We imagined it as a field at night, where the wind has let fall the flowers of a meadow. Elena Toscano drew them one by one: red roses, pink bellflowers, small white and light blue stars, large coral flowers, yellow sprigs. On the back, at the waist, a garland of buds.
The embroidery uses thirteen thread colours. Every time the colour changes, the embroiderer stops and changes thread, flower after flower.
Ika Jane was born with vests. They are the pieces that make a look: one is enough, and everything changes.
Carmen takes this idea all the way. In Latin its name means song, and also spell: that is what it casts every time you wear it.
For I Quattro Elementi it is the vest of Air, the wind that carries flowers where you least expect them.
100% cotton velvet.
Bamboo satin lining, incredibly soft on the skin.
Dry clean only. Do not machine wash, do not bleach, do not tumble dry. To refresh the velvet, steam it from a distance without touching it with the iron. If ironing is needed, only inside out, at a low temperature, on a soft cloth, so as not to crush the velvet and the embroidery.
Carmen is designed in Paris by Micaela. The embroidery is designed in Milan by the artist Elena Toscano.
The embroidery is done by hand in Ibu Dedek's atelier, among the rice fields, a few steps from the ocean: each vest is embroidered by a single woman, over more than a day.
The vest is made in our atelier in Bali by the Ibu of Ika Jane: a team made up only of women, who choose whether to work from home, at their own pace, or together in the atelier.
Embroidery like this takes time: that is why Carmen is available for pre-order, shipping within a month.
