In yesterday's post we looked at the power of embroidery in the political discourse. But embroidery is a great idea to embellish also everyday items on which we could add personal slogans, mottos or quotes. An example? Check out Marina Moscone's Pre-Fall 2021 collection.
This collection, inspired by the theme of uniforms, interpreted as the basic and fundamental garments we keep in our wardrobes, features elegant yet functional garments such as overcoats that open up with box pleats at the hem (matched with long socks for that Prada touch) and tunics or jackets with skirt-like plaid panels around the hips, plus boxy rugby shirts, inspired by the designer's grandfather, a professional rugby player.
Among the other garments there are also pieces that could be considered as the fashion equivalent of Natalia Ginzburg's "Family Lexicon". In ths novel the author recounts the story of her family via their routines, rituals, phrases, and quotes. In each family there are indeed specific words, sentences or jokes that only that family can understand, as they are linked to a member or to a story or an adventure that happened to them.
Conceived in lockdown and inspired by her childhood in South Africa where Moscone would wear a school uniform, the collection incorporates bits and pieces of the designer's family lexicon, translated into embroidered motifs. Embroidered patches were applied on a blazer while silk duvet coat was for example decorated with subtle decorative patterns, scribbled motifs, embroidered buttons, trompe l'oeil pockets and fringes or threads creating three-dimensional effects on the surface of the garments, inspired by the works of art created by South African artist Gabrielle Kruge (in which quite often elements break from the canvas surface and emerge from it).
The designer added some arty touches that linked the motifs to her own family story, such as a picture of her mother (in her school uniform) and father as children; the Bird of Paradise flower (Moscone's favorite South African bloom); the word "Joy" (her mother’s name), an elephant, hinting at wisdom and the words "My honeysuckle rose", a nickname given to Moscone by her grandmother.
The story in these designs is in the details, so start collecting ideas to translate your own family lexicon into embroideries - you could add a slogan, a motto or a printed image and radically transform in this way an old garment into something new and more meaningful to you.
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