Tarina's dress

There is one particular type of client that we love above all others. Those  who come to us with a simple brief: make me something! These glorious people are the ones who really allow us to be creative and we always relish a challenge. So, a few days ago, the breathtaking Tarina Patel came to us with this brief and only one instruction, that it needed to have a flamenco hem. (long at the back, short at the front) The event was Jets & Jewels a super glitzy gala sponsored by Bentley, Bombardier and Jenna Clifford among others. We have worked with Tarina a number of times before and know her style and body type which is wonderful, however we only had two days to pull this particular rabbit out of the hat! A challenge indeed. 

We came up with a basic design and then decided on the fabric, a beautiful deep forest green heavy taffeta that would have the body we needed to give the wide skirt it's shape. 

Yes, my sketches do usually look like a toddler's doodle regardless of the time deadline! 

Ben and I decided (unofficially, it just kind of happened that way) to split the load, he would design the top of the dress and I would design the skirt. 

And so we set to work...

Aubrey helping Ben draft the dress bodice :) 

And started with a rough to ensure that the pattern worked in the way that we planned

Once we were happy with the fit and shape, we moved onto the final. We decided that the front should and back would have sheer panels with lace overlay. This would stop the very closed top looking too old fashioned and would give the texture and decadence that only comes from good lace! 

Ben working on the top...

While Emmanuel (our cutter) does some final checks on the skirt

Then came the final assembly which is always the scary bit! 

And then came the embellishment. Ben decided to do a an asymmetrical pleated drape with the exquisite piece of black chantilly lace as this would show the lace off to it's full potential while also adding softness and movement to the dress. It would also stop the detailing from looking too contrived which is often a problem with heavily embellished pieces.

In the end we also key-holed the back instead of buttoning it all the way down just because it is subtly sexy to see a little bit of back. 

Pretty much there! Tarina and Ben giving the dress a last look over.

The skirt is double layered - the outer of the green taffeta and then an inner layer of a black flecked jacquard. 

And voila! 

Here is a video that Tarina took which shows it from all angles

http://instagram.com/p/vEw1HhuZwd/

Unfortunately it's on Instagram and I don't know how to properly share here, but go and have a look. 

How do you think we did on a two day deadline? 😃

Recipes - Hummus & Falafel

I cook and bake a lot by the standards of a normal working person, pretty much every single day I cook at minimum, a proper dinner meal from scratch (no tinned or bottled sauces, no ready prepared veg and certainly no ready-meals) and I try not to make the same thing too often. I cook simple food, but I take as with my work, the long way round, putting a lot of time and attention into quality of ingredients and correct procedure. I don't believe in shortcuts and modern convenience, and it makes all the difference, so looking at this, I am very surprised at how often I get requests for my recipes. After a bit of internal debate I decided that it's not too odd to post recipes here among the rest of my public life.

Please keep in mind that I am a very amateur cook and baker. I also cook and bake a lot by eye - i.e. I add an ingredient until it looks right so I often can't give exact proportions of things like spices. Just do as I do, add a bit, try it, add a bit more.

I adore Middle-Eastern food and these two recipes are some of my favourite. I originally found them more than a decade ago on a little plain text blog of a lady somewhere in the Middle-east trying to document her grandmother's recipes before they were lost. They are very simple, but quite long winded. Both of them I tend to make over a number of days allowing time for the flavours to mature before carrying on.

Both Hummus and Falafel have the same base, raw soaked chickpeas. This is probably the most important part of the whole thing. Get dried chickpeas and soak them until they start fermenting very slightly. There should be small bubbles forming on top of the water. This usually takes about two days but may take a little longer if it is cold. Once the chickpeas have soaked/fermented sufficiently, rinse them well in cool water and drain all the water off.

DO NOT cook the chickpeas or use tinned chickpeas, you will land up with tasteless mush. 

I use a grinding attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer to grind the chickpeas for both these recipes, then I move the ground chickpeas into my food processor which chops and blends at the same time. I don't recommend a blender as these mixtures are very thick and can damage your blender's motor. 

Hummus

1kg Chickpeas (long soaked as per previous instructions)

+-750ml Olive oil or sesame oil
Garlic (lots - at least a full head) chopped
2tbs Tahina
Ground cumin, Paprika, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste
dried chilli if you would like a spicy one.

Grind chickpeas then move to food processor and add the garlic - don't be shy with the garlic, it is hard to have too much!
Put food processor on Med/High speed (#2 of 3 on mine) and add oil in a steady stream while it is processing the mixture. Continue the processing, stopping every so often to mix in the bits that stick to the sides until it is the consistency and smoothness that you like. You may also need to add more oil to the mixture if you prefer it more liquid as I like mine quite firm.
Do not add water instead of oil.
Decant the mixture into a large bowl and mix in the tahina, cumin, paprika, lemon, salt and pepper. Add a little of the seasonings at a time and let it rest for about 30 - 60 minutes between addition for the flavours to develop before trying it.
*note: It needs more salt than you may expect. Use a high quality course or flake salt (ground of course) it really does make a difference!

The flavours do vary a lot and you may not get a flavour that is perfect for you on your first try, the best way to experiment is to either start with a small batch (1/4 of the quantities of this one ) or make the base - chickpeas ground with olive oil and then divide it into smaller batches and try different quantities of the flavours in each. This makes a lot of hummus - probably close to 2l

Falaffel

1kg ground Chickpeas (long soaked as per previous instruction)
2 large finely chopped Onions (I like red onions)
garlic - lots
2 bunches fresh parsley
1 bunch fresh coriander
Salt and pepper to taste

Grind chickpeas then move to food processor, add onion, garlic, parsley, coriander, salt and pepper.
Process until you have a dry and fine but still chunky mixture (bits of chickpea should be about 2mm in size - it should look and feel a bit like course beach sand )
Decant the mixture into a bowl, cover with cling wrap and put into the fridge overnight to mature.
Remove from the fridge and mix well.
Using two desert spoons or your hands, take small quantities of the dough and make balls about 1.5" in diameter  (make sure that the dough is heavily compressed otherwise it will fall apart in the pan, and then flatten them slightly.
Put enough oil in a deep pan to cover the balls and pre-heat it to a med/high heat
Fry the balls a few at a time until they are golden brown and slightly crispy on the outside. I cook them for about 1.5 minutes on each side.
Remove from the oil and drain onto kitchen towel.

Notes:
Try one first and break it open to check that your heat is correct - also a good time to check that you are happy with the seasoning as you can add more salt,pepper, or anything else you may like now before you do the whole lot.
You may need to alter the heat after your first falafel as all stoves are different.
If your heat is too high, they will cook too quickly on the outside and still be raw on the inside.
If your heat is too low, they will not seal properly and will suck up oil (yuck!)
If your falafel fall apart while cooking, you are not compressing the dough enough while making the balls, or your dough is not fine enough, you will not need to add egg, bread or any other binding agent.  I squish them between two desert spoons which makes the right size and shape for me.

It is also nice to make them from 50% chickpeas and 50% lentils for a different flavour and then serve with a tomato relish instead of traditional tzatziki.

This makes enough to comfortably feed about 6 people.

SA Fashion Week

Last night I was lucky enough to be invited to an installation at SA fashion week for Cloche  a local milliner who as I discovered is doing some really beautiful work. I had no idea that SA even had any milliners, let alone good ones who haven't emigrated, so her show came wonderful surprise. The pieces were graphic, strongly structured, ornate and heavily embellished in Ethiopean beads and silver filigree on grey felt bases. They were sublime, and immaculately finished. They left me happy for beauty in the world and dreaming of Aztec kings.

After that I had stayed on to watch the next show which was three collections by established designers. These collections were the pole opposite of what I had just seen with Cloche. I am not giving names because what I am about to write is far from complimentary.

To start with, all three could have been done by the same person. Surely a designer wants his or her work to be distinctive and unique? The public should want to buy into a designer's aesthetic because it stirs something in them. That should be a personal thing, and it should not appeal to everyone. These tried to appeal to a mass lowest common denominator. The mindset that if something is dull and mediocre enough everyone will like it purely because it doesn't evoke strong enough feelings for them to hate it.

The design was uninspired and certainly uninspiring. To be honest, I have seen more interesting and original design from first year fashion students and the sketches that some of our matric farewell clients come clutching. There is little that I can actually say about the design because it was so mediocre that it left almost no impression on me with the exception of the discomfort of drop dead boredom.

The fabrics were cheap and generic. Don't get me wrong, I have seen skilled designers do amazing things with really cheap fabrics. These however were all on the theme of cheap cotton twill and t-shirting interspersed with a bit of that horrible printed lycra stuff that should just be jetted out into space and that nasty stretchy net and mesh that I thought we left in the 90's. In order to work well with lower end fabrics, you need to put in the hours searching for something unusual and then ensure that your design and pattern making is top notch. The other problem is that the fabrics in no way worked with, or to emphasise either the design of the garments or the pattern. There was no knowledge of fabrics in these choices. They were most likely chosen because they were easily available and in the correct colours and on budget. Fabric choice is an art in itself and the incorrect fabric can make the best cut look bad. which brings me to the next point.

I am been kind when I say the the cutting was mediocre. The most important part of a garment is the pattern. That is what gives a garment it's design. It is all fine and well to draw a pretty picture, but if you don't have the pattern making skills, nothing will bring it to life.  A pattern needs to be made with intent, not the lackadaisy "lets make a square peg fit a round hole" attitude prevalent here. It was basic but cowardly.  Boxy shapes without the knowledge of draping that can take boxy to a new plane as YSL did in the 60's and also without the ingenuity that would make it them compelling and embellished with random tucks a la Comme de Garcon but toned down to the point where there was no point. They did nothing and added nothing. Design should always be elegant. This was a heavy, clumsy, uncultured hand with a wax crayon clutched in it.

The other hand clutching a grubby wax crayon is the construction and finish of the garments. Yes, the designers were already setting themselves up for disaster by using bad fabrics which are very difficult to get a good finish on. They do not stitch, cut or press well which is making an already overwhelming job that much harder. That aside, the finish of the garments was horrendous, overlocking everywhere, skew hems, lumpy, puckered seams and rippling zips. I would be mortified to ever see a garment of that calibre in my factory and I certainly would not allow it down a runway for the world to see.
Do these people think that no-one knows any better or that no-one will care? There is a particular mindset that seems to have crept insidiously into mainstream thought which says that the quality of creation of a thing, be it a painting or a piece of clothing or even a building is irrelevant and that all that matters is that it had a great concept behind it. Sorry, but the concept is irrelevant if you haven't the skill to give it dignity.

These collections are nothing for the designers to be proud of, they belong in a flea-market stall, not on a runway. And although I know that I should not base my opinion of Fashion Week on three shows, just the fact that lower end street wear (which I would have no problem with in it's place) is given the status of couture and is lauded as an achievement makes me sad. It does however also make me remember why I do what I do.