Bode Highlights Stunning, Handworked Craft for SS19

For Spring/Summer 2019, New York’s Bode highlights the heritage of her collaborator and friend Aaron Aujla. Aujla’s grandfather left India for British Columbia in the early 20th century, eventually saving up enough money to relocate his entire family. Once settled, the family’s Indian roots naturally melded with the surrounding Canadian culture, creating an “Indo-Canadian” blend that inspired Bode’s new range.

Traditional Indian Khadi — hand-spun cotton cloth — took center stage, complemented by organic silks and linens that played host to the intensive craftsmanship seen throughout the collection. Rich patterns and imagery was painstakingly embroidered by hand, taking the designs beyond embellishment into the realm of heritage, a new kind of traditional. This conscious focus breathed life into classic summertime silhouettes, with familiar polo shirts, suiting, pajama sets and athletic shorts all reinterpreted with Bode’s eye for detail, playfully elevated by illustrative tigers, colorblocked stripes and stitched landscapes.

Elsewhere, relaxed suiting crafted from handwoven Indian toweling and boxy shirts sewn with a textural waffle-weave became the perfect showcase for customary design repurposed in the name of elevated menswear. Complementing the bold colors and bright detailing was a selection of matching furniture, created by Aujla and his partner Benjamin Bloomstein of Green River Project, juxtaposing bamboo chairs and love seats with dressing screens executed with Bode’s textiles.

Meanwhile, N.HOOLYWOOD showcased similarly repurposed native influence for Spring 2019.