Kimabaya

“I decided to make this coat that tells the story of the silk road: between the traditional robe of the near east, the abaya, and the traditional robe of the far east, the Kimono.”

Milia Maroun.

Unique

Unique Kimabayas are a labour of love. Antique fabrics and precious embellishments are selected from exquisitely curated collections. Cut and stitched by hand, these Kimabayas are the product of skilled craftsmanship which often spans centuries and continents.

The unique Kimabayas are mainly based on two partnerships both of which would play an important role in determining the Kimabayas ongoing evolution. Ibrigu is a small family business in Parma, Italy, that specialises in working with vintage textiles, notably silk scarves, kimono fabrics and furs. Vintage silk kimonos are selected from their collection to transform into Kimabayas.

 

With the London-based textile collector and designer Jennifer Shorto. The interest was in working with the antique pieces themselves, taken from a carefully curated collection. Each Kimabaya brings treasured materials from the past new life as wearable objects.

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Collaboration

Collaboration Kimabayas are a fusion of talents, the signature aesthetic of one designer, artist, feeds into the generous shape of this robe, turned into a canvas. Always reversible, one side in cashmere, wool or linen gives to the Kimabaya an urban look, when the other reveals attractive designs and artistic expressions .

Artist, writer and fabric designer Lamia Ziade uses mixed media, and memoir in her archeological storytelling. In a collaboration with her, a collection of Kimabayas were created with a feminist edge and a pop art sensibility, working from portraits drawn by Ziadé of female icons including the celebrated singer Asmahan.

 

The possibilities of a reversible garment took the Kimabaya to an even more flamboyant expression in a collaboration with the Lebanese design company Bokja. Founders, Huda Baroudi and Maria Hibri carried the idea of precious cloth wrapping valued items over into the world of furniture, using their redoubtable collection of vintage Middle Eastern textiles to cover found and contemporary furniture pieces. 14 patchwork designs were created, using a mixture of contemporary and antique textiles from their collection, pieced together to match the format of the Kimabaya. Each patchwork composition was photographed and then printed on silk to become part of a series of limited editions.

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Essential

Essentials Kimabayas are easy to wear for any occasion and lifestyle. Light for traveling, they are made with cashmere or wool in a large range of colours. The hand finishes add to this robe a crafted feel.

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The making of

The exploration of ideas and concepts through my work has accompanied my career as a designer. It brought an element beyond usability and the decorative aspect, the latter normally being the basis of a designer’s thinking processes. The notions of passing time, weaving/un-weaving, thread, art and craft, forms, ephemeral, temporary vs/timeless, and versatility had been at the center of my continuous research and work.

I decided to create this coat that tells the story of the Silk Road: between the traditional robe of the Near East, the abaya, and the traditional robe of the Far East, the kimono.

So begins the story of the Kimabaya: a cosmopolitan garment that draws together cultural influences old and new, familiar and less so. In its most precious incarnation, its simple, robe-like form is reimagined in antique textiles, soft cashmere and vibrant wool.

The form of the Kimabaya draws both on the ‘T’-shaped pattern of a kimono, with its deep sleeves and open front, and the ‘A’ shape of the abaya, which hangs from the shoulder and flares out as it descends. The traditional kimono demands the body to be held upright to reveal the most sensual parts of it such as the nape and the wrists, while the abaya allows a more relaxed Levantine attitude. The Kimabaya takes the feminine parts of the first and infuses it with the voluptuousness of the second.

 

 

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