My Cart

Close
  • SVRN Supper Club: Blobb

    SVRN Supper Club is a seasonal invite only dining experience that celebrates the intersection between fashion, culture and cuisine. For our second installation of Supper Club, we partnered with Blobb. This installation focuses on getting adults to play again— with their food, with art and with design. We took inspiration from Elias’ use of her architectural background to produce jewelry that is purely experimental and imaginative. Each guest invited to the event received a SVRN x Blobb collaborative ring and had the option to purchase a collaborative button up with Elias' artwork. A special menu and layout was curated with Tables Tables Tables and the acclaimed chef Daniel Marbán. The three course meal consisted of starters, main courses and desert. Sofia Elias' Pofi chair art pieces from the gallery of Pamela Weissenberg and other work were on display. Throughout the space there were opportunities to connect with one's inner child by drawing on surfaces we typically avoid, such as the table cloth, a paper carpet and a sofa. With specialty tequila from Casa Dragones and Yola Mezcal, the night was upbeat and lively and full of craft palomas and margaritas. Our goal with Supper Club is always to cultivate a creative environment where we bring together different people to celebrate art, fashion, design and cuisine. With our dinners we aim to introduce people to those who may be outside of their circle and forge new connections based on a shared love for the arts. Partnering with Blobb and Tables Tables Tables, we were able to do this in an organic and personal way. We look forward to sharing our next installation of SVRN Supper Club with you soon.    

    Read More
  • Elements of Runway— The Ventriloquist

    No, not a literal puppeteer. But someone who brings something tangible (garments, in this case) to life. The known title for this role is the 'stylist' or 'fashion editor', and the masses sometimes overlook their hierarchy in Runway despite their play being what ultimately will deem a checkmate. We're in the midst of Women's Fashion Week. While some will witness remarkable presentations, we wanted to discuss one fashion editor and their contribution to the final show. Imruh Asha, the recently appointed Fashion Director of Dazed, has his hand in more than print and publication. Working with numerous brands for everything from campaigns and cover stories to runway shows, our appreciation for Asha can most eloquently be detailed in his collaboration with the brand Botter. While it doesn't outshine his other works, the union of these two entities is as seamless as the creation of the thread itself. Beginning from his first show with the brand for F/W 21 Men's, Asha's visual detail is like precision in a nevertheless surreal world. Botter is a brand heralded since its launch in 2017 for its vibrant and straightforward design and dedication to upcycled materials. Asha's eye for maximizing a garment's story has become intrinsic to what makes Botter's presentations so compelling. Never afraid of mixing, mashing, or covering a model with accessories to stay afloat, Asha, with Botter's dedication to coral reefs, almost replicates the energetic ease of Earth's waters. There is always a play of palette, either soft with contrasting hues or going for bold and layering patterns with exciting cuts and tailored shapes. When Botter's S/S 22 'Global Warming' digital show arrived, we received a dreamlike presentation of what all the wonders of climate and its effect on the aquatic might be. Models traversed through billowing textures and sun-spotted arenas with scuba masks, fisherman nets, and hooded umbrellas as if swimming in the upside-down. While the focus is the collection, the styling in this striking visual is one to compliment the overall narrative, not dominate. Creating a character for each look illustrates the beauty and alarm of the marine's actuality; we see a fisherman, some waste they may have caught, the deep-divers, the buoys, and the aquatic vertebrate animals themselves, moving alone and sometimes together as reality would naturally occur. In his personal projects, you can feel remnants and homage done correctly, giving breath and freshness to a style similar to the beloved collaboration of Irving Penn and Issey Miyake. A strength of Asha is that he does not need a whole body to create something compelling; concentrated areas like ears or the back of one's head also do fine. The truth is, to be a great stylist, one must be inventive and be able to see all the possibilities of a garment, even when lying lifeless on a rack. Asha does this almost as a reflex in his approach. Everything is art. Everything can be worn or accessorized. And in a world like today, it's necessary for visual architects as such to explore every dialect and history of fashion as a language. Imruh Asha's contribution to Fashion Week and runways is always a point of intrigue. Text by Shahrnaz Javid    

    Read More
  • Elements of Runway- The Location

    Generally speaking, the experience of a product begins with the box in which it's housed; in terms of Runway, that box should be perceived as its location. Part one of 'Elements of Runway' dissected the stage, entailing different accounts of masterful set design. However, since the globe has opted to move as if living in a post-pandemic world, let's scale back to ground zero and look at Runway's various locations, some of which need no decor. Following the details of an intricate invitation, imagine reading the particulars of the said show. The location is no convenient or overlooked element. On the contrary, it is the first step in creating the whimsy of a memorable presentation. It provides the foundation, sometimes contrast, and, most notably, atmosphere. Positioning fashion as a portal to intersectionality has credulous backings; everything from social commentary to geopolitics and something as integral as booking a venue can be the catapult of a global shift. For example, in 2006, Chinese consumers made up only 2% of the luxury market. It was one year before they hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, and fashion houses seldom thought there was an audience worth entertaining because their relations with the then-ascending world power still needed to be improved. But one October night in 2007, under the co-direction of Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini Fendi, Fendi put on a show that was "the first fashion show visible from the moon," as quoted by LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault. Declared an act of solidarity and unification between East and West, a 'Silk Road' connecting China to Italy materialized in a 1,500-mile-long catwalk on the Great Wall of China. In 2007 there was no precedent nor procedure for obtaining permits to host something of this scale at one of the world's most marveled historical landmarks. But Fendi did the unthinkable and was the first luxury house to engage a market now set to make up 40% of luxury consumers by 2030 (according to a 2022 Bain & Co report). This also served as a trial run to the Olympic games and how China would cope with giving swarms of media free passes to roam the country unsupervised. But that was the onset of the 2000s; since then, much has evolved. Not scaling back but switching the gears to an appreciation of zeitgeisty creative genius, one has to mention Demna Gvasalia repeatedly. As if leaving a cookie trail between his ideas and endeavours, one must lack all senses not to know when it's Demna's turn. During VETEMENTS Paris Men's SS20 Fashion Week, Paris's largest McDonald's in Champs Élysées had more visitors than their usual daily quota, thanks to Demna. People gathered, possibly confused, under the golden arches while not-so-subtle jabs at capitalism and corporate conglomerates unloaded with the trucks of models stationed outside. And all the hard work that went into the collection to bring these social awarenesses to life was matched in an effortless instant by the world's most recognizable fast food chain. Sometimes when discussing high-low, a concept that, in truth, has many interpretations— we tend to veer for the jarringly overt displays as opposed to nuance; Demna consistently brings this concept in both forms. As a result, his commentary is received both in his collections and the hosted venues. Together they create an aggregated message. Whether it's VETEMENTS at McDonald's on Champs Élysées to Balenciaga Resort 2023 at the New York Stock Exchange— it's pretty clear that for Demna, these ironically organic homes to capitalistic cartels serve as low-production, high-impact backdrops to his works. It's, of course, to everyone's benefit to mention Martin Margiela's SS 1990 show in a bleak playground in the 20e arrondissement of Paris at any given moment. Why? Because it was radical. It disrupted the fashion industry ecosystem that was polished and changed the way designers presented for all time to come. Before Fendi, VETEMENTS, Balenciaga, Jacquemus, or anyone that comes to mind, this presentation was the actual catapult of the importance of runway locations. Not to say it was blazé before, but the catwalk mostly comes from simple origins. Designers used to only focus on the garments, not the stage. But on this remarkable Fall evening in 1989, Martin was the first to create a conceptual correlation between the garments and the venue, creating a symbiotic storytelling thread- the coveted creativity born from 'desolate' beauty. To make the impact more astonishing— this world-bending presentation came just after his debut show for SS 1989. That's the beauty of a location— it's a physical manifestation to bring the audience's mental eye level with the creative plane of the collections. Regardless of the intended show— does the house match its (presented in) home? This element of envisioning collections that play off its walls is the creativity's epitome of experiencing creation's 'bigger picture'. Text by Shahrnaz Javid    

    Read More
  • Fall 2023 Menswear: The Layers of Comfort

    Why is it, more often than not, we find ourselves reminiscing over the past? Reflecting, referencing, reinterpreting what was? It’s got quite the hold on us. To be moving forward but always looking back. Instead of imagining what could be, what has yet to become, we dream in nostalgia. Our innocence, nativity and ignorance. When life once felt delicate, but yet exposed. I find this to be quite prevalent in this Fall/Winter 2023 Menswear season. There’s a sense of rediscovery, but yet we find ourselves back where we began. The place where familiarity and evolution meet. The undressed took center stage as they found comfort clutching sentimental objects. Styling has always been a key component to delivering the visual narrative of a designer's collection. This season, Jonathan Anderson allowed the garments to speak for themselves, with their accompanied accessories to fill in the blanks. One by one, models walked out with literally one item of clothing on to cover their body. Orange underwear covered with bunnies. A white oversized t-shirt and froggy slippers. A brown ruffle skirt with a pillow in hand. This presentation could easily be perceived as an unfinished or even a youthful approach to menswear. I believe JW Anderson’s most recent collections continue to share a story about our attachments: the many things we hold close to us. From infant to adult, we tend to associate ourselves, our memories and our development to a token object or symbol. (Which can also be seen in Martine Rose’s collection featuring a “drunk bunny”, illustrating the hope we had during the COVID lockdowns. And the blue and purple bunnies depicted in Nahmias’ collection, in remembrance of Doni Nahmias’ childhood.) As minimal and bare as the JW Anderson collection might be I think it highlights the direction fashion is headed: an exploration of the impact of our materialistic attachments and the transition towards vulnerability. Finding comfort in our exposure, with no place nor thing to hide behind. These two notes were also found in Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy Botter’s collection. Bicycle seats were repurposed into bags and miniature race cars danced across the necks and dazzled the fingers of the models. Some garments exposed the layers that hid underneath flaps and buttons, while others brought undergarments to the surface. Overtime we obtain these valuables. Which tend to have a unique story of their own, but they also carry our story, our secrets, and our past. These tangible objects, articles of clothing, can communicate a lot about who we are. And I think it’s quite interesting how we desire to keep them close, collected and displayed. But at the same time we feel the need to pull back. It’s as if we can’t decide if we want more or less. If we want to share more or less of ourselves, the things that we have, or the body that hides behind all that we carry. This theme of pulling back, shedding our layers, or more so, revealing our layers was beautifully presented by Namacheko. Dilan Lurr opened the show very heavy: overcoats with silver embellishments, a combination of knits: zipped, twisted and buttoned, detachable collared shirts, and pleated skirts. As the collection continued on, the models wore less and less clothing. Closing the show with a model dressed in a tightly fitted ombré turtleneck and legging set. Whether for play, comfort, or mobility, our relationship with clothing is getting quite vulnerable. Leaving us to be as we begin on this Earth, exposed. On a day to day basis, we tend to overlook just how quickly we’re evolving. I believe these bi-yearly presentations communicate what we value, how we view ourselves and where we’d like to be. Whether that’s in the past, present or the future. I think these designers and the fashion industry as a whole bring attention to who we really are at this moment in time. The garments just allow us to express our comfort in exposing all that we are. Text by Ciana Mai    

    Read More