Journey Through the Flights of Floral

In keeping with the stories behind the designs of Mata Traders' Spring 2014 collection, I introduce to you the Flights of Floral print. This print is one of my favorites of the new Spring line at Mata Traders and boy, does it have a story.

Left & Right - Flights of Floral dress     Middle- Keyhole Cut Out Dress

During the cold winter months we look forward to the images in the spring trend forecast. They always give us a glimmer of hope and the thoughts of warmth. Of course when I think of spring, I instantly think of flowers. We created quite a few florals for the Spring '14 collection (like the Brazilian Floral) but this one in particular had quite the journey. This print was manufactured through one of our cooperatives where we are restricted to use two colors and the white of the fabric. Like the Leaf Puzzle Print, we worked to incorporate the white of the fabric within the design, rather than a two colored design on top of the white. 

Left- Maybe Me Top      Right- Study Abroad Skirt

The Flights of Floral print's challenge was scale. If a pattern is too big it might be overpowering, whereas if it is too small it looks too busy. But it really depends on the vibe you want the garment to have. Originally, we wanted to make this a HUGE print. The shapes are already clean and abstract, so why not push it to the max? The scale was supposed to be five times larger, but eventually the design team decided to scale the print down to a medium size. In the end, it was the best call and it looks fantastic!

The fabulous Alex Murphy modeling the Maybe Me Top!

This pattern came back so well that we had it done in three color ways and on four different garments. Both the Keyhole cutout dress in purple and green and the Flights and Floral Dresses  in yellow and gray, as well as red and purple are wonderful summer dresses that are great for weddings or garden partys. On the other hand, the Maybe Me Top in yellow and gray is totally great for work and the Study Abroad Skirt in yellow and gray would be awesome for summer street fairs and dancing!  

Piecing together the Leaf Puzzle Print

The Leaf Puzzle print was one of the first prints I designed for Mata Traders as an intern in the fall of 2011. I had hopes that it would make the cut for the Fall '12 collection (like so many prints), but it had to wait until Spring '13 to make it's debut. 

The story behind this print is interesting because it deals with restrictions. Mata Traders works with a few fair-trade cooperatives in India and Nepal and each one has their own restrictions on what they can produce. A designer might get frustrated by not having the freedom to create anything their heart desires. However, I love a challenge and believe that by learning how to work with these restrictions and guide lines, my designs get stronger each season. 

This particular print was manufactured in a cooperative where I, as a designer, was only allowed to use two colors in addition to the white of the fabric. In the past, the designs Mata Traders had created for this cooperative, were small amounts of two colors and a whole lot of white as background. While that looks nice with one or two pieces of clothing, having too many garments with that color formula gets mundane. Also, I don't even have THAT many clothes with a white background in my wardrobe. I decided that I would challenge myself to design a print that is dense and minimizes the amount of white you see. My goal was from a distance, the eye would blur the shapes and colors together so that the overall print wouldn't seem to have any white at all.

Jin Ju Ruffle Dress pink/blue and Pagoda Pocket Dress yellow. Textile design by Shifra Whiteman. 

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! After playing with a few shapes, scale and the spacing, I believe my goal was accomplished. I focused on leaf and geometric shapes that together looks reminiscent of fabric from the 40's and 50's. 

This print was manufactured on two different dresses in two different color ways. The Jin Ju Ruffle Dress on the left and the Pagoda Pocket Dress on the right are now on sale through Mata Traders.