Poepke Projects: Jodie Boffa

July 26th, 2017

Jodie Boffa has been designing clothes both here in Sydney and in London since the mid 1980’s. Over the years, numerous trips to Japan for work helped to forge her love for vintage kimono fabrics, of which she amassed a number. Finally the time was right for her to put her hand into designing a capsule collection out of these vibrant fabrics, giving them a new lease of life. Poepke is proud to be the exclusive stockists of her range, as part of our Projects at Poepke, an initiative which heralds the work of Australian designers. We sat down with Jodie to ask her about how it all began.

What drew you into designing clothes and how long have you been designing for?

I’ve been designing clothes since the mid 1980’s but wanted to be a designer since I was four years old. I worked locally and then in London for Jasper Conran. After that I started my own business in 1989. I built up a label that was known for being minimal (very 1990’s) using the highest quality fabrics from Europe and a team of skilled makers in Australia. I have always loved my job but as my business grew I started to hate the fact that I could only operate in the established channels of the industry. So I closed it in 1998 after taking over as the designer for Jets Swimwear.

What is the inspiration behind the collection for you?

The inspiration came directly from the fabric. I love the fact that you can see the individuality of the fabrics and how the ikat style weaving has so much life. The colours are so rich a way that prints aren’t. I looked at them over and over and wondered how I could make them wearable while honouring each fabric ( the fabric is only 14 inches wide) to make something precious, fashionable but not trend driven or throw away. I also liked the idea of reinventing fabric that exists and not using more resources.

Your collection has a beautiful array of fabrics in different vintage silks. Where do you source your fabrics from?

I used to travel to Japan each year for my business and over more than a dozen visits I started collecting kimono fabrics from markets and dealers just because I liked them. The more graphic designs are Miesen Silk which were produced to meet the demands of a new trend drive “ready to wear” market in Japan between 1912 – 50. It was not popular or manufactured after 1950. The others are Tsumuji, which are plainer and more like suiting made around 1950. The Acetate is Japanese and the Cotton Poplin is French.

Do you have a particular person in mind you want to dress when you design?

The person I have in mind is someone who knows their own style and is intelligent about the way they dress. Someone who has an understanding of the cycles of fashion and buys well, who holds onto their favourite things forever. Someone who loves quality and good design but wants something different. Someone who is starting to become interested in where and how their clothes are made.

Tell us about your favourite piece or aspect of the collection.

My favourite aspect of the collection is that the garments are very wearable. I like the fact that they are are unrepeatable so you won’t see yourself at an event or walking down the street. Also, the fabrics feel great. My favourite piece is one I have a called “Scribble”. I love that the design is nuanced like a drawing.

You can view Jodie’s collection here.

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Linda Farrow Sunglasses AW17/18

July 10th, 2017

It was back in the 1970’s that Linda Farrow established her eponymous eyewear range. With a background in fashion design, it was natural for Farrow to see sunglasses as a fashionable and covetable item and become a forerunner in collaborating with designers to showcase them as such.

The brand was relaunched in 2003 under the helm of Farrow’s son Simon, whose renewed interest in his mother’s eyewear occurred when he came across a vast array of vintage sunglasses in the family’s warehouse.

The AW17/18 Linda Farrow collection new in store at Poepke features cats eyes, aviators and Iris Apfel-style frames in tortoiseshell, rose gold and black. To see our selection, come in and try some on with us, or browse online here.

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Skarfe x Nell & Skarfe x Huseyin Sami

July 3rd, 2017

Travelling through Europe and Asia, Sydney-sider Brad McGlashan would buy scarves as souvenirs from his travels. Now, he helps local artists transform their paintings to wearable artworks in limited edition scarves, for his label Skarfe.

Poepke is proud to stock two of these collaborations. One scarf, a blend of cashmere and modal features the artwork of Potts Point artist Nell. Showcasing a ghostly figure amongst hanging AC/DC charms, it reflects the artist’s love of Rock n’ Roll and of turning the negative emblems of our culture into happier ones.

West Sydney artist Huseyin Sami’s works play with the way he applies paint to his canvases. His own feet, shelving and a nine metre-handled brush have all been implements. His print for Skarve has big stretches of paint in silver, pastel pink and oily black interloping on silk twill.

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Y’s by Yohji Yamamoto Pre-Fall 2017

June 26th, 2017

Y’s by Yohji Yamamoto new pre-fall collection for 2017 has arrived at Poepke, with strong splashes of colour alongside his usual sculptural basics of black, white and navy.

One of the new prints features Jackson Pollock style drip painting reminiscent of origami cranes.

A signature piece from the collection is the quilted house coat made of patchwork pieces of printed pyjamas in fleur-de-lis and paisley. Sourced from French and German pyjamas form the 1960’s and 1970’s they are a soft blend of cotton and viscose that are perfect for reclining in the winter sun.

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Haider Ackermann – ‘Paradise Birds on Acid’ SS17

May 25th, 2017

Growing up, designer Haider Ackermann was constantly on the move. His father was a cartographer and would bundle up the family and take them on journeys to locales such as Algeria, Chad and Ethiopia, before Ackermann settled down in the Netherlands to attend high school.

Hints of these travels can be detected in his clothes; the dramatic drape of a silk robe, or the concertina of a sleeve. But the notion of movement is what Ackerman finds most seductive, his garments simultaneously revealing and concealing the wearer’s skin. It is this movement of women that haunts him most:

“You know, when you’re walking down the middle of this very, very narrow street, and a woman passes you like a ghost? It’s like you see those white veils, but then suddenly you will hear all the sounds – the fabric brushing, the clink of jewellery – and it’s just so mysterious. I think that’s what attracted me when I was so young – that idea of these women who were passing by all the time. You didn’t know what would happen. Like sometimes you would see some detail or discover a flash of skin of the knees. It’s quite beautiful and very, very sensual at the same time.”

– Interview Magazine, 2011

Describing the collection as ‘Paradise Birds on Acid’ and featuring fluttering ribbons and couture details, Poepke is proud to have garments from Haider Ackermann’s SS2017 collection, in store now.

Text:@shanachandra

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Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-between exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

May 22nd, 2017

Like a schoolgirl refusing to come in from the playground when the bell rings, Rei Kawakubo the designer and founder of Comme des Garçons, has an aversion to the boundaries people like to confine her to. Whether it is designing clothes akin to sculptures that evade the silhouette of a woman’s body or shunning words that seek to bind her and her work to meaning, Kawakubo is a renegade to the definitive. “The meaning is that there is no meaning”, she says of her work.

150 of her designs are currently being celebrated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the first for a living designer since 1983. In following her command, no text appears on the walls of the exhibition. Instead the garments are organised under neither here nor there ‘expressions’ that embody Kawakubo’s reverence for spaces in between. Design/Not Design, Fashion/Anti-Fashion and Self/Other are a few examples.

Despite her wish to refrain from themes from her work, our favourite is that which staff writer of the New Yorker, Judith Thurman evokes in her article on Kawakubo entitled “The Misfit”. Capturing the CDG girl perfectly, it also captures the spirit of Rei herself:“Her clothes suggest a kinship with a long line of fictional holy terrors: Pippi Longstocking, Cathy Earnshaw, Claudine – motherless tomboys who refused to master drawing-room manners and who, when forced into a dress, hiked up their petticoats and climbed a tree”

Poepke is pleased to have Rei’s labels Comme des Garçons Girl, Comme des Garçons x dr martens and Comme des Garçons x Spalwart in store.

Text:@shanachandra

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Pre Spring Summer 2017 Collections Now On Sale!

May 18th, 2017

Pre Spring Summer 2017 Collections are now 30% off online & in store!

Stella Jean, Haider Ackermann, Lemaire, Issey Miyake, Y’s by Yohji Yamamoto, Maryam Nassir Zadeh & Joao Vaz.

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Dries

May 12th, 2017

Screening at this year’s Sydney Film Festival is an intimate portrait of Dries Van Noten as seen through the lens of documentary filmmaker, Reiner Holzemer.

In a world of trends and globalisation, Dries has retained his independence working with his long-term partner in life and business, Patrick Vangheluwe, for almost 30 years. Notoriously private, Dries opened his elegant home to director Holzemer’s camera. The film also takes in extravagant fashion shows, visits to his dedicated embroiderers and the studio where embellished silks and fabrics of every hue are displayed. Dries’s creative process and distinctive approach to fabrics and prints is lovingly detailed in this intimate documentary.

For ticketing information and session times, check the Sydney Film Festival site.

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Kowtow: From Seed to Garment Film

May 9th, 2017

The origins of the word kowtow comes from China. Here the act of kowtowing is considered the highest form of reverence where one kneels and bows so low, their head touches the ground. A fitting name for a clothing line whose aim is to respect not only the earth their organic cotton comes from, but each of the hands that touch its garments.

Kowtow’s origins began in Wellington, where designer and founder Gosia Piatek grew up after fleeing Poland with her parents at the age of five. Despite having no background in fashion, after graduating from University, Piatek was in search to do something meaningful. When a friend suggested founding a Fair Trade organic cotton business, she took the idea and ran with it.

Piatek and her team work solely with organic cotton to create apparel from the seed to the garment. The transparency of this journey allows their customer insight into the origins of their clothing item. To do this they work exclusively with a farm and factory in Calcutta, where fair wages are a must and ethical work standards and balanced hours for their employees means working a season ahead of most other labels.

The quality of Kowtow’s fabrics and their eye for details – each button and trim is sourced and produced ethically, both environmentally and socially – has garnered Kowtow a cult following of women around of the globe. The label now has retailers in New York, London, Paris, Copenhagen and Tokyo and is celebrating ten years in the business.

Poepke is proud to have this considered label adorn their hangers.

Text: @shanachandra

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Y-3 Spring Summer 17

April 27th, 2017

Latest delivery of new season Y-3 has arrived!

Come visit us at Poepke to see the exciting range of sneakers, bags and clothing.

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Maison Balzac Homewares

April 21st, 2017

Just in time for another lazy long weekend the Maison Balzac new season’s homewares and candles have arrived.

Delicate handmade drinking glasses in tinted pyrex now come in two sizes and four colours; rose, greenery, smoke and teal blue.

The new carafe and drinking glass set “J’ai Soif” (translates to “I’m thirsty”) was inspired by a traditional French bedside table set for night time hydration.

Plus all your favourite scented candles have been restocked along with the extra long candles. Just add wine, water, bath salts.

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Lemaire Spring Summer 2017

April 20th, 2017

This week our second delivery of Lemaire has arrived and it is even more beautiful than anticipated.

The Spring Summer 2017 collection blends Lemaire signature style crisp cottons with feminine pleating, ruching and smocking All over prints sit next to cream, tobacco and deep indigo hues. The cropped wide leg sailor pants, fine striped cotton shirting and the amazing red pleated dress are just a few of our favourites.

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Comme des Garçons x Dr. Martens

April 13th, 2017

Poepke is excited to announce the arrival of the capsule collection between Commes Des Garçons and Dr. Martens. The line consists of Dr Martens classics with a Commes Des Garçons twist.