Between Body and Mind, Part 2
On how yoga relates to fashion design and how Zen meets the everyday
The physical aspect of yoga is simply a vehicle; advancing each practitioner to the true practice – observing your inner workings, concentrating, breathing, meditating. Yoga is all about being able to control, restraining, quieting. It is the ability to face the whole picture from outside and from within.
In our hectic daily lives, I now see clearly how does yoga improve my life in every step of the way. As the founding owner of a fashion house, titled by my name, I am constantly committed to self progression. I have a constant mirror in front of me; and that mirror is essentially me.
Thanks to yoga, my awareness to the body and inner balance is tremendous. I feel it when it comes to my own conduct in the business world, or where ever I'm situated. I always try to realize exactly where am I; for better or for worse.
This is a skill I develop and try to improve and enhance. This skill is associated to mental calmness which has to start with the body itself. It all begins in the posture; the way in which one holds the body, focusing on breathing correctly. It is a training that starts from within and ultimately transforms which and every one of us to who we are. Past experience taught me that during intensive times, this skill reveals itself as a precious gem.
My preoccupation with body and mind through yoga affects, of course, the brand's designs. I pay heed to comfort and using breathing fabrics, friendly to the body. My sources of inspirations are Zen, minimalist eastern perceptions.
This concern reached a certain peak in the spring-summer 2011 collection; mainly in the "Sphere" line, which is comprised of seemingly floating designs, which try to allow the body to move freely without posing any limitations.
It was interesting for me to find out that in design, I'm preoccupied Japanese doctrines; which find their way to the clothes we create.
Along the way, I discovered many points of encounter between Japanese Zen and Indian yoga conception. In spite of my height, I guess I may have wandered the streets of Tokyo in a past life.