MBFW Spring 2011: GULI
By Danya Ray
September 13, 2010
The MBFW Spring 2011 will host nearly a hundred designers presenting their collections at Mercedes-Benz Fashion week’s new home-- Lincoln Center. Many of these designers are celebrities, however only one is the daughter of a president. Gulnara Karimova, 38, whose father rules Uzbekistan, had her New York Fashion Week debut on Friday, September 10.
Uzbekistan’s traditional national fabrics were shown throughout the GULI show: Adras, Beqasm, Atlas, Han-atlas, Excelsior silk and Shoyi. Gulnara’s collection consists of 34 looks and each model is complemented by GULI jewelry pieces. All the ikats have been produced by GULI’s creative team based on ancient hand weaving techniques.
Gulnara believes that the Orient is strong in its traditions which can be easily incorporated into her fashion designs. Gulnara places emphasis on the idea she advocates in her works: intertwining ethnic subtleties with a modern twist aka a western style.
“It is Western style because not too many people in our country would wear these clothes,” Karimova stated after the show. “But at the same time, we’ll bring houses like Oscar de la Renta, Sonia Raquel, Inès de la Fressange…to Uzbekistan.”
The Legend of Ikat was placed in the press pack for Guli. This story tells a tale of a young girl who approached a young master to acquire fabrics which would become part of the dowry for her upcoming wedding – they fell in love at first sight. Her parents did not want her wedding with a wealthy noble man to be in danger, so they hid her in the tallest tower, away from the young master. The story goes on to say that the girl was supplied with various sundry threads and dyes to make her own fabrics. The girl was too busy daydreaming about her true love, that she started clashing yarns and mixed them with various dyes. The girl let the end of the fabric out the window hoping that the young master would see the fabric. She would just sit by the window, weave and cry. The tears would go onto the clothe, blurring the fresh colors on the woven patterns. The young master came across the fabric and was shocked by how beautiful it was. He started to call the girl’s name but then realized that “a beauty this kind may only be created by a happy person”, and that she must be so in love and why she has not returned any of his calls. His heart sank but he severed a piece off of the patterned cloth and left the town.
This story tells us that as a result we have unique fabrics with distinctive blurry-looking patters. In Central Asia this technique of weaving silk is called abrbandi. This lengthy process is carried out by hand.
It’s surprising that Karimova has chosen fashion over, say, political science, given that she holds a Ph.D. in the subject from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. She is also the Uzbek ambassador to Spain. It's clear that Karimova’s got style. Today, her style is simple with black jeans with glitter on the bottoms, a classy white tank with a thick black belt, earrings, and stilettos to complete the outfit. Some say that she is the blonde haired modern version of Farah Fawcett.
Uzbekistan’s traditional national fabrics were shown throughout the GULI show: Adras, Beqasm, Atlas, Han-atlas, Excelsior silk and Shoyi. Gulnara’s collection consists of 34 looks and each model is complemented by GULI jewelry pieces. All the ikats have been produced by GULI’s creative team based on ancient hand weaving techniques.
Gulnara believes that the Orient is strong in its traditions which can be easily incorporated into her fashion designs. Gulnara places emphasis on the idea she advocates in her works: intertwining ethnic subtleties with a modern twist aka a western style.
“It is Western style because not too many people in our country would wear these clothes,” Karimova stated after the show. “But at the same time, we’ll bring houses like Oscar de la Renta, Sonia Raquel, Inès de la Fressange…to Uzbekistan.”
The Legend of Ikat was placed in the press pack for Guli. This story tells a tale of a young girl who approached a young master to acquire fabrics which would become part of the dowry for her upcoming wedding – they fell in love at first sight. Her parents did not want her wedding with a wealthy noble man to be in danger, so they hid her in the tallest tower, away from the young master. The story goes on to say that the girl was supplied with various sundry threads and dyes to make her own fabrics. The girl was too busy daydreaming about her true love, that she started clashing yarns and mixed them with various dyes. The girl let the end of the fabric out the window hoping that the young master would see the fabric. She would just sit by the window, weave and cry. The tears would go onto the clothe, blurring the fresh colors on the woven patterns. The young master came across the fabric and was shocked by how beautiful it was. He started to call the girl’s name but then realized that “a beauty this kind may only be created by a happy person”, and that she must be so in love and why she has not returned any of his calls. His heart sank but he severed a piece off of the patterned cloth and left the town.
This story tells us that as a result we have unique fabrics with distinctive blurry-looking patters. In Central Asia this technique of weaving silk is called abrbandi. This lengthy process is carried out by hand.
It’s surprising that Karimova has chosen fashion over, say, political science, given that she holds a Ph.D. in the subject from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. She is also the Uzbek ambassador to Spain. It's clear that Karimova’s got style. Today, her style is simple with black jeans with glitter on the bottoms, a classy white tank with a thick black belt, earrings, and stilettos to complete the outfit. Some say that she is the blonde haired modern version of Farah Fawcett.
