In reaction to our increasingly techy cultural milieu, artisan craftsmanship and old-world pieces—like Kilim textiles, kiln-baked ceramics, and hand-crafted everything—are in high demand. Keeping with this trend toward tactility is a renewed interest in traditional weaving. No longer relegated to the grandmotherly shawl, woven details are making striking appearances in contemporary objects such as art and furniture and even high-performance kicks.
Destination: Mexico: The most recent focus of MoMA’s globally minded Destination: Design series is Mexico, indigenous home to the weaving tradition. Fittingly, some of the series’ most striking pieces feature a woven element with a modern slant. Elias Abadi employed a traditional Mayan technique to weave strips of recycled plastic into the Day of the Dead clutch; the Jam Collapsible side table by Rodolfo Samperio is fastened with a lace-up cotton rope hinge; and the Maria Bonita table features a hand-braided draped embellishment that suggests a loom. Elsewhere in the MoMA shop, Jessica Carnevale’s stretch chair and stool cleverly juxtapose traditional hand-woven construction with modern materials like bungee and latex cording.
There was a time when “carpetbagger” was used pejoratively, but this season designers just might take it as a compliment. From varsity jackets to roomy rucksacks, the key textile components for many contemporary designers are floor pieces. Whether it’s in the form of a ratty oriental rug or an intricate kilim tapestry, it seems that fashion is embarking on a magic carpet ride.
The Kilim Project: After a recent trip through the Middle East, German design collective A Kind of Guise returned to Munich with 50 kilim rugs. The flat tapestry carpets, all hand woven and some dating back to the early 19th century, proved far too attractive to keep on the floor, so the designers turned them into rucksacks. Each of the limited edition bags are accented with leather bottoms, a thick rope drawstring, and a shoulder strap. A Kind of Guise is not the only brand to use the home decor accent for carryalls—Hollywood stylist-turned-bag designer Simone Camille launched a series of leather bags featuring woven rectangular textiles—but theirs might be the most global.
Once the footwear of choice among those whose wardrobes came from head shops before tie-dye and caftans were chic, Minnetonka moccasins remain a gypster standard. And while the heritage brand may be a ubiquitous complement to formerly countercultural long hemlines, the authentically fashion forward have not abandoned the moccasin altogether. Rather, in keeping with the obsession for all things artisanal, they’ve merely moved on to handmade versions.
Rickard Guy Handmade: Artist Daniel McRorie has worn many hats in his life (actor, orthopedic technician, “crusty little punk”), but it was a chance encounter with a Help Wanted sign in the window of a mall shoe repair shop that ultimately led him to his current profession as a cobbler. Though he does still fix the occasional broken heel in his Brooklyn studio, the bulk of his work entails crafting custom footwear, including oxfords, bowlers shoes and, yes, moccasins. So popular have his stylistic moccasins become that he was tapped by Manhattan lifestyle emporium Love Adorned to spend every weekend this month in the store taking measurements for moccasin orders.
At the dawn of the 21st century, Havaianas were the default summer footwear for those seeking to bring the beach mentality to the city. By 2006, TOMS Shoes had hit the market and made urban dwellers realize that the lightweight canvas shoe was preferable to exposing the naked foot to the filth of the streets. Five years later, fashion trendsetters are replacing the now ubiquitous one-for-one kicks with another simple canvas shoe: the classic espadrille.
Soludos: The son of a diplomat and a fashion model, Soludos founder Nick Brown grew up as a globetrotter. During childhood summers in Spain (when he first spotted espadrilles), his European style sensibility was born. Once transplanted to the U.S., he was surprised to learn that espadrilles were not the affordable, accessible basics he’d known them to be in Europe. So, last year he launched Soludos, an espadrille brand that’s become a key ingredient in the summer uniforms of fashion insiders. In addition to its primary collection of Mediterranean-inspired solids and stripes, the line’s new collaboration with Opening Ceremony sees the rope soles paired with bold floral and ikat prints.
It wasn’t so long ago that the Reebok Pump was the definitive high tech sneaker. While recent innovations in the footwear category have since taken athletic performance to new heights (literally), technological advances reflected in the latest concept sneakers portend a time when one’s shoes can do far more than just power superior hops.
WeSC Karmatech: Though not the first to be connected to the online realm, a shoe conceived for street wear brand WeSC by a group of students at Swedish “digital school” Hyper Island may be the pioneer social sneaker. Called Karmatech, the concept utilizes RFID chips that allow wearers to interact with their environment after registering a unique ID number online linking their shoes to their social media accounts. When they encounter a proprietary mat, which ideally would be placed in strategic locations, the chip embedded in the shoe can do things previously only possible through a smartphone, like check in at a location or access exclusive deals.
