Colours and Vibes of Mexico by way of Frida Kahlo

The Frida Kahlo effect in fashion and interior designs continues today following the successful exhibition of the iconic designer at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London last year, along with the colourful influence of Mexico.

Above: Frida Kahlo™ cushion, paper cups and plates available at Talking Tables.

From Talking Tables' Boho range of tableware and accessories comes an Aztec-inspired palette of bold, punchy brights, taking inspiration from Mexico's rich culture and history and paying homage to Frida Kahlo's brazen spirit and iconic style, with trompe l'oeil embroidery, fold-style geometrics, naïve florals and lavishly costumed llamas, as well as the artist Frida herself, emblazoned across lanterns paper plates, cups and napkins.  The Frida effect to the max.

Meanwhile London based designer and photographer Jacqui Sinnatt, founder of the St Agnes Eve brand has created a new range of silk scarves with her signature approach. The designer said her new "The Frida" silk scarf collection was created after visiting the exhibition.  She said the big, bold flowers and bright colours reflect Frida's passion for life, vibrant paintings and colourful dress style, the stone texture and border design reference Frida's disabilities and the hardship she suffered throughout her life.

These scarfs are available in four colourways: Chilli Red as shown above, as well as Tropical Orange, Sky Blue Pink and Turquoise and Lime, printed in the UK onto a light crepe de chine at 134 cm square with hand-finished hand rolled edges.  Bold statements for this summer.

London-based artist turns personal photographs into wearable art

It was a pleasure meeting Jacqui Sinnatt, a London-based photographer cum artist/designer, who was exhibiting her range of beautifully hand-finished silk scarfs under the St Agnes Eve label at the Best of Britannia trade fair held last week (held June 26 - 28) at the Nicholls & Clarke Building on London's  Shoreditch High Street.

Photos above and below by Lucia Carpio for My Fashion Connect.

Her scarfs - made and hand-finshed in the UK - are new canvases for displaying her designs based on her own photographs taken from trips and visits she has made around the British countryside.  The results are statements of her unique creativity, ranging from the bold and dramatic to romantic and intriguing.

Along with flowers and plants, wildlife and animals, she may spot found fragments that no one else would notice.  She then rescale her photographs and images to create unique stories that bring her memories from her travels around Britain to a new medium.  She captures these unique moments including experiences and adventures with writers, musicians, painters and other designers, while travelling through various parts of the UK, from Cornwall to Kent, from London to Scotland, through photographs and transfer them into digital imagery printed on scarfs.
Along with her scarfs, Jacqui has produced a catalogue explaining her stories and insights behind each scarf design.
In the picture below, Jacquis holds up her Nettlebed Blue scarf based on photographs she had made while strolling in the winter through the countryside surrounding the Oxfordshire village of Nettlebed and with the photographs she created a montqge of found objects.

Jacqui explains: "I was walking with my brother-in-law, who asked why on earth I would photograph discarded debris, twigs and leaves.  My response was 'everything' has its own beauty - and you never know when these images might come in useful," said Jacqui Sinnatt whose scarf designs can be found on www.stagneseve.com

Living near Kew Gardens in west London, Jacqui often goes to photograph the plants and discover new beauty in the old trees.  On one visit, a peacock was encountered in the garden and provided inspiration for the Peacock of Kew design.  "A close-up of his feathers, colours and textures inspired the scarf design," says Jacqui.

Here above is one entitled Exmoor Shale that Jacqui designed based on a trip to west of Ashburton with friends of a book club, after enjoying an evening of fine wines and gossips at a local bar followed by a morning walk on the moor.  She said in her catalogue, "Visions of literary spirits past and present accompanied our windswept walk on Exmoor and I was inspired by the complex textures of rock and stone balanced by hints of a clear turquoise sky glimpsed through scudding clouds.

Close-ups and magnified shots of plants and flowers inspired the kaleidoscopic design of another scarf shown above.  According to Jacqui, "The spiky burrs in the Pricklehead Blue scarf design were found on the banks of the river near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.  But when magnified they took on a whole new life reminding me of giant thistles found in the Scottish Highlands."