Reuters
source: Reuters
Gabriela Hearst showed ikat patchwork jackets and dresses embroidered with “shisha” mirrors in a collection inspired by Afghanistan and partly made by Afghan women artisans in her spring/summer runway show at Paris Fashion Week on Monday.
The Uruguayan designer’s eponymous label worked with non-profit organisation Turquoise Mountain to find artisan makers in Afghanistan, and show notes given to each guest detailed the Central Asian country’s traditional textiles and its history from 1901 to the present day, focusing on Afghan women she called her “22 million muses”.
“It was such a beautiful collection to research, and to make, and to really think about the women,” Hearst told Reuters in an interview after the show. “In a place like Afghanistan things can be harsh … but they can also make beautiful things.”
In the circular courtyard garden of the Petit Palais, an art museum initially built for the 1900 Paris Exposition, models walked along colourful mosaic tiling as guests including actor Katie Holmes looked on.
Paintings by Afghan artisans featured on jewellery and buttons on linen blazers, and the show closed with white dresses embroidered with pomegranates – Afghanistan’s national fruit.
