CLOTHING FOR TRAVELLERS

Clothing for travellers

What is it?

It is reversible clothing that you can wear in many ways. Basically, it is one piece of clothing with many other pieces in it.

Where is the idea coming from?

The idea is quite old. Its roots are coming from the time when I finished the university and I started to decide what I really want to do in my life (year 2011). I wanted to be a fashion designer, however, I was constantly asking myself if it is really possible to create something new. The answer was uncertain. Maybe yes, maybe not. Fashion styles repeat decades after decades, however, materials change along with combination of colours, styles and particular details… I was thinking about creating something new by ing some special function to the clothing as I had that feeling that everything had already  been created and I cannot come up with another skirt, blouse, dress, etc… At that time I wanted to submit my designs into a Slovak fashion competition. I am not sure if I accomplished the topic that they required, but the only thing that I had in my mind was the idea of reversible clothing – clothing that one can wear in a lot of ways, clothing that one can play with and travel effortlessly.

The first reversible dress that I created was “long dress with adjustable length”. Lift the lowest part up to the knees, thighs or waist (it depends on the required length) and set the width with the side laces in order to hold its position and to enable comfortable walking. See the pictures below:

Then I invented a “reversible skirt” that can be easily transformed into a “reversible top” which has a lot of functions. In this case you just tie and untie the laces to create the required version. This is again one piece of clothing:

Probably the most interesting story is connected with creation of “4 dresses in 1 skirt”. When I moved to Prague and I started to make my first designs, I had to get a part-time job to survive. I didn´t want to work full time because 8-hour workday consumes too much power that is so important to me. On the other hand, 4-hour comfy evening part-time job was the best solution. Well, not if you want to earn big money, however, I had enough energy to do what i loved. I worked as a call centre agent and my task was to provide a building service. I spent each day working either at my studio or at the part-time. Me and my colleagues were making the phone calls so actively that at the end of the summer we didn´t have any contacts.

So one day I came to work, called to 3 contacts and an announcement popped up : “No contacts available.” Well, I told it to my boss and he asked: “What about your other work (he meant my fashion design)? Is everything going well?” I answered: “Yes, sure thing!” (The creative part was great but I had no orders – meaning that the financial part was not the best). He said: “ OK, go home and come in 3 days. We are going to add some new contacts to the database. Goodbye.” Nice. I went home and I started to make the reversible dress. Just to make it clear, it is dress that you can transform in 5 ways: dress with long sleeves, dress with one naked shoulder, strapless dress, dress tied behind neck and a skirt. Great, right? I went to the work in 3 days, but as I had nothing to do there without any new contacts, I left. I left with folded prototype of the reversible dress in my bag, because it was the time to show it to my model and photographer… It was year 2014.

Simply slow fashion

The story goes on.

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Maria Revakova / majoranka