|
Fashion's Other Anna
By Tanya Jensen
Photos courtesy of Anna Trzebinski
NEW YORK, Dec 31, 2002/ FWD/ --- Anna Trzebinski's spring/summer 2003 collection is truly inspired by her roots. Not only do the colors and raw materials come from her native Africa, but the tribeswomen of Kenya handcraft the clothing and accessories she designs. Nothing in the line is mass-produced or produced by machine.
"The operative thing is that each piece is entirely handmade. In the case of the shawls, they are hand-loomed in Nepal and then hand-finished here in Kenya," Trzebinski explained to FWD.
This artistic process naturally takes time. One woman can spend up to two to three weeks working on a small section, and labor intensive detailing like embroidery can take up to three months.
"The women are mostly from the foot of the Ngong hills. They are tribal, mostly Maasai, and many of them still come to work in their tribal adornment. They are incredible," Trzebinksi says of the craftswomen that she works with. "They take great pride in the fact that there is an interest in their traditions, their traditional colors and patterns, which I stick to, and them as a culture. There has been a lot of pressure to become so-called 'cultivated,' to shed all traditional clothing, buy cars, and drink Coca-Cola."
Trzebinski's collection enhances simple colors, like pale stone and champagne, with traditional beading designs taken from old pieces of jewelry from the Maasai and Samburu tribes of Kenya. Blue and white denim garments are made from material collected from Nairobi's second-hand markets.
Spring shawls are available in a full range of pale pastels, using ostrich feathers to enhance their softness. The luxurious and feminine material itself is a sheer pashmina weave with long tassels, appropriately called angel wings.
Trzebinksi started the line 18 months ago, after attending A New York exhibition of paintings by her late husband Tonio Trzebinski, who was murdered last year in Kenya.
"I had fiddled about with a pashmina of mine and gotten so many commments that I thought I would make a suitcase full and take them along." She ended up selling to Donna Karan, and on her way home picked up another huge client -- Paul Smith.
For spring/summer 2003, Anna expects her denim coats, ostrich leather handbags with handles, and tasseled shawls to be big hits.
"Imagine being draped in a pale pistachio green sheer shawl with 10-inch long tassels, each of which has a silvery bead with a flamingo feather attached to it," she laughed. "Each feather is meticulously collected off the shores of one of our great lakes, so that piece will have been hand-woven, hand-dyed, each feather hand-picked, and each shawl may have more than 100 feathers on it, each one applied by hand. Amazing, really."
Anna Trzebinski is now available at Barneys in New York; Harvey Nichols in London; Paul Smith in London and Paris; Joyce in Hong Kong; Zenta Boutique in Paris; and Biffy in Milan.
|
