Stella Jean‘s Indian maharaja has strictly European taste when it comes to silhouettes. No matter how far he disappears into the Himalayas, he is true to Italian sartorial style.
With bindi’s painted on their foreheads, models were bedecked with chakras brimming with worldwide experiences and new age self-realization.
Stella Jean chose to produce her collection using textures woven in Burkina Faso by groups of local women artisans who are involved in the ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative, which also produces luxury goods for Stella McCartney and Vivienne Westwood.
Involving, for the most part, Italian and British sartorial looks like tuxedo robes, hunting jackets and tapered pants, the patterns were widely Indian in symbolism with a “message of revolution,” Jean told NOW FASHION.
A story of enlightenment, the prints talk of travels through India’s ancient Buddhist and colonial monuments. The winter man discovers injustice and counter-colonization and eventually realizes that it is time for sweeping reform, much like Mahatma Gandhi’s peaceful revolution against British colonialism. Almost all of the ensembles were tied together by a Himalayan obi belt or cummerbund — the hallmark of the collection.
Punctuated with fabrics like tweeds and Prince of Wales and houndstooth wool fabrics, she recognizes the lasting British imprint on Indian culture.
Very much the queen of ethnic fabrics, the Haitian-Italian designer is sensitive to the indigenous plight. With fashion as her megaphone, she continues to communicate stories of injustice through her clothing. And this is how she will surely be remembered.
