Cybele the label is BACK! Tonight’s relaunch party was held at The Shelter in Mackelvie Street Ponsonby. She may have had a few years off but she appears to have gotten ten tears younger?! What’s her secret?!
Fun fact: I used to sell her label at my two boutiques 20 years ago. In this photo I’m actually wearing 4 pieces of hers I’ve had for years. I love clothes you can hang onto and keep wearing and wearing.
You can buy Cybele’s stunning new collection now. through select stockists and online at www.cybele.co.nz.
For her A/W 19 collection entitled DAMASCENA, fashion designer Cybèle Wiren works intuitively, taking carefully considered textiles in unexpected directions. Art, literature and design contribute strongly to Cybèle’s inspiration for her A/W 19 collection, bringing garments to life reflecting both realism and imagination.
Drawing a connection between Dutch artist herman de vries’ work, ‘108 pound rosa damascena’, a circular “carpet” of rosebuds emanating an overwhelming scent, designed to evoke sensory memories from its audience. Alongside the 1977 short story by sci-fi author William Gibson, “Fragments of a Hologram Rose”, the tale of a jilted ex-lover trying to get to sleep in a dark, polluted city by way of fragmented sections of artificial sense-recordings, Wiren takes the oft-used motif of a single rose into the future. Her glitchy version looks screen-grabbed from a flickering computer screen and appears prominently as the collection’s key print; a poignant moment from imagined cyberpunk future where nature is bound to technology and the idea of plants and flowers is nostalgic, depicted as the (un)reality of a hologram. The use of this inherently feminine and baroque floral contrasts against the clean lines in the rest of the collection, the rose is utilised to promote balance, rather than romance, the beauty of its colour and petals expressing promise and hope, while its thorns symbolise defence: the perfect metaphor for cold weather dressing.
Pristine pieces in clean shapes are designed for the full range of movement required in a modern life. Square angular cuts and asymmetric lines create a strong silhouette that then softens on the body’s curves. These beautiful minimal contours, the product of laser-focused pattern cutting, provide perfect precision shape and drape, not a millimetre more or less than required. All in luxe fabrics that are tactile and feel beautiful to wear: organic cotton, bamboo viscose blend suiting, silk crepe de chine, silk georgette, merino jersey, 100% wool coating. All in a stark palette of neutrals: black, winter white, khaki and taupe, given a shot of brightness with contrasts of ice blue and, of course, rose red.
Below: Photos from the launch celebration held this week at her stockist, The Shelter, in Mackelvie Street in Ponsonby Auckland.
Damascena is available through The Shelter, River and www.cybele.co.nz
17 May 2019