If you frequent our Female Daily forum often, I’m sure by now you’re already familiar with the brand Cotton Ink. The Cotton Ink Lover thread is developing really fast and it’s one of those threads that stay on top most of the time. Everytime they release a new collection, FDers will line up to hunt them down. Their signature casual look with a twist is the epitome of many girls’ style in FD. Cotton Ink was founded by Carline and Ria on November 2008. Most recently, they are nominated as one of the finalist of Cleo Fashion Award which will bring them to showcase their latest collection at the Jakarta Fashion Week next week.
Congratulations to Cotton Ink that has been chosen as one of the finalist for Cleo Fashion Award. Can you tell us a little bit about the process of the selection to become one of the finalist?
Thank you!!!
Actually we are lucky because we didn’t go with the usual process – unlike the others, to be a nominee, submit the design, and be chosen by CLEO.
We are chosen by Brightspot Market Favorite Tenant/brand choice – in March 2010, so most of the Brightspot Market’s customers choose us as their favorite brand to showcase a collection in Cleo Fashion Award.
What do you have to do as a finalist and to compete with other finalists in this award? Do you have to design a special collection to be previewed during the Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW)?
Cleo’s condition is only to showcase new collection that has never been exposed or out to the public for the show. We were allowed to design whatever we want to, Cleo only suggest some points to be considered but not restricting us on what we want to do. In this competition we’re competing with other 3 ‘brand’ finalists, and they are awesome!
So that means we’re going to see yet another new collection from Cotton Ink, how very exciting! Can you tell us about the new collection that will be showcased on JFW?
The theme is actually inspired by climate condition – you know, heavy rains and hot weather at the same time, everyday. The crazy weather happens to us right now most of the time, so we thought we want to capture the emotion in the collection. The result is constructed jacket worn with fluid evening dresses at the same time, crop top worn with long pants, contrast color worn in one look. The color tones are dominated by neutral colors such as beige, camel, khaki with touch of bright colors such as fuchsia.
The collection still shows Cotton Ink identity but with more detailing and more varieties. Most of the collection highlights are the outerwear, such as Jacket, cape, and cardigans. We also design pants with many details and evening dresses that have fluid movement to it.
We use more variety of fabrics than the usual, most of the collection are using fluid jersey fabric – viscose – this is what made the price little bit higher. You can still see there our signature fabric, cotton, being used for pants and skirt.
We also use linen and cotton woven for the constructed jackets, and yes this is a new item/article that we made. We love how the result turn out, we hope our customer will love it too.
How long does the process took for you to come up with this idea and how is the process differ from your other collection?
The process is not different at all from our usual, but perhaps there is a pressure in designing this particular collection since we have to show the collection and compete. We just don’t want our collection to be ‘weak’ compared to other brands – but it still needs to be within our concept of casual.
The process started actually around August, we try to develop the main look first and then the rest follow afterward. Since the collection will be available for purchase in November, it’s been a roller-coaster to us to design and produce it.
Finally, tell us the preparation for the JFW please! Also can we please take a sneak peek of the sketches?
The preparation is fun and insane at the same time! We have to make accessories such as shoes, belts, and also have to prepare for the photoshoot, pressure is on, but we still have some fun!
Yes some sneak peek won’t hurt.
Hopefully we can do our best !
