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A taste of luxury …
The first word that springs to mind when I think of Qasimi is luxury, their apt motto after all is ‘luxury without compromise’. The duo behind Qasimi, is Elliot J. Frieze and Khalid Alqasimi, who started up their womenwear and menswear label just over a year ago. They use the most beautiful fabrics, their attention to detail is superb and the look they are trying to perceive is sharp, clean and effortless. I was not surprised when Qasimi approached us for their S/S 08-09 collection, as they needed the reassurance that if they were to have embroidery as part of their luxury collection, it would have to be of an incredibly high standard of workmanship and experience of the field.
A friend of the label had drawn two beautiful illustrations of macac monkeys, one crouching over and clutching a piece of fruit and the other monkey, standing up amongst the branches, leaves and flowers. These illustrations caused a stir in our studio and there was a gush of excitement as the monkeys looked so life like, beautifully drawn and very exotic. Qasimi wanted to use these drawings and interpret them into embroidery, and I knew instantly that the drawings lent themselves to the hand embroidery technique of silk shading.
Preparation is key to any embroidery, and as we wanted to maintain the life like appearance of the monkeys, we chose to put varying layers of padding as a base for the embroidery, to give it a more 3- D effect, especially adding more padding to the face and main body. We also had to take an incredible amount of care when handling the fabric, as all the monkeys had to be embroidered onto a beautifully thin and delicate light cream suede. Which therefore meant we needed to cover all the outer areas of suede surrounding the monkey in case of marking, thus making it tricky to embroidery.
The silk shaded monkeys were a complete success, they looked exquisite and the bright, exotic colours of the silks stood out from the light cream suede and the raised areas of each monkey brought the embroidery to life! Perfect for the ethos of Qasimi. However, once these monkeys were finished, it was time for the next challenge!
Qasimi were also interested in the boundaries of embroidery done by computerised machines. Although Hand & Lock is a hand embroidery company, over the years we have built up a very good reputation for machine embroidery, so when the duo called a week before their show asking for three A1 size embroideries to be completed in 5 working days, we said it would be a push but we could do it!
All three A1 designs were of a similar floral pattern to that taken from the lilies and flowers in the silk shaded monkeys, keeping the bright rich colours but having some flowers enlarged up to 20cm x 20cm for maximum effect for the show. Both of these designs were embroidered onto a cream silk jersey, whereas the third was embroidered onto the same light cream suede as used for the monkeys but to be made up into an embroidered suede corset! All the hand and machine embroidery was then collected the Friday 12th, 3 days before their catwalk show on the Monday 15th September.
The show was held at the beautifully ornate Central Hall Westminster at 1.30pm with a champagne reception, celebrities and lots of press. The luxury of the Qasimi label continued throughout the show, the outfits were contemporary, beautifully tailored and the main shades of outfits were creams, pale pinks, greys and browns. Therefore, the embroidery definitely brought a splash of colour to the show, giving the outfits a completely different look, making the garments more youthful, quirky with an unexpected softer edge. The hand embroidered monkeys on the back of the suede tailored looked fabulous and alive, the machine embroidered enlarged flowers was made up into an off the shoulder jersey dress which was a definite show piece and the brightly coloured embroidered suede corset stood out among the other outfits. It was fabulous to watch the show and be a part of it. I loved every single bit of the show, but in my opinion I think the embroidery stole the show!
Sana Uddin
Studio Manager
Hand & Lock
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