Muir weaves magic

If you like the zany jewel-encrusted belts, leather capes and brocade jackets of rock'n'roll artists like Aerosmith or lust after the bling of hip-hop stars like Run-DMC's Darryl McDaniels, then Elizabeth Muir is a name to remember.

This former Silicon Valley computer analyst is now one of the most sought-after names in the world of high-fashion accessory design and is charming trendsetters around the world. A star in her own right, she has proved to the industry that ethnic designs, with a bit of tweaking, can make it to the fashion capitals of the world.

From software to streetwear

Elizabeth would have ended up as a computer analyst had it not been for the Silicon Valley crash of 2001. The dot-com disaster gave her an opportunity to pursue the career she'd dreamt of since the age of 11: fashion design. That dream, combined with her bohemian ways, has led to success in a notoriously fickle industry.

For the last seven years, Elizabeth has travelled extensively from the coalmines of Kyrgyzstan to Indian bazaars and finally to work with the Koochi tribes of Afghanistan. "Ever since I lived and worked in Kyrgyzstan I've had a special connection with Central Asia. It was my recent trips as an election monitor on behalf of the US government that whet my appetite for returning to the region.

Afghanistan has a long history of art, culture, and craftsmanship. I was approached to work on an economic development project there, and it was
a natural fit," she says.

Afghan bound

"The artisans in Afghanistan are gifted in both embroidery and leatherwork. Working with them, I've been able to create pieces for rock bands in the US," she says. Her vision is to work with artisans in the developing world to create beautiful products that integrate indigenous craftwork with modern designs.

These are then sold around the world and profits are channelled back to the artisans. Through the fashion pieces she designs, she is able to display the skills of the artisans who mould their talent into unique pieces for high-end fashion markets around the world.

Today, Elizabeth runs an apparel design consultancy in Afghanistan and works with the tribal artisans and craftspersons of this troubled Asian state to produce accessories that have become the talk of the town.

Elizabeth believes in reviving folk art and providing economic liberation to these poverty ridden, yet immensely talented people. Her long tunics, skirts, capes and accessories display some of the most intricate hand craftsmanship and natural stone-encrusted artistry.

Running and rock

"I love rock'n'roll and vocal trance. I love to be backstage at a rock concert. I love being at a bazaar or at factories with the local artisans and amongst other creative people. I love running. I love being outside. This is when inspiration strikes.
"I feel as if my jewellery and apparel are almost like art. People have told me my pieces could be collectors' items.

"My jewellery ideas come from running outdoors or the feeling of knowing I will be at a rock concert and backstage around the musicians. Several of my pieces have been commissioned for country and rock'n'roll musicians,
so I design with album covers or stage performance in mind. For bespoke pieces, I look at someone's style and I spend time researching them to learn about who they are so that I can create pieces that reflect them as individuals as well as create a piece for them with a wow factor."

Koochi cue

The Koochi, a tribe in Afghanistan, are very close to her heart. These hardy people lead a very tough lifestyle, traversing the mountainous terrain. They often use vibrant fabrics encrusted with pieces of glass and natural stones to adorn themselves. Theirs is a signature style and working closely with them, Elizabeth translated those ideas into workable Western outfits.

"The Koochi are the nomadic gypsies who traditionally spend their summers travelling on horseback, living in tents. Their jewellery is more ornate, as are their textiles, and I have incorporated some of their fabrics
and metalwork into my pieces.

"I am also drawn to pieces of embroidery worn traditionally by brides or wedding guests, as these are more ornate. I love the pieces of traditional craftwork fabric I find at artisan shops – really beautiful embroidery or mirror work. Some have silver and gold threads and I'm drawn to metallic threads and mirrors and glass, as that is what reflects the light. I often design thinking about the stage or with specific photographs in mind."

Elizabeth elaborates on the intricate nature of her current work, which is rooted in her love for cultural heritage and ethnic traditions of a region. "In Afghanistan, I produce with artisans in the bazaar, at a factory, and with local tailors. I source handicrafts by going to local artisan shops and galleries.

I produce several of my pieces at a factory that has a special interest in employing women (many widowed), which is one of the main reasons I've chosen to work with it. I go to this factory and look through its closets at the various handicrafts and embroidery pieces and brainstorm from there.

A lot of my pieces are built around a single piece or multiple pieces of embroidery that strike me. I photograph handicraft and fabrics I love and ideas hit me. They pop into my head. I sketch my design ideas in my design book. Sometimes ideas come to me from the fabric."

Despite the tensions that prevail in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan, Elizabeth, who loves the outdoors and meeting people, goes around bazaars looking at the displays. "I have also worked with artisans at the bazaar and designed with them. They have their stalls with their handicraft pieces and clothing. I sit down on the floor with these pieces in piles and brainstorm.

Sometimes I base my designs on influences from traditional garb I see."

Once the ideas are sketched out in her notebook, the next step is translating those in fabric and cuts.

Getting it done

"I meet with the tailor and I create the pieces that are in my book and in my head. We take measurements. The tailor records everything in his book. I sketch my designs in his book.

If lining is needed for my pieces, we select that and sometimes I choose lining that will further enhance the effect if the jacket is opening as the person walks. If buttons are needed, we select those. Sometimes I like buttons that are an art unto themselves. I tend to prefer statement pieces.

"The pieces are made by artisans. I return for a fitting. I place ornamentation where it should be affixed. We make adjustments. The tailor returns to work on it."

This is followed by a few more fitting trials and then suggested changes until Elizabeth is finally satisfied with her creation.

As a stylist, Elizabeth always photographs the clothes. She tries to drape it on someone to see how it will appear on camera.

With such an eye for perfection, one might think that Elizabeth is a trained fashion designer, but she never did take any courses. Designing came out of her love for threads, fabrics and her intuitive love for creating the right cuts. "I grew to love designing while growing up in Washington, DC. At 11, I started making my mother kaftans when I

took my first sewing class. I also made dolls and then designed outfits for them. Designing has always been close to my heart. While at university, I spent a semester studying in France and went to Tunisia for a spring break where I went camel trekking in the desert.

I fell in love with the long flowing robes men wear on the edge of the desert and the camel riding gear that I bought in the local bazaar for my trek. It was then that I fell in love with the exotic."

Visualising Vogue

The unknown lands beckoned her and she was naturally drawn towards foreign experiences. She got her real break in Kyrgyzstan in the 1990s, which proved to be a turning point in her life.

"I first realised what my vision was when I was working in Kyrgyzstan on an economic development project and designing jewellery and clothes with the local artisans for fun. I watched how with the fall of the former Soviet Union and its transition to an open market economy, more mass-produced goods, including fashion, were coming in from places like China.

I watched the traditional handicrafts become relegated to galleries as the preferred mode of dress became Western styles mass-produced in the factories of the East. I wanted to retain the cultural and indigenous handicraft work and employ the artisans to create amazing pieces that would sell around the world.

"I loved living there. Krgyzstan was the antithesis of the West. It was lawless at the time. The people were simple and they have amazing traditions and handicrafts. It was free of trends.
I perceived it to be a more untainted and pure culture that served as inspiration in ways that Western cultures did not. For work I became the first Western woman to descend into the Kyrgyz coalmines, and immediately fell in love with the layers of clothes I sported to do so and asked if I could keep them as I could envision them being featured on a future cover of Vogue."

Into India

Destiny kept manoeuvring her towards the world of fashion design as one event after another propelled her into this field. She recalls, "As a by-product of a massive company layoff, I boarded a plane for India. It was in Mumbai where I began my networking and meeting with textile specialists and artisans. The US Embassy set up meetings for me with people interested in starting joint ventures.

I made contact with fashion magazine editors and the former editor of Elle India introduced me to several people in the fashion world. I travelled around the country and met people from India's worlds of fashion, Olympic athletes and Bollywood. I rode horseback through villages in the desert. The rich culture as well as textiles inspired me.

I sourced saris outside of Bangalore, fused them with western styles, and had pieces made in a factory in Chennai.
I sought and landed a design opportunity, normally reserved for students from London's top fashion school just outside Jaipur with a famous design centre and factory in India,
and designed and worked with textiles and created clothing collections."

With a rare combination of talent and enterprise and a willingness to descend into coalmines and volcano craters, Elizabeth has displayed a fine bohemian sensibility that goes well with her passion. She says her friends often describe her as a high-end gypsy, with a combination of left-brained skill in business and right-brained skill in creativity.

"I tend to be an extremist in life, which is also reflected in how I connect my fashion design and working with artisans in the developing world with the entertainment world."

Philanthropy or profits?

She feels that her current involvement in Afghanistan has been very inspiring and productive. "Going to Afghanistan enabled me to act on my vision of integrating traditional handicraft work into contemporary pieces while giving back to the artisans and retaining cultural heritage," she enthuses.

Her philosophy is simple – she wants to balance philanthropy with profit – and that's why she loves the Fashion Fights Poverty Initiative. "It works quite efficiently: consumers buy products; the designer and artisans create the products. The more consumers buy, the greater the demand for the designer's pieces and hence the artisan's work.

In sourcing and production, by buying pieces like embroidery from artisan shops, money goes to their families which I hope would increase the demand for handicrafts and hopefully further inspire artisans to produce more thereby preserving the traditional cultural heritage and providing them a means for an alternative livelihood.

"While I am deeply committed to helping artisans and women in the developing world achieve a higher quality of life, the means to achieve this must be sustainable.

Sustainability requires a market-based approach. Most philanthropic approaches to poverty alleviation are left to the whims of donors – the funding for which tends to fluctuate. By focusing on a market-based approach, I seek to provide artisans with a livelihood that rests more in the hands of the producer and consumer. The former should meet the changing needs and wants of the latter."

She pays some of the artisans directly. In addition, she intentionally selects a factory with which to work whose owner has similar values in wanting to develop and promote better lives for these artisans – women in particular.

Though it may sound paradoxical, Elizabeth feels that fashion is the perfect vehicle for achieving this because it is an extremely dynamic industry that is constantly searching and seemingly hungry for new and unique sources of inspiration.

"The world wants more unique pieces that veer away from the mass-marketed pieces it has come to know so well in the past couple of decades. It wants pieces that are more interesting, so why not work with unique and traditional handicrafts of the world?" she asks.

Shooting Bono

Fashion Fights Poverty was the catalyst that enabled her to combine working with artisans from the developing world with the entertainment world and her designs.

"I initially produced and styled one of the first photo-shoots for its look-book to show how fair trade pieces could still be both edgy and cool. I brought in big names including platinum award winning hip-hop artist Darryl McDaniels (of Run-DMC), Bono (of U2) and Ali Hewson's fair trade brand EDUN, and Aveda and combined them with an Afghan designer
I met at National Geographic's World Refugee Day.

I realised I could bridge the entertainment world with the developing world in the name of fashion and poverty alleviation. Fashion Fights Poverty this year was the perfect showcase for me to debut my first collection I designed and produced in Afghanistan.

It was showing there that led to my collection recently being featured at Miami International Fashion Week which has highlighted how the developing world can still be very relevant in first world fashion.

After having designed apparel and accessories for the music world, Elizabeth, who has made quite a name for herself, plans to expand her clientele.

"While I love working with the entertainment world, I also have clients who are women from the ages of 15 to 75. My apparel pieces are a fusion of working with local artisans in the developing world with a contemporary rock'n'roll attitude. My buckles are hand-made and make one feel tapped into their inner celebrity no matter where they are going or what they are doing.

Each piece is unique. They are hand-made and not mass-produced. People have written to me about wearing my pieces and told me that they feel like a 'rock star' when they put them on. The pieces are timeless and adaptable; they are wild and they are conservative; they are in your face.

I love them. Each collection is a combination of fabrics, because who knows in what hemisphere one will be? Summer today, winter tomorrow...

"I consider each piece a work of art. I believe in originality. I look for inspiration outside of the fashion world, in the real world... in the developing world and music world and how I feel when I listen to music. I feel that if I were the kind of person to follow trends, my pieces would not be as authentic and creatively pure as they are. People want a unique style when they buy Elizabeth Muir designs. My customers are looking for innovative, unique, and original fashion... edgy, not trendy."

Creative outlet

Although she is aware of the cutthroat competition in the fashion world. Elizabeth thinks every talented
person has a chance. "As long as creativity abounds, there is always room to succeed. The world is open to and hungry for creative and innovative approaches."

With a strong belief in this, Elizabeth marches on innovating and creating new lines as she interacts with newer artisans and craftsmen around the world. She adds, "I am in the process of launching a project with several local artisans I met in my recent travels to the Caribbean. I am always looking for artisans.

It is my vision to expand design and production around the globe capturing the unique characteristics of the local cultures and art and translating them into sophisticated apparel and jewellery to be sold around the world."