Hair Lines by Sophie Speyer
Priya Ahluwalia
The title of Ahluwalia’s LFW SS23 Menswear collection ‘Africa is Limitless’ made me click open the images. I was aware of a buzz around her, but I didn’t know much about her designs until now. I combed the internet for Ahluwalia info and found ‘Tools of Expression - Mulberry x Ahluwalia’ a short film on YouTube about her collaboration for SS22 with Mulberry. In this film, I understood her. Ahluwalia is obsessed with Hair, and the cultural inheritance of hair type and styles. In this film she explains how the lines in African braided hair often inspire her designs. Once you know this, the persistent wavy lines on her garments, make sense.
For this Visual Diary entry, I’ve chosen to illustrate a screenshot from ‘Parts of Me’ the film Aluwalia made with Mulberry for their Accessories collection. Ahluwalia used the patterns in braided hair as inspiration for her Mulberry pieces. The film is gorgeous in every way, but particularly in it’s tone which feels like India at dusk. I made a traditional hard ground etching onto a Zinc plate & then I used Aquatint to etch tone into the illustration. Ahluwalia tries to use dead-stock fabric or re-imagined vintage garments in her collections; so I intentionally re-used the blank part of someone else’s discarded etching plate. This meant that my etching plate had a lot of ‘white noise’ or marks already, which I really like.
Ahluwalia’s inspiration is mulitcultural by virtue of being a British born woman with a Nigerian Dad and Indian Mum; she also has a Jamaican Stepfather. Her style combines London looks, Lagos Man and Indian craftsmanship. Ahluwalia is 28, her vision and voice are young. She has already won a host of awards, but for me the most significant was being chosen by Alessandro Michelle to make a film for Gucci Fest. Ahluwalia’s film is called ‘Joy’ by Samona Olanipekun. It’s extremely beautiful, and feels like an exquisite beginning to her career (which is why I guess Michelle chose to shine a light on her brand in 2018).
Artwork copyright Sophie Speyer
Artwork copyright Sophie Speyer
I’ve also made a screen print of my favourite head from the ‘Africa is Limitless’ collection. I just love the exaggerated 70s-style knit and diamante eyebrows - with the styled Fro. The words ‘Carnival is a Voice’ are taken from the Gucci Fest ‘Joy’ film. The statement is explained in her film as celebration. A celebration of all of life’s achievements, not just a carnival procession as we know it in the UK.
‘Africa is Limitless’ comes on the back of a collaboration with Paul Smith. Their collection is now available to buy, and you can see it on both of their websites. I quite like the collection, but it feels more Smith than Ahluwalia to me. In grooming her handwriting to work with his, some of the sassiness of Ahluwalia’s earlier designs feels tamed. BUT ‘Africa is Limitless’ is much more exciting! The knitwear has definitely benefited from her Paul Smith collaboration, the Intarsia designs are awesome. Of the 30 looks that came down the city garden runway, each one had a different hair style or head piece. I guess because it’s a Menswear collection, the opportunities for braiding were fewer - but the beaded fabric turbans were wonderful too.
Thank you for your eyes as always.
Artwork copyright Sophie Speyer
