want to call out one of my favorite labels, km/a of Vienna, who exhibited again this season at WHITE Milano. Sass Brown has profiled them in the past on Eco Fashion Talk, and they have also been standout exhibitors at The KEY.TO during Berlin Fashion Week. Km/a’s novel approach to fusing art, fashion, and the recycling of parachute materials as well as military blankets puts whole new spin on surplus chic and textured storytelling.

Paris

With Paris Fashion Week coming to a conclusion today, I am happy to report that there appears to be a new wave of locally made, ethical fashion in France. Hélène Sananikone, owner and proprietor of Green in the City in the Marais, shared news that, now more than ever, ready-to-wear ethical brands are increasingly available and with colorful and vibrant hues for the upcoming season.

Hélène wrote to us, “When I opened my boutique only three years ago, I could hardly fill my store with French ready-to-wear brands. It was also not very easy to find these designers at the shows that I visited in Paris, and it honestly seemed as if all of the eco fashion was happening abroad. Now, more and more French eco designers have their place at the most fashionable fairs. They can develop fabrics with their manufacturers, particularly exclusive prints with Oeko-Tex dyeing. For a long time they had to be careful and propose basic colors. Now for Spring/Summer as well as for Autumn/Winter, they can dare to add colors and unique prints. Eco fashion need not envy fashion anymore. It is fashion.”

Parisian label ‘Ambryn Tribu Urbaine’ creates hand-drawn whimsy for textiles

Ambryn’s A/W 2011 illustrates eco-luxurious hues and trans-seasonal appeal

Green in the City carries French-made Ambryn Tribu Urbaine in their boutique and for Spring/Summer 2012, this indie label is offering a unique interpretation of ‘Behind the Garden’ with hand-illustrated prints and ethically-sourced fabrics. I am still savoring Ambryn’s Fall 2011 pieces – particularly the hand worked green collar on the above piece for autumn.

EELD S/S 2012 ‘Bird of Paradise’ bio-silk top made locally in France

Also not to be missed on the broadening ethical fashion scene in Paris is the new French-made label, EELD. Designer Chloe Bourrioux recently debuted her bio-silk and eco-friendly dyed pieces for S/S 2012. Added details like her support of traditional lace making techniques from the world famous Calais region and silk from Lyon makes EELD a genuinely French expression of textile rich fashion and local goodness.

Lead image: Michelle Lowe Holder, Kaelen photo by Jeannine Tan via Kaelen’s blog, Titania Inglis photos by Evan Browning,  Mary Katrantzou via Style.com, Ada Zanditon photo by Sarah Brimley, Michelle Lowe Holder photo via Oxfam.

The post An International Fashion Week Playback For Spring/Summer 2012 appeared first on EcoSalon.

The reaction to this series by women of all ages via social media has been really amazing. When EcoSalon introduced it two weeks ago, launching with Americana Couture designer and author Natalie Chanin, fashion writer and textile artist Abigail Doan, Owyn Ruck of Brooklyn’s Textile Arts Center as well as occupational therapist and FiftyRX3 writer Jill Danyelle, many people either wrote to us at the site or commented via Twitter and Facebook. Among some of the reactions, the series is being used as reading material for knitting groups; while others have expressed that without the ability to sit quietly and use their hands, they’d need to jump back on anxiety medications.

Maybe there’s something to all this handiwork?

How it all began: When I came across this blog entry from sustainable designer and writer Natalie Chanin, it not only piqued my perception of the positive effects of “women’s work,” but it brought to light a real aspect of how using our hands to do meaningful tasks can benefit our overall health and well being.

Chanin cites neuroscientist Kelly Lambert, author of Lifting Depression:

“Lambert shows how when you knit a sweater or plant a garden, when you prepare a meal or simply repair a lamp, you are bathing your brain in feel-good chemicals and creating a kind of mental vitamin. Our grandparents and great grandparents, who had to work hard for basic resources, developed more resilience against depression; even those who suffered great hardships had much lower rates of this mood disorder. But with today’s overly-mechanized lifestyle, we have forgotten that our brains crave the well-being that comes from meaningful effort.”

With the sustainable stretching out of the fashion movement, there’s been a serious harking back to the glory of heritage and craft and designers with good ears are listening. And well they should with generations strong of everything from indigenous artisans to Depression Era stitchers coming out of the woodwork to teach, inspire and pass on before the knowledge is lost. Designers are listening and incorporating these aged techniques and making them fresh, new and revolutionary.

A designer with those aforementioned “good ears,” is the last member of our series. Titania Inglis designs a line of minimalist-inspired clothing made of experimental constructions and functional details. Her third collection “References vintage glamor via geometric forms created through bias cuts, origami pleating, and ingenious seaming. A sleeveless dress reverses from a prim suit dress to a low-backed mod frock, while diagonal-seamed dresses approach the ideal of zero waste.”

Titania Inglis in her studio

Inglis lives and designs and rides her vintage bicycle everywhere in Brooklyn, and chronicles her adventures and misadventures in the fashion world on her blog, Fade to Green.

Regarding the importance of using her own hands to design, to communicate and ultimately, to achieve sharp mental clarity, she has much to say.

“A lot of people outside the fashion industry don’t seem to realize that all clothes are made by hand, to varying degrees. Yet from the initial sketches, to selecting fabrics, to draping and cutting and sewing and fitting a garment, every step requires the human touch. Sewing machines don’t run themselves, as anyone who’s ever tried to use one can attest!

It was the hands-on nature of clothing design that drew me to it, for reasons I couldn’t fully articulate as a young woman. I set out to become a graphic designer, but within weeks of starting design school, I realized that I found infinitely more satisfaction in creating a physical object with my hands. Fabric, with its drape and heft and texture, and clothing, so intimately interacting with the human body, were perfectly tactile, and perfect for hands-on work.”

Swatches from dye tests for the Titania Inglis collection

The designer continues: “For me, design begins with the materials. I drape most of my pieces by hand as a way to explore what the fabric wants to do, what directions it wants to go and what shapes it can make. In my designs, every seam needs to justify its existence, every cut in the fabric serves a specific purpose, and I find my way there by hand, by draping and pinning and snipping and marking each pattern piece, one at a time until I have a complete garment.”

Inglis says there is rich satisfaction in every step of the process: “When I’ve successfully draped a piece so it sits just so, when a pattern is beautiful in and of itself, and finally in seeing the finished piece and how it moves on the body. I often go through three or four muslins per piece, pinning and re-fitting and sometimes re-draping an entire garment until I’m satisfied that everything is right with it: the fit, the proportion, the details.”

Titania Inglis’ Studio

One showroom rep commented recently told Inglis her line was “so simple and yet so complex.” Reflecting upon this, Inglis observes, “I think that’s a reflection of the work I put into refining each piece. My work process is almost meditative; I come into my studio, prepare myself a steaming mug of green tea, cut off a length of fresh muslin, and I’m ready to go, completely cut off from the world outside. When I really get going, I can work for hours on a piece, late into the night, snipping through the fabric and feeding lengths of fabric into the eager sewing machine to create a muslin, then fitting and pinning and re-working it until it’s perfect.

I love clothing design for its communicative and aesthetic possibilities, but also very much for the craft of it. Many designers prefer to simply hand off sketches to a pattern maker, but for me, the process is the design. It feels a bit pompous to talk about the integrity of the piece and purity of form, but those are qualities I strive for, and I really can only get there with my own two hands.”

Image: supersonicphotos

The post Using Your Hands to Soothe the Brain: Part 3 appeared first on EcoSalon.