Thoughts of spring are refreshing thoughts of renewal and fresh starts. And although we’ve barely seen the worst of winter yet, it is sometimes good to let our frostbitten minds drift off to a place of sandals, sundresses, and not wearing so many layers. One spring 2011 collection that really warms me up is that of Shabd Simon-Alexander.

Although Shabd may dress herself in the same outfit for months, “I’ll wear the same fancy dress for a month, or one winter I wore an amazing hand woven Polish mountain dress that was as heavy and warm as a house,” her body of work offers ample variety. She not only creates dresses to body suits and everything in between, but much of her work is multifunctional so tops that have no backwards, for example, give the wearer two or more pieces in one.

However, this is not her trademark. Shabd doesn’t create elaborate shapes or outrageous structures. She is known for her dye work; she hand dies and paints most of her fabric-a technique that ensures each piece is truly matchless. She uses silk and jersey most often, and says that she prefers silk because it reacts to the dye in a “rich and magical way.” Coupled with the ease of clean and classic lines and a pallet of pastels and muted colors this richness and magic come through quite clearly in her design. There is a sophistication in her clothing that makes the most fashion minded rethink tie-dye and proves that this once kitschy craft can be grown up, artful and most importantly wearable.

Shabd comes to her unique work in an interesting way: she looks to folk art and folk history for design ideas. She explains, “You can read the whole history of a culture, a place, and an individual by looking at folk art and folk costume. By looking at the colors and fabrics used, the additional embellishments, the form and closures, you can find information on climate, geography, vocation, social and economical status, and more. In a lot of places when reading and writing wasn’t common knowledge or when it was banned during oppression folk art and even the embellishments on clothing were used to carry on the mythology and history of a people.” Modern art works along with this as a source of inspiration. While the former focuses on embellishment and the latter acts to simplify both push boundaries says Shabd and “both center on a foundation of pure beauty and personal expression.”

Her artistry works in a dually sustainable manner. To stay ecologically sustainable Shabd uses natural, but still high quality silks, wools, and cottons among others. To this she adds, “it’s very important for me to be socially and historically conscious as well: I want to know where and how my clothes are made and I want to know that they have a history behind them.  My fabrics are all dyed in house in my Brooklyn Studio and all of my clothes are made in NYC’s Garment District by people I have a personal relationship with. For my diffusion line of tees and leggings, I purchase garments from distributors working with socially conscious production methods.” Shabd collection brings the locavore movement to fashion, leaving her buyers with a conscious clear of deplorable manufacturing practices.

Lately, as evident in next season’s attire, Shabd is getting ideas from landscapes great and small. From geodes to mountainsides to the earth’s core these naturally geometric images have helped her to create the patterns her spring 2011 collection. The collection shows the various structural inspirations with patterns of neat and clear shapes reflecting each other like the inside of a kaleidoscope in pieces like the asterisk dress, or the rough, uneven terrain of a cliff’s edge seen in her geode pieces. Architecture plays a role in this collection as well with seam work made to mimic the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona.

Despite these rough, stony seeming inspirations Shabd’s spring collection has soft nuances as well. It may be the subtle color pallet combined with the ready-to-flow cuts, but this collection can easily evoke the warm feelings of getting swallowed up by billowing pink clouds at sunset. It also seems to have the ability to move one from the rushed, stressed ridden thoughts of the work day through a mystical haze to a pleasant day dream.

In Shabd’s collection is meant to be the still quirky sophisticate, i.e. the young girl with the edge of a heightened sense of beauty over her peers or the older woman who has not lost her style or youthfulness. These are clothes for women who don’t need a magazine to tell them what is okay to wear, who can see the value in something so unique on their own.

Photos courtesy of Shabd Simon Alexander