96 ~ North Shore Neves — Sunday, December 12, 1999

FASHION

Design studenis delve inta

Fu

creative culture

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NEWS photo Mike Wekefietd

FASHICN design students (from left) Alison Hartford, Mara Raftery and Mina
Bahuch researched Asian culture to create “art bags” that are currently on dis-
play on Be! Art Gallery, 3053 Highland Bivd., in North Van's Edgemont Village.

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Layne Christensen

Fashion Editor
Ichristensen@nsnews.com

FELTED fabrics and
foreign cultures provid-
ed the inspiration for a
unique project that has
paired fashion design
students with an
Edgemont Village
gallery.

Kovatlen University
College students enrolled in a
textile design course were
asked to create “art bags”
inspired by the cultures of
Southcentral and Southeast
Asian countries including
India, Nepal, Bhutan and
Tibet. The course is part of a

_ four-year fashion design and

technology degree program
offered at the — college’s
Richmond campus.

The student’s designs are
on display at the Bel Art
Gallery in Elgemont Village.

Working with a set of strict
enteria, the students created
carryalls, evening bags, back-
packs and tores that reflect the
fabric traditions of the country
researched with the student’s
individual fashion flair.

Stencilling, Iblock printing,
embroidery and appliqué
embellish the highly original
creations. Discarded sweaters
“hand-felted” by the students
provided ihe base for the
designs.

- Mara Raftery, one of the 16
students whose designs were
selected tor display at Bel Art
Gallery, researched the cul-
tures of Tibec and Nepal for
the creation of her chic hand-

bag.

The snake and the karma
wheel, recurring motifs in the
Dundarave area resident’s
tesearch of Tibetan and
Nepalese culture, were incor-
porated into the design of the
bag. The felted fabric was cre-
ated by boiling and beating a
red woollen sweater picked up
at Value Village.

“Basically you do every-
thing you're not supposed to
do to wool,” says Raftery of
the felting technique.

Projects that encourage
cultural awareness and socially
responsible design help pre-
pare students for the chal-
lenges facing designers in the
new millennium, says instruc-
tor Gayle Marchuk.

“The students were really
turned on by the fact that they
learned a tot about the fabrics
but also about tradition and
cultural values.”

Added motivation came
from knowing that their
designs may go on display in
the Edgemont gallery, owned
by Deep Cove residents
Beatrice and Stephan
Schreiber.

Schreiber says she was so
impressed by ‘the students’
designs that she decided to
offer them for sale. Prices
range from between $100 and
$256 per design, with students
sharing in the profits. .

While some of the art bags
are pure folly — more suitable
for disptay than for wear —
many feature ethnic derails like’
fringe, tiny mirrors, braiding
and beading that are hallmarks
of the “hippy chic” trend cur-
rently at the height of fashion.

The exhibition continues to
Dee. 25.

BRYCE DYER

M.A., L.L.B., LL.M.

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