I love it when there is a story behind the fabric and even more so when you actually know the designer. During the Liberty sale, I happen to see a very attractive piece of fabric which I though would look very nice as a T-shirt. Without batting an eye lid, I bought it and left it on the table while I was sewing my other projects.
I finally had time yesterday to sew this T-shirt up. But I was curious to find the name of this print and to my surprise, not only did I find the name (Liberty calls it ‘Gilliam’ but the designer calls it ‘Maze’) but realised that it was designed by Kokoro Nakane, an alumna of the Fashion Print course in Central Saint Martins (see her website here). Everything then came together and I remembered seeing this print (albeit in a different colour) last year during the CSM Fashion exhibition and even had a chat to her about it. The print depicts a textile maze – inspired by the film ‘Breathless’ and the constant mind changing of the films characters and their shunning of any confinement. For her effort, she was one of the winner of the 2010 Liberty Print Design Competition.
As this was not a stretch fabric, I made the garment looser and decided to use one of my tried and tested method of getting into the garment, a zip on the shoulder seam.
I decided on a very chunky zip to highlight the fact that this fastening was there and the results is a very print-tastic T-shirt. I am actually tempted to make more of it now seeing that it is so comfortable to wear! Here’s me taking a selfie, while modelling this T-shirt. I have no idea what possessed me to strike that pose but being silly is not always a bad thing.
It’s always nice to find out that you are wearing a print designed by someone you actually know. Anyway, I hope Kokoro is doing well and continuing to produce amazing prints.
Stephen Yong 