The Print | Simple Pleasures | SDW 2022
We are often led to believe that the only things worth celebrating in life are major events—things that we have had to work hard and sacrifice for. However, an average person’s life consists of far more days when nothing out of the ordinary occurs. Should our conclusions be then, that the majority of our lives must be spent in a routine sort of inertia waiting for the next significant event to come along? Definitely not! Instead, we must begin to take pleasure in the simple things in life—the little moments that we often undervalue. We can count on mindfulness to help us understand the importance of enjoying the simple pleasures.
Simple Pleasures, the latest Sustainable Denim Wardrobe Collection, is an ode to happiness and well-being from a perspective of normality and focuses on creating garments that are a source of joy. In order to tell this story, we wanted to create a print whose different elements run throughout the collection and that reminds us of the bright side of everyday life.
For Betina Grosser, the fashion designer invited to co-create the print, it all started with one question: “What makes you feel good?”
First thing that came into her mind was water, “because when I am close to water, this is a time that I feel at my happiest!”
Other pleasures that came to mind include sitting under a tree, seeing the rays of light coming through the leaves, feeling the sunshine and the light breeze on her skin, or touching and smelling freshly laundered bedsheets on an airy warm day.
We realized that what brings a person joy is shaped by personal experiences, both subjective and individual. So in order to have a more diverse input and outcome, we decided to create a collaborative design process that allowed people to express themselves. Subsequently we incorporated as many suggestions into the print as possible from the 50 participants, creating elements inspired by the stories they have shared.
These different stimuli flowing into and through our thoughts, moods and dreams inspired us to see a multifaceted print, where structured areas transition into more fluid images and vice versa in an attempt to envision a dreamy, feel good dopamine trip.
Contemplating clothing as a source of joy, we wanted to highlight the pleasure of wearing something that feels good, both physically and emotionally, and also expresses one’s personality. In order to foster self-expression, we have designed a large print rapport, which allows for the creation of multiple garments, each one exhibiting a different set of images and themes. In that way, people have the opportunity to choose a garment made from the part of the print that most represents them.
Based in surrealism with psychedelic overtones, this print design was balanced through the use of elements inspired by traditional scarves layouts and stained-glass windows. Mixing both the multi-colorful with pure black and white areas, it also explores many shades of blue to create an almost monochromatic look when paired with denim, as a way of toning down the shapes.
We collaborated with Dutch print house House of U to digitally print our design artwork on two different 100 percent TENCEL™ fabric bases: a lightweight satin and a medium-weight twill. So both fabrics have been used in some way throughout the collection, from fully printed garments to hidden treasures like pocket linings and strategically positioned little details created with nano laser, inspired by the personal aspect provided by customization of garments.
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