Official SS14 Blogger – Maria Grachvogel
Maria Grachvogel is famous for her serene and fluid hand painted prints, for clothes that sculpt and enhance the female figure and embrace the silhouette. “It’s amazing what you can do with cut and fit, we make great pieces that work in your wardrobe”. Grachvogel explains, “it’s accommodating the female body”. Her SS14 collection, as shown on Sunday at Vodafone London Fashion Weekend, was the epitome of sophistication. A combination of flowing fabric and fantastic cuts, combined with a hand painted aesthetic, made for a wonderfully elegant and summery vibe. “I wanted to create something that was really flattering to a woman’s body – our trousers have no seams which makes them incredibly flattering”. It’s not all about bias cutting, draping and engineering however, “all of the prints I do on the satin are washable, so there’s an element of practicality”, Grachvogel elaborates, “everything’s relaxed and easy and it’s got an element of glamour about it”.
Her creative imagination seems to have no boundaries and this culminated in beautifully digitally enhanced prints to be proud of. So what was the inspiration behind this mesmerizing collection? “I was kind of visualising this young girl and that moment of youth where you’re really actually not aware of your own beauty”. Grachvogel explains, “It turned into this whole theme about artists”.
“You can see inspiration in the prints, which I paint myself, I paint all of the prints myself, there’s a sort of paint splashes and swirls of ink and there’s definitely a kind of, you know, naïve art feel about it which I wanted to kind of capture that young artist”
And the de-saturated colour palette? “Referencing those very sort of aquatint and rose tint, those sort of artist colours”. A romantic palette that oozes summer sophistication. Print is obviously a clear focus of the Grachvogel brand, “it’s become a bigger and bigger part of what I do”. Grachvogel explains, “because my work is all about engineering on the form with cut and with fit, the next layer for that in a way is painting in a 3D form so all the prints that I paint are actually engineered around the body. That’s how I like to work, its like 3D art in a way”.
The music had a romantic feel, the lighting soft. Merged with the designs, the show had dreamy connotations and created a playful and natural atmosphere. According to the designer, the Maria Grachvogel woman is a “strong confident women, somebody who likes to put things together in her own way and her own style” and the show was certainly a style statement. Duck egg and pale blue's, nude pinks, greys, whites and blacks made the designs pop and summer was definitely in the air!
By: Jessica Duke
Social media links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DukeUnstitched
Blog: http://www.unstitchedandfabulous.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnstitchedAndFabulous
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