Kebaya Era

Oh well I fell in love with the dream, the idea that women can be beautiful in their own skin painted with lace. Not for someone else to adore, but for their own enjoyment of embracing this form of themselves. I saw this aura on the island of Bali, Indonesia where the fragrance of frangipani flowers and incense burning became one. I used to rise early in the morning and walk to the beach to do yoga, I dreamed of this reality while in London. I wanted a tropical fashion fantasy that would be the norm.

So I opened a fashion studio in the garment district of Denpasar. I loved walking a stones throw to the Warung (local place to eat) where I had a selection of various traditional Indonesian dishes that I could enjoy for the equivalent of a dollar. I would have an afternoon massage for about five dollars after having visited the textile supplier next door. It was truly another world, somewhere between fashion fantasy and a thought that became a 3-year expedition a pilgrimage home.

In time I became a picture in a frame, missing important family moments one of my sister having her first born. Not long after there was a death in the family in Indonesia and through the sugarcane fields I heard the message, it is time for you to return home. You can build a fashion house anywhere. So I packed up my fabrics and textile books and we sent them up North to the Suwug village where I had set-up a free english school. We relocated the things I treasured for the hope that maybe I might return, but in different stance. I just had to process that there were more important things that could not wait.

This was the top floor of my design studio and house. I have my design boards and the treadle sewing machine set-up. At the time I was just learning this machine before moving back. This fashion inspiration is still present and my heart beats a Bali Fashion Dream song, but I want to live here near my family in Baltimore. I can travel back to Bali as I have done, but will build a space outside of Baltimore as a fashion farm. I will design beautiful garments that have an excitement for the old world of fashion sewn new. This photo was a part of the University of Baltimore campaign Around the Globe shot by international fashion photographer Amberly Valentine.

This is the award winning village program we developed alongside the Elsa Fitzgerald fashion house called the Art Village Education Hub (AVEH) Kampung Seni. At this point I was teaching English to about 40 kids in the local village bank in village of Kediri located in Tabanon, Bali. We would walk together to class and I would switch between speaking bahasa Indonesia and English. I am here wearing a Kebaya. This is a traditional Indonesian garment. You can see the girl in yellow wearing it on the left with a sarong which is most common.

I love the local markets and the hydrangeas often used in offerings. It is just the most colorful expression of the people of Indonesia. I am so fortunate to reconnect to that part of myself. It is a magical heritage that I love exploring through textiles and fashion history.

Here you have some of the last designs I was working on for Elsa Fitzgerald in Bali. I had not planned to design bridal wear but I love lace and was inspired by bridal to develop the ready-to-wear line so I thought it would be grand to take my own approach to the form of a traditional garment blending with the Kebaya inspiration. As we reboot this fashion house made in the USA, there is a sparkle in my heart thinking about how I can created bridges from Bali to Baltimore and Baltimore to Bali. I will trust in the magic of dreams forming as we leap forward.