NOTES TO BUILD PRESS RELEASE

13.08.2024

IDEA : BASE THE PRESS RELEASE ON THE FORMAT, TONE, CONCEPT, LAYOUT OF THIS ARTICLE

In Paris, the chicest way to shop is in someone else’s home

Financial Times // HTSI

March 21, 2024


AH NOTES:

SECTION 1

  • When asked to describe the aesthetic of her first collection, in 1981, Carolina Herrera replied, “It's my own style.” Decades later that description still holds true. So what is Herrera's personal look? Refined and international, it is perhaps best described as ladylike, although tailoring plays a large role, too.

  • influences of 90s-2000s in New York and Paris

  • description of the clothes - classical, chic… Elegance, Style, and Simplicity

  • as a stylist, living between cultures (and out of suitcases) has created this wardrobe…

  • I can attest that with this wardrobe one can be chic and breezy while shooting a film in the Arabian desert, attend a royal wedding in Jaipur, spend a day on the Med, on a ranch, or in St Germain-des-Pres… go to a concert, attend a memorial, a late dinner, an early morning board meeting, and so on

  • these fabrics are exquisite - in the East, luxury craft and handwoven fabric is appreciated in a different way - this a new kind of elegance in the West (where handwoven clothes are mostly boxy clothes for hippies)

    SECTION 2

  • Description of Tatlayoko, the cabin, off grid, etc

  • our place is an art installation at live-in scale, our response to surroundings, creating with pure elements (gravity, weather, seasons, wildlife), true sustainability - environmental, financial, living within a functioning ecosystem provides a deeper perspective (HartwickCreative.com link - Dropbox commercial?)

  • Atelier collection feels like a textiles installation, at scale

  • Interiors - mention Paris (furniture from Anna?), Danish mid-century, Bombay influence, Middle East (rugs from Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, etc)

  • Founder’s lifestyle and body of work as it reveals in the cabin - extensive travel, art and music, film and fashion, climate and environment, homesteading and off grid living

  • AH career - costume designer and stylist, early 2000s work in Dubai to create the Middle East lifestyle concept, redesigning traditional Arab clothing, Vanity Fair (first collection — Urban Arab Design — in Vanity Fair and Art Dubai)

  • living and working in India (as photojournalist NYTimes, etc, commercial clients Christie’s, etc)

  • invited into Bombay social life - aspects of luxurious Indian culture, textiles, jewellery, art, architecture

  • amassed a significant collection of original works of art - film about our art collection turned us into filmmakers (HartwickCollection.com link)

  • 10 years making 60 short films all over the world, last film about Ethiopian Girl Skaters opened at Tribeca 2023

  • Went to India in 2023 to research for next film — film subject is weaving and handwoven cloth - looking at the angles of weaving (as the original algorythm, through the lens of a monk, a physicist, philosopher, curator, anthropologist, etc)

  • While doing initial research we fell in love with the material aspect of handwoven cloth and decided to make the collection

  • Art de vivre is our true body of work

  • creating the collection of this calibre was an absolute adventure

  • collaborated with weavers in West Bengal, dyers in Gujurat, some of Jaipur’s finest goldsmiths and tailors who stitch for major brands in Paris

    SECTION 3

  • Concept of in-person Salons and online drops

  • Concept of Limited Editions - our pieces are limited by nature - literally by the sun, wind, rainfall

  • the story of our fine silk - how it is made - the village that has been doing this for 3000 years - celestial interpretations, carvers, natural dye process (sun, wind, rain), hand-rolled edges

  • Mahatma Ghandi and the concept of swaraj - independence movement and the place of khadi in Indian culture

  • Khadi is not just a textile, it is a movement; a philosophy with a rich history, and a solution for a sustainable future. A work of human hands and a symbol of freedom and equality.

  • passing down generational knowledge in families - in-home set ups - looms, natural dye vats, sky high drying racks

  • Khadi is an eco-friendly textile made from hand-spun and hand-woven cotton by artisans from rural Indian communities. The processes behind Khadi take time, skill, and tradition which is passed down through generations. What makes Khadi special is that the material, from the yarn to the weave, is made without the use of machines. Work that can be done from rural homes without the need for electricity. Khadi provides income to people in rural communities, and leaves no carbon footprint.

  • a certain stability through niche artisanal family business (vs corporate model in West)

  • Heritage Craft in India - carvers, jewellers - refined skills like this are unknown or impossible in ‘the West’ in fast fashion business model

  • so many connections between artisans, families, communities to create each piece - this type of work can only be made in this way

  • vs Fast Fashion - as a comparison - carcinogenic chemicals on skin and in environment, over-produced for mass consumption creating so much pollution — the status quo is grotesque

  • True luxury - Handspun and handwoven, natural dye, made with pride and love by families, preserving water quality, village life

  • An amazing feeling to be a designer with a global reach working with craftsmen in their homes - this fashion niche is helping to retain knowledge and stability, support (see Sabyasachi description of Heritage Craft) = true sustainablilty

  • somehow the collection carries all these stories, each piece has the feeling of luxury, history, etc

  • each piece is inherently unique