11.11 MOTTAINAI for NEPENTHES

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE = RESPECT

The capsule pools various streams of creative lineage - puzzle piecing together - remnant fabric left over from ENGINEERED GARMENTS collection into a festive offering of shirts, trousers, outerwear and accessories / small gift items : made exclusively for NEPENTHES NYC.

Will be refreshing our offering there every 2 weeks til January - it’s a dynamic situation. Working with Takuya from Nepenthes was an honor…privileged to get a glimpse into their structure and fall into step / orbit with the energetics of many decades of accumulated work wisdom / business / creative acumen. In many ways we (11.11) are standing on their shoulders / walking a path they started trailblazing in the 90s.

Recently watched the mini series 'In Vogue : The 90s' it was fun to imagine the Engineered Garments origin story beginning to take shape in parallel with : Anna Wintour's take over of Vogue, André Leon Talley's tenure there, Dapper Dan, Fubu, Hillary Clinton in DKNY, Madonna on the cover of Vogue…all happening in NYC in the 90s.

This historical context made me time travel even further back for a contemplative moment :

Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the US retaliated with devastating atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WW2 in 1945. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a grassroots group of atom bomb survivors in Japan for their efforts towards anti nuclear and weapons.

These days Japanese culture is revered globally - has been an explosive contributor in fashion since the 80s - and is probably one of the most popular travel destinations of the year (at least that’s what it seems like from my algorithm vantage point)

Posing the question what will identities and style look like coming from current occupied / conflict zones like Palestine, Sudan, Kashmir or Ukraine in 50 or 100 years….how will these future people express what is in their hearts and honor the complex inherited experiences that their ancestors are currently enduring.

At the moment we can see a rise in voices coming from the global south and former colonized countries examples : Stòffa and Post Imperial both have founders from India and Nigeria. Norhla also comes from Chinese occupied Tibet.

Running a brand takes tremendous effort and I think that in the case of all the above mentioned brands living in the shadow of colonized histories, occupation and violence has resulted in a deep desire to bring those identities to light, express value and find resonance / belonging / connection with kindred folks who want to believe that a more peaceful equitable kinder world is possible and is taking shape.