This Project Blue Lookbook ‘19
Our This Project Blue collection finds a solution to the absence of a Caribbean textile industry by reaching across the Indian Diaspora into India’s emancipatory textile practices. Textiles played a pivotal role in the formation of India’s independence. Mahatma Gandhi’s endorsement of handwoven textile production and sartorial habits took Indian textile industries through a decolonizing process guided by the principles of Swaraj and Swadeshi. Self-sufficiency was a means of attaining self-rule and a method to overthrow foreign domination. The movement supported local manufacturing and the boycotting of British imports. Handwoven, and hand block printed, textile practices played a pivotal role in this revolutionary movement. The building materials for our “This Project Blue” are the very fabrics that took India out from under the thumb of British Colonial rule. This indigo-intensive collection is visually at play with meljol blue. In Trinidad and other cultures, the colour of meljol blue is said to cut the bad-eye, from Spanish “mal de ojo” meaning bad-eye. It is a symbol of protection. For those unfamiliar, one of the native religions of Trinidad & Tobago is Orisha, a syncretic Caribbean religion, that worships a pantheon of the many African deities brought over in the diaspora. By coincidence, or perhaps not, deep blue represents the Orisha god Olukun. Olukun, the keeper of the unknown, inhabits the deep ocean and is considered the protector of the African Diaspora. We have met the manufacturers and suppliers from whom we source all our handwoven and hand block printed cotton from in India. In pursuit of Caribbean sustainable fashion, this collection is an exercise in building a luxury that redistributes wealth, that furthers social equity and that welcomes the earth, and the environment, as a stakeholder. The story is in the cloth. For more info or to order contact shop@thecloth.com
RIPPLE SHIRT I PB56a OVERSIZED FANNY PACK I PB109a CLASSIC MEN'S TROUSERS with button ankle straps I PB53a
ORTOIRE DRESS | PB82a
L��-
7
JAB JAB SHIRT | PB107a
TRINITARIO JACKET | PB120a DRAWSTRING 3/4 LENGTHS | PB122a
L
---------------------------------- _J
RINCON SHIRT | PB126a VFPB FANNY PACK | PB112a
UNSCHOOLED (unisex) | PB125a
L __
---�------�--------_J
ETIENNE SHIRT | PB100a OVERSIZED FANNY PACK | PB109a
MOSAYIK DRESS | PB95a
TONKA JACKET | PB121a CLASSIC MENS TROUSERS | PB52a
RIPPLE SHIRT | PB56a VFPB Fanny Pack | PB112a
7
DRAWSTRING 3/4 HANG-OFF CUFF PANTS (unisex) | PB122b
L
_J
JAB JAB SHIRT | PB107b OVERSIZED FANNY PACK | PB109a HARAM PANTS (unisex) | PB83a
HARAM PANTS | PB83a
BELMONT SHIRT | PB106a CLASSIC MENS TROUSERS w/ oversized hangoff cuffs | PB54a
7
BELMONT SHIRT | PB106a
_J
CLASSIC MENS TROUSERS w/ oversized hang-off cuffs | PB54a
L
-�--�------�
------- _J
DOUBLE POCKET CLURITA (unisex) | PB41b OVERSIZED FANNY PACK | PB109a
L--·---���
DOUBLE POCKET CLURITA (unisex) | PB41b CLASSIC MENS TROUSERS | PB52a
TIWU SHIRT | PB94a CLASSIC MENS TROUSERS w/ button ankle strap | PB53a
7
TIWU SHIRT | PB94a _J
BELMONT SHIRT | PB92a CLASSIC MENS TROUSERS | PB52a
L _______________
___ _J
PLEATED BUSTIER DRESS | PB91a
7
_J
ROBERT YOUNG Founder and Creative Director The Cloth SPLICE SHIRT w/ craft I PB41a
_J
7
Creative Director, Robert Young I see myself as an artist working with clothing, not a fashion designer. I'm self-trained, by doing, by making, by action "under meh mudder house bottom," according to a Guyanese woman. At the start, I thought, "if I fail in this, I'm going to be a priest." That is how The Cloth – a man of the cloth - all came about. I always attempt through my designs to make a difference in the world. My father, Joe Young, made his spirit of activism part of my inheritance. He dedicated himself to the class-struggle and was a founder of the Transport and Industrial Workers Union in Trinidad & Tobago. My mother, Grace Coggins, has to be one of my greatest inspirations as well. She helped to establish a trade union and a credit union on the campus of the University of the West Indies. I remember attending the Transport and Industrial Workers' Union (TIWU) meetings with her and visiting her on the strike lines. The artist Syed Haider Raza influences the appliqués for this collection. Just months before he passed, I came across his work at an exhibition in Delhi. Raza perceives the Bindu as the center of creation and existence. He sees the centre point growing outward to create forms and colour as well as energy, sound, space, and time. "My work is my own inner experience and involvement with the mysteries of nature and form, which is expressed in colour, line, space and light." - S. H. Raza" I give a special thanks to my friend Himanshu Shani and his brainchild 11.11/eleven eleven. He interned with me in Trinidad years ago. I think it helped him to see that he could found a fashion brand, and use it as a vehicle for social transformation. He hosted me on my first, and then subsequent trips, to India. He gave me the tour to end all tours into the heart of India's textile practices that have been influential in this, my latest, work.
7
_J
CONTACT www.thecloth.com shop@thecloth.com +1 868 489 3956 @theclothofficial
_J
7