DUNIA FASHYON: Ever Rêve and batik paintings

Bombarding the blog with my own outfit posts and less on designer highlights has made Dunia Fashyon a bit of all-about-me outlet but rest assured, that is not the case after I received an e-mail from a London-based Swedish designer Michelle Urvall Nyren introducing her clothing label Ever Rêve. I was intrigued upon seeing the snippets of her collection images in the email and somehow was keen to delve deeper into understanding the brand.

The designer honed her creative designing skills at Gothenburg University of Arts and Crafts in Sweden and further continued working in various fashion houses in London and Paris, and did a job as a freelance illustrator as well. Her palindromic label is a reference to the thought process behind the establishment of the brand. The words Ever Rêve stem from ever in English and rêve - to dream in French. What I particularly like about this brand is the narrative elements in each collection, which begins with study of a character. Every season, long before any drawings are made, a short story is written with a persona at its centre, which is then reflected in the garments and throughout the collection.

Urvall Nyren has only created two collections by far and is currently being stocked in Wolf & Badger at Dover Street in London. So far it is good to see the designer developing her trademark patterns which is rare in the today's world of instant design copycat, hiding behind the term 'inspiration'. Refreshingly in this case, she created the patterns through fascination with her grandmother’s wax batik dresses. Honestly my temporary obsession with batik has been once again invigorated by Urvall Nyren's modern take on batik motifs, whereby she created graphic geometric wax patterns, then combining them with the fluidity and softness of watercolour paintings. All these are subsequently printed digitally in the UK.

Spring Summer 2013 collection is all about easy-to-wear dresses with soft, pastel paintings. Fall collection this season, on the other hand, is pumped with bolder and larger polygonal patterns and vivid hues. Tailoring is always kept to sharp, minimal and clean, suiting with the current trend of contemporary sportswear/easiness of clothing. Price-wise this label belongs in the mid to upper range (it's a painstaking handmade process so I guess that translates into price point). Of course I'm excited to see more from this designer and perhaps, and upward trajectory of the evolution in her digital prints. I'll set my eyes firmly come London Fashion Week as she would present her Spring 2014 collection there...

Spring Summer 2013