SADAK is the brainchild of Serbian-born fashion and stage designer, Sasa Kovacevic. His eponymous label has been presented in Paris and Tokyo since 2010 and he has been nominated for multiple European fashion awards including Designer for Tomorrow (2009), the European Design Award (2012), and the Baltic Fashion Design Award (2011) for Best Male Collection. Apart from fashion, he designs stage sets and costumes for film and theatre (having his designs featured in The Hunger Games 3: Mockingjay).
SADAK prides itself as innovative and unique while retaining distinct elements of various ethnic cultures. The sole message that the brand intends to communicate is “pride in individuality’, which is what gives them character.
Earlier this month, SADAK showed his SS16 collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin. The collection embarks upon a journey of post-modern Islamic culture by showing men wearing backless Niqabs (traditionally worn by Muslim women) that break with conventional gender roles. This was bound to get some attention and was picked up by the Daily Mail UK.
Deconstructed blazers, golden chokers over socks, prints of palms and golden wheels, and typographical details reading “Error” and “You + Me = <3” were some of the details in the primarily pastel collection of blue, rose, and lilac teamed with bold contrasting black.
Named Asia’s Most Influential Designer at last year’s Malaysia Fashion Week (MFW), Joe Chia has always been known for his minimalist aesthetics. Releasing each collection in chapters, he narrates his stories distinctively and eloquently.
The seventh chapter, for Spring/Summer 2016, titled “Power Above Us All” is a composed melange of traditional cultural elements. This collection embodies Joe Chia’s signature sculptural, edgy silhouettes as he experiments with unorthodox shapes and layering.
Joe Chia also introduces unexpected shades in this collection on top of his usual monochromes- playing with deep red, earthy brown and army green.
Founded by three young women, holyGhost debuted in 2010 and has established itself as a sophisticated, high-end ready-to-wear label, creating meticulous collections that reflect timeless elegance. Desiring to create a distinct, individual style, designers Jelena Hofmann and Sedina Halilovic set out to redefine urban style. The brand concentrates on easy-to-wear pieces and essentials while using the best quality fabrics, finding the perfect fit and working with European manufacturers to create the best possible products for their customers. HolyGhost designs “apparel for urban city heroines who strive for individuality and independence”.
The first hike Yishyene and i did on our road trip was The Narrows, which is rated #5 by the Nat Geo for America’s 100 Best Adventures. We stayed in an Airbnb at Toquerville, a town which was a 15-minute drive to Zion National Park.
Just approaching the park itself was a magnificent sight.
The unmistakable outline of the rock ridges against the blue sky continuously hypnotized me with its ever-changing organic curves. Nature never ceases to entertain me… I mean, i’m the kind of person who can spend hours playing with leaves and stones, so when i suddenly have this colossal orange rock i’ve never seen before in my life looming over me, I stared up at it for ages till my neck ached. I’m sure i could spend days sitting there drawing the beautiful angles and shapes made by the shadows on it. (I’m going to be raving a LOT about rocks in the coming blogposts…)
There is a main road leading straight to Zion National Park with stores on either side selling rocks (haha… wait till you see my later pix of those, i went MENTAL), restaurants, hotels, some art galleries, and hiking outlets.
Because the Narrows is a river-walking hike, our regular sneakers and hiking shoes weren’t gonna do it for us. I mean, if you wanna be hardcore or stinge, you don’t HAVE to rent proper shoes for it (i saw some people wearing their own sneakers) but (depending how far you go), it’s potentially a 8-hour hike and i don’t imagine being stuck deep into the Narrows with uncomfortable soaked shoes and painful blisters any fun.
We got our shoes sorted and my ankle was slightly hurting (from all that dancing and jumping around i did at EDC, erhhhh). I was a tad worried and tried not to have visions of having to be carried out on a stretcher. Not like anyone would carry me out if i got stuck there… so i prayed over my foot because there was nothing else i could do (it worked!). It’s not like i’m gonna chicken out of that hike, i’m already THERE! And i had my special wet shoes on!
We took a shuttle bus to the Temple of Sinawava stop.
The place was really beautiful… and we hadn’t even started yet.
… till i ended up staying in on Saturday night from 10pm,
reading a book that found its way into my hands
and i was so enamoured by it,
i ended up reading till 2:30am and laughing in fits to myself.
Since i got here on Tuesday, i –
ran constantly to catch trains,
stayed in the most immaculate Airbnb in Mitte you could ever imagine,
had a chicken schnitzel dinner by myself coupled with a red wine,
chatted to a political journalist called Ronny at the restaurant for an hour,
met up with Kim + Vinoth + Emma + her bf to visit Spreepark,
ran around pharmacies treating a sudden allergy reaction i got on my legs,
attended the holyGhost and Marina Hoermanseder shows at Berlin Fashion Week,
went out partying at a club with a bunch of people till dawn,
had Shiso burger lunch, mint tea and H&M shopping with Pearly,
moved into another Airbnb that’s in an art gallery in Kreuzberg,
visited Berlin’s award-winning Fun Factory store with Delio,
went for Marina H’s after-party with Pearly,
had kebab with this Australian i met there called Paul,
got really excited shopping at the Bio Market few doors from where i’m living,
and fitting as much work as i could in between.
I don’t know what i was thinking that i could work a little while exploring the States and Europe… i seem to be getting even LESS sleep than i was in KL! I need to return to Berlin. There’s still so much i haven’t seen and an unfamiliar vibe to me that’s alluring and energetic. It’s drawing me to return.
