I couldn’t embrace my OG print
Until I could find the good ick. I’ll explain further.
I was asked recently what my favorite “Tibi Vocab” word is. It’s BIGS and PIGS, and there’s a reason. A good one. Let me back up first and give you the definition:
Brights: should always be in either a fabrication that is Icky, Glossy, or Sculptural
Prints: should always be in either a fabrication that is Icky, Glossy, or Sculptural
When I figured this out, it was a game changer for me. I knew that I was drawn to prints, and I found bold color interesting. But everytime I included them in my collection, they felt basic - very average and not modern. I’d over compensate by styling the pieces with lots of irony. Or edge. But it always felt forced. It wasn’t until one of Demna’s first collections for Balenciaga that I thought wait - there’s color! there’s print! but nothing here feels familiar or basic. And it wasn’t just because of over the top styling. What gives? Was it just because it was “Balenciaaaaaga”? I swiped that from my mind quickly, because Alessandro at “Guuuucccci” was doing color and prints as well- but the pieces worked in the context of the styling. But individually, without the hair, the nerd glasses, the background, when I tried on the items the felt….meh. Turns out that bright red cotton cardigan needed to be paired with a printed headwrap, a snake printed loafer and striped socks to feel modern. Hmmmm, so my issue with prints and color wasn’t resolved when it was in a luxury price point from designers I admire. There was more to be peeled back.
I studied my favorite items we’d created in the past and my beloved print or colored purchases in my closet and I took a critical lens to what I loved about what Demna had done. And then it crystallized for me. Every failure I’d had in a piece we’d designed or purchase I’d made, had a common thread: beautiful colors or interesting prints in style that were either basic or average in its proportions and in materials that were very classic - like a rich silk, a fine beautiful cotton. Conversely, the pieces that I bought and loved, designed and embraced, were ones that pushed the good strange. Items that on the surface seemed they would be ones you’d wear rarely surprisingly found their way in my closet rotation and were never tossed in the occasional closet purge.
Once I’d unpacked this, we could design with more purpose. Now Traci and I could create with key principles in mind. Not rules, but concepts that helped establish how we would approach color and print in our collection. We were creating pieces we would wear. Designs that wouldn’t require strange styling props to make them work on the runway but ultimately fail in the test of wearing IRL.
It’s why you can see that the same person wearing this:
Is also wearing this:
My memories around this print are deep and fond. I created Tibi in February of 1997 whilst living abroad in Hong Kong. I travelled to the island of Java in Indonesia, a town called Solo, and worked with a small printer to recreate traditional batik fabrics in atypical colors. This was my first print and was the basis for the OG Tibi (Hyland at the time) collection - a range of four simple pieces comprising two dresses, a pair of pants and a mini skirt - all in a light cotton fabrication.
I’ve always wanted to be able to reintroduce the batik print, but I knew it needed to be when I could say without hesitation that I will wear this. It will not be a “fun marketing endeavor” but rather because I crave to have this in my closet in a way that fits my style: chill, modern and a bit classic.
Traci and I employed the principles: the fabrication? Chill and the good ICK in the a sporty nylon. Silk would have been too precious, cotton too obvious. This print needed a bit of sound when it moves. The styles? Generous in proportion, masculine but refined in cut, and with oversized pockets and board short details that give good chill.
The result? Pieces we would all wear. In our own way. Styled believably, no over the top mechanisms to make it look “more” if it could ultimately feel like “less” in your real closet in your real life.
So give a good think here. If you’ve fallen in love with a print or a color and wondered why you never really felt like yourself in the piece once it landed in your closet, there’s a strong chance the BIGS and the PIGS are the reason why. See?
I agree with the BIGS and PIGS theory, however one reason I think that batik print looks great on the ubercool 20-something model is that it is so unexpected. On my shorter, heavier 65 year old self, I fear I’d feel like I was just back from a cruise and headed to canasta at The Villages. The irony of the print would be lost on me. Maybe I need to try it with denim or another antonym fabric or shape?
you are genius!