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sweetriotofficial · 10 years ago

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A Fresh Look at Our Featured Artists

If you’re a long-time Rioter, then you know how excited sweetriot is about promoting our rocking artists! Every few months, we ask our Rioters to vote for an emerging artist to share his or her work on our upcoming packaging. But we don’t want our support for these amazing artists to end at a riotBar or Nib Tin, so we’ve put together a list of some of our past featured artists! Instead of sharing the same artwork we used for our riotBars and tins, we want to show you some other pieces these talented individuals have created (and to share their blogs and online stores with you). Don’t forget to click their names to be linked to more of their work :) !

Lindy Gaskill has been a fan of abstract and expressionist artwork since she was a little girl, and it inspired her to pursue her own creativity. After traveling around the world, including nine countries and a number of states, Gaskill used her cultural experiences to develop her unique artistic style.

Enchanted Hummingbirds

Ira L. Black is a New York based photographer, with a focus in digital photography. Black has shot portraits for individuals including anyone from His Holiness The Dalai Lama to Hillary Clinton to Jay Sean. He’s also showcased his fine art photography, like the image below, around the states.

Abstractions

Rebecca Case loves the wild, especially when she gets to paint and photograph it. Inspired by her move from Colorado to Michigan, Case takes advantage of the woodsy areas near her home to create her art.

Paph Orchid in Egg Tempra

Sheena Sood studied textile design and visual art in college, and has since launched her own (super cute) clothing collection called abacaxi. Abacaxi has a unique tropical feel that triggers images of the sun, surf and island wildlife with an urban twist.

The Adeline Dress

Callie Hirsch first became inspired during a scuba diving trip with her father and family friend Dick Strauss, an underwater photographer. Since, Hirsch has been fascinated by sea life, and uses different art mediums to reproduce images of the fascinating creatures she researches.

Fish Food

Gabriele Stewart was born and educated in Switzerland, but now lives in the United States with her husband and three children. Stewart focuses on acrylic and mixed media paintings that explore the tension between control and commotion through abstract visuals.

Riot

After she received her degree in fine art at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Maggie Hernandez remained in New York City to work. Her abstract paintings capture untamed emotion by using strong color and movement.

Rodeo Roundup

Patty West Elstrott is a New Orleans contemporary artist whose paintings focus on scale and subject matter in a literal and ambiguous way. Elstrott is interested in adapting the physical world, making the invisible become visible.

Living Impulses

Thomas Fedro lives right outside of Chicago in Arlington Heights, Illinois where he creates abstract art with “zing.” His large paintings embody deep colors and bold lines that represent the modern world in a playful, poppy way.

Accent

Jelene Morris works from her home studio creating everything from clay sculptures to canvas paintings. She makes smaller paintings, which she calls “minipop” series, but also paintings as large as six feet in length!

Poptoons and Nightmare Series

Mike Hammer’s abstract canvas paintings aren’t very easy to describe. Hammer likes to focus on “things,” meaning material objects, in a quirky way using a mix of colors and a minimalist approach.

Symmetrical Dyptichs

Love art? There’s still more to see! Check out the full list sweetriot Featured Artists here:http://sweetriot.com/riot/sweetriot-art/featured-artists/Riot on!

#sweetriot #Lindy Gaskill #Ira Black #Rebecca Case #Sheena Sood #Callie Hirsch #Garbriele Sterwart #Maggie Hernandez #Patty West Elstrott #Thomas Fedro #Jelene Morris #Mike Hammer #Artists #riot

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kentonramsey · 3 years ago

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Traditional Garments Are Rarely Recycled. This Brand Is Hoping To Change That

Clothing is a cultural touchstone for communities around the world. Traditional ceremonies, from weddings to quinceañeras, revolve around a particular garment that’s meant to represent not only the occasion, but the history behind it. The sari — a traditional garment worn by women in South Asia — is one of the most recognisable. And while saris hold a significant cultural value, designer Sheena Sood is trying to give them new life through the simple act of upcycling.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about ways to repurpose this material that a lot of us may have but we wear only once,” says Sood, the founder of New York-based indie label abacaxi, named after the Portuguese word for “pineapple” and known for its bold colours and handcrafted techniques.

Last month, Sood launched the Up-Sari Set, a new line of matching sets made from upcycled vintage saris from India. Each set comes with a long-sleeved top, featuring a collar and a shell-button placket, as well as wide-leg pants — all made from woven cotton and silk fabrics sourced from the South Asian country.

“I wanted to design something that is very versatile that can bring this material back into our everyday life,” says Sood. “You can wear [the pieces] together [for] more of a formal look, but you can also mix and match.” Retailing for $500 (£361), each set is made-to-order as part of the brand’s “Plants as People” collection, which the designer recently launched, featuring ribbed sweaters, hoodies, and joggers with Y2K-ready butterfly appliqués and tie-dye prints.

Traditionally, saris are worn in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal with various styles of fabrics and drapings, depending on each culture and occasion. Although they are heavily rooted in Eastern nations, their cultural heritage has migrated all over the world, thanks to the South Asian diasporas. There are over 100 ways to wear a sari, but the most common style is the Nivi, worn with a fitted bodice and a loose end, called the pallu, draped over the shoulder. Ironically, this style emerged as an adaptation to British ways of dressing during the Victorian era, a lingering effect of colonial rule in the region for nearly a century. Many saris don’t include zippers or buttons, and are instead held together by pins, allowing women to adapt the pieces to their body as they please.

In many ways, the Up-Sari project has been a lifetime in the making. Though Sood grew up in the Midwest, she remembers strolling through local markets in New Delhi and “being fascinated by all the textiles.” She says this experience is largely what ignited her interest in becoming a designer: not only the saris’ rich colours and ostentatious beading, but their structure and functionality. For Sood, saris are “the ultimate design because it’s a piece that can fit almost anybody.” Unlike her mother, who has “never liked wearing saris,” Sood enjoys wearing them and has always had a soft spot for their value as family heirlooms. “There are saris that have been passed down through generations that I would never dare to cut up,” she says.

Sood’s project, which started during the pandemic, is just one of many solutions brought forward by young designers who are trying to come up with strategies to reduce the amount of waste created by the fashion industry. Upcycling, which involves using fabrics from an older garment to create a new one, is one of the most popular. Sood had been playing around with the idea of using the saris as the source material for her upcycling projects, creating custom-made dresses in her studio, as well as inviting customers to send their old saris for her to repurpose. “The material is so beautiful and there are so many that are just used once,” she says.

Therefore, when she came up with the idea for the Up-sari set, she didn’t have a lack of options to choose from. But, in order to procure more saris, Sood has had to get crafty. Due to the pandemic, she’s unable to travel to India, where in “an ideal situation” she’d personally source the saris from vintage sellers, collectors, or people’s closets. But Sood has been able to set up a virtual chain of supply, thanks to a New Delhi-based online vendor.

For this project, she chose saris made from tie-dying techniques that allow for intricate textile designs that form “tiny little circles.” In contrast to more elaborate saris, which can cost upwards of $1,000, Sood says that she’s able to keep the price of her Up-Sari set somewhere in the middle of the spectrum by sourcing more simple garments. This also allows her more room to play as she cuts up the vintage sari to create her matching set. “Even if it’s a custom-made set, I didn’t want the price to be so high,” she says. “I chose saris that I loved for the colour and design.”

For a limited time, Abacaxi’s Up-Sari set is available to order on abacaxi-nyc.com.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

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Traditional Garments Are Rarely Recycled. This Brand Is Hoping To Change That published first on https://mariakistler.tumblr.com/

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kentonramsey · 4 years ago

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How This Queer Indian-American Designer Is Planning to Break Stereotypes in the Industry

Like up-and-coming South Asian-American designer Sheena Sood, I grew up not seeing a lot of women like me in the fashion and beauty arena, and came across even fewer Indians when I started my career as a fashion editor. So, you can imagine that Sheena's brand, Abacaxi, which she started in 2017, resonated with me for lots of reasons. Abacaxi, which is the Portuguese word for pineapple, features an array of environmentally-friendly colorful pieces (think: tunics, oversize outerwear pieces, and whimsical, flowy dresses), all handmade by artisans in Delhi. Seeing someone who's also so proud of their roots, I felt an instant personal connection to her designs, knowing that the pieces were produced thoughtfully and sustainably by artisans in India.

"While my identity doesn't define me, it certainly has informed my work and my creativity. I've always found my heritage to be the biggest source of inspiration. In fact, becoming re-inspired by a trip back to India is what led me to start Abacaxi in the first place. The richness of the textiles, the colors, jewelry, diversity in the ways of dress - there are lifetimes of inspiration to pull from. Art and fashion can also be tools to address my journey as a South Asian-American queer," Sheena told me when I had the opportunity to chat with the designer about her brand.

We covered a lot of ground, ranging from how she plans on breaking stereotypes in the fashion industry, where she finds inspiration, her new collection called The Butterfly Effect, and much more. Read on for our conversation ahead.

How This Queer Indian-American Designer Is Planning to Break Stereotypes in the Industry published first on https://mariakistler.tumblr.com/

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kentonramsey · 5 years ago

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Coronavirus Will Have Long-Term Effects On The Fashion Industry

Despite already seeing significant effects, the fashion industry has yet to feel the brunt of the repercussions — financial and otherwise — caused by the global outbreak of COVID-19.

The arrival of coronavirus in Italy on 21 February coincided directly with Milan Fashion Week, which ran from the 18th to the 24th, causing some attendees to cancel their trips and head home early, while some designers — including, notably, Giorgio Armani — cancelled their runway shows. Panic followed the showgoers to Paris, where more presentations were cancelled, more impromptu return flights were booked, and more face masks were worn — including one that was custom-designed for the fall ‘20 Chanel show. It’s no wonder that returning American fashion editors were advised to self-quarantine for two weeks — even if not all of them listened.

Now, New York City — aka the fashion epicentre of America — is in a declared state of emergency. This means that local fashion houses (as well as fashion media companies, PR agencies, and more) have declared a work-from-home policy for their employees. Beyond that, shoots are being postponed; press previews, dinners, and work-related travel cancelled. The Copenhagen Fashion Summit will be pushed until October, while H&M’s Global Change Award Gala was called off altogether.

Inconvenient and financially damaging as all those things are, though, the real economic impact of coronavirus has yet to be seen — but it is coming. Luxury buying and selling is a predominately in-person exchange, so when tons of buyers cancelled their plans to travel during Paris market week — the week when designers and buyers meet at tradeshows and showrooms to buy and sell their upcoming collections — brands had to get creative, and fast. Many ended up going digital in their selling approach, either sending PDFs or using online ordering platforms like Joor. But, while some labels may have had success using online-selling portals, the outbreak will likely leave a hefty dent on this year’s sales.

“Buyers need to be able to see the quality, fit, and fabrications of the garments in real life, by trying them on or seeing them on a model,” says the designer behind the brand abacaxi Sheena Sood. Shood was in Paris to show her latest collection during market week. “The trade shows were emptier than usual,” she says. While her brand and most of the other designers showing were able to keep their scheduled appointments, Sood says that it was difficult to make new contacts. “Typically designers show at Paris market to meet new contacts every season, but many of the international buyers cancelled their trips. It also appears as though even some buyers who did attend New York and Paris markets aren’t placing orders this season because of how badly coronavirus has already affected the traffic at their stores (particularly in Asia).” According to Kaelyn Davis, the VP of luxury hat brand Eric Javits, overall traffic at Premiere Classe, a popular trade show for accessories in Paris, was down by over 75%. “We especially saw a decline in the brand’s Asian clientele as a result of coronavirus.”

The stock market’s current nose-dive isn’t helping things either. According to WWD, the week of 28th February 2020 was one of the worst the American market has experienced since the 2008 recession. Globally, the London and Paris markets both saw significant declines, as well. Publicly traded fashion brands like Burberry, Hermès, Revolve, and Lululemon Athletica all saw dramatic dips in stock price, the most substantial being Revolve’s and Lululemon’s, which both dropped by 4.4%.

A pedestrian wears a face mask as visitors gather outside a pop-up building for the Christian Dior SE catwalk show during Paris Fashion Week at Tuileries Garden in Paris, France, on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020. Fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris — where the luxury industry shows off its fall womenswear collections at runway spectacles and showrooms for buyers — have been taking a hit from precautions to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Photographer: Laura Stevens/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The fashion landscape isn’t only made up of large, publicly owned companies and brands, though. And while they will undoubtedly feel the weight of the COVID-19 outbreak, between their high margins and overwhelming customer loyalty, it’s likely that they will find themselves back in the green once the virus has run its course. According to The Wall Street Journal, larger companies are better equipped to deal with the consequences of coronavirus than smaller ones, many of which don’t necessarily share the same optimistic future.

“This season, buyers were really careful about appointments — we had more than half of our Paris appointments cancel — something we could have never prepared for,” says Sabrina Reales of Petricor, the sales showroom which represents indie brands like KkCo, Alfeya Valrina, SVNR, Dauphinette, and more. “Without that in-person experience, we’re reliant on the digital space to support sales. While that is becoming increasingly more prevalent, [those platforms are] still limiting.”

Direct-to-consumer sales are also starting to suffer. “Everything was fine until last Friday, but then we saw a big downturn,” Pauline Montupet says of her San Francisco multi-brand concept store Le Point. “The weekend is when we get most of our foot traffic and it was really, really slow. Everyone’s being told to stay inside and avoid large groups, which despite being a small store, is hindering people from coming into Le Point, too.” Small businesses also have internal logistics to think about, like their employees, incoming orders, and bills. “We already have a really lean staff and I don’t want to let anyone go, so I’m just trying to figure out how long we can manage with minimal impact if this is going to continue for a long time,” Montupet explains.

For Hong Kong-based designers Phyllis Chan and Suzzie Chung, COVID-19 is hitting hard. Chan and Chung’s brand Yan Yan is made entirely in China, the original epicentre for coronavirus. “We try to manufacture based on demand, so the lockdown has delayed our restock by a few weeks, thus affecting our normal ability to supply to demand,” Chung says. “But the health and safety of our factory workers is really important to us, so we don’t want to rush the process of everyone getting back to work.” The duo worries that because of where their products are manufactured and the unfamiliar nature of coronavirus, that customers will be less likely to purchase from the brand. “As a health and safety requirement by the Chinese government, all our factory workers have their temperature monitored daily and wear masks all day at work. As an extra precaution, everyone in our Hong Kong office wears masks, we sanitize our shoes before entering the office, and take special care to wash our hands before handling product and packages,” Chan explains.

Fashion brands in Italy and China have begun closing their physical stores as governments in both countries advise residents to avoid public spaces and unnecessary contact with others. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte went as far as to forbid people from gathering in public, according to BBC. Capri Holdings, which owns Michael Kors, Versace, and Jimmy Choo, has already closed 150 store locations in China, and in turn, predicted a $100 million decrease in revenue for next quarter.

With Chinese workers being advised to stay home, many factories are struggling, which will be especially detrimental to the industry given how much fashion merchandise is produced there. According to Statista, China accounted for nearly 38% of the world’s textile exports in 2018. Now that workers are no longer physically allowed to go to work, though, production has effectively stopped, meaning that all of the brands, in China or otherwise, that rely on Chinese factories to produce their merchandise won’t be receiving their orders on time or at all. The CEO of Hildun Corporation and the chairman of Interluxe Gary A. Wassner told Time that companies selling “private labels,” or brands that are sold specifically to one store, are especially vulnerable. Time also consulted Margaret Bishop, an expert in apparel and textile supply chains, who is quoted saying that fast fashion companies are likely to take a major hit as well due to their quick turnarounds.

In an interview with WWD, Confindustria Moda president Claudio Marenzi explained what he predicts the overall effects will be on the industry. “It’s going to be a tough year,” he said. “I think that the slowdown of this moment will also affect the first semester of 2021. The spring 2020 season will be the most dramatically hit by the crisis, we will see negative repercussions also on the fall 2020 season, and unfortunately, I think that the spring 2021 season will be also affected.” The virus could very well be quelled by then, but Marenzi presumes that since stores will be full of unsold goods from 2020, sales for 2021 will continue to be affected. “To sum up, this crisis will have a negative impact on our industry until June 2021.”

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Coronavirus Will Have Long-Term Effects On The Fashion Industry published first on https://mariakistler.tumblr.com/

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kentonramsey · 5 years ago

Text

Coronavirus Will Have Long-Term Effects On The Fashion Industry

Despite already seeing significant effects, the fashion industry has yet to feel the brunt of the repercussions — financial and otherwise — caused by the global outbreak of COVID-19.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

We Should All Be Traveling Like Naomi Campbell

What It Means To Wear A Face Mask In America

Shanghai Fashion Week Cancels Due To Coronavirus

Coronavirus Will Have Long-Term Effects On The Fashion Industry published first on https://mariakistler.tumblr.com/

0 notes