Want to be holiday-ready? Be sure to pack creative artwork in luxury silk.

Today in a world that often appears to be swirling out of control, it is utterly important to take time off to clear our minds and allow us some peaceful moments on a more controllable personal level.

A Travel Collection, from silk dresses to scarfs and jewellery,
sequin bags and cashmere jumpers ...
 the list of luxury travel essentials goes on
at The NottingHill travel collective event in June.

But with what valuable space we have in our bags when packing for the much-anticipated summer holiday, taking pride of place among the sun cream, hats, swim suits, sarong and sandals must be the all-essential, versatile scarf.

Catering for our varying styling needs, a number of designers have taken the scarf to a whole different level, transferring their creative ideas and inspirations onto beautiful silks that allow us to embrace luxury and benefit from the practical fashion solutions that scarfs offer to the discerning voyager.

So it was great to find among the artwork on display at London's Saatchi Gallery last week emerging London-based designers who have taken the opportunity of the Scoop International boutique trade fair to showcase their illustrious work on scarfs to entice fashion buyers and press.



Showing in the newly launched Scoop Salon space of the fair dedicated to UK and international accessories brands, designer Ira Avezov (originally from Russia) was keen to show her "wearable images" that she had transferred onto her beautifully made silk scarf sold under her IA London label.

Seen here holding one of her designs - the All of Me scarf featuring the many faces of one woman, Ira explained that for every design she makes, she always starts with an image in her mind, and is often a story behind the images, then the imagery she creates will be digitally printed onto luxury silk.

© Lucia Carpio 2017 

© Lucia Carpio 2017 

© Lucia Carpio 2017 

But of course Ira's designs are not just for our summer get-away but for use all year round, having that distinctive fashion forward edge.   Ira layers her designs with a profusion of brush-stroke colours or creates monochrome effects on abstract images.

© Lucia Carpio 2017 

Working with high quality silk and using meticulous UK workmanship, Ira is also transferring her designs onto men's tops launched this summer and has plans to show womenswear in the autumn.  Ira only started her brand a year ago and already has attracted wide attention through other shows such as the London Fashion Week.  Can't wait to see her new collection under development.

Also showing at Scoop Salon was the scarf label DolceRoopa founded by Roopa Sachidanand (in photo at right), originally from New York.

Her luxury range highlights the designer's wanderlust inspiration featuring her travel experiences in Europe, London and New York.

Roopa said each illustration is intricately watercoloured by hand before being designed  and digitally printed.  The Italian Riviera and Marrakech collections draw upon colour, pattern and the dynamic use of print offering lavish pops of colours for varying styling options.

Elsewhere at Scoop and moving away from scarfs, I was intrigued by the Longstaff Longstaff brand where its silk loungewear are so pretty and soft they should be worn beyond the boudoir.

© Lucia Carpio 2017 

Sourced and manufactured in the UK, the brand was founded in 2014 by Sophie Barnard who has a Russian lineage that led to a passion for bold, highly decorative patterns and vibrant colours.

While modelling one of her kimono designs for me to show its versatility (as shown in photo above), Sophie said she hand-paints her original prints which are digitally transferred onto luxurious silks.

© Lucia Carpio 2017 

She launches her Komo collection this summer with the influence of Japanese art, featuring watery flowers and silver, inspired by illustrations from the 19th century using water and ink.

Poetically, the pinks and reds bleed together in her bold flowers while the petals fade at the edges and drift into the water.

She has used some of her signature prints for scarfs with which she has modeled again for me to show off its wonderful effect.