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“Urban Samurai” by Nika Tang is a modern collection incorporating the colors and balance of the Japanese samurai and elements that gives a masculine interpretation of feminine pieces. The urban samurai is strong, sophisticated and elegant. Here are two concept pieces that will spring off a more wearable and versatile womenswear collection for Fall 2010, taking on the clean mix of Japanese inspired wool prints, soft, delicate mohair fabric and contours and lines of a modern warrior look.

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Photography by Del Geronimo

The pieces incorporate themes of repetition and radiation to form warrior like uniforms while incorporating themes of femininity, strength, and dark power. Motifs of bridges, circles, tribal art work, and futuristic elements can be seen.

This collection was created by Nika Tang, with help of her team, Josie Adele, Anton Stroganov, Mark Ostrom, and Jesse Kauppila.

Photo by Stef Patashvili

The Red Silk Project is a journey, a journey in celebration of creation, beauty, and collaboration. It is meant to be a procession, a spiritual and exotic tribute both to the Temple and what it symbolizes as well as the people and the desert. This year, the procession will take place at sunset, Friday, September 4, 2009, the day before the burn from deep end to the temple, a three mile dance and pilgrimage. Five dancers dressed in red and black silks, lace, and headdresses travel to the horizon.

Photo by Anton Stroganov

This project is about the social interactions between the “audience” and the “performers”, but it is also a color study, a study in the placement of characters, framing, music and the interaction between the procession as an entity within its environment. It is entitled “red silk” but only one main character will be in red, as the leader of the group, she personifies the goddess, rich, embracing, and sensual as the other dancers embrace her being, interact with the audience and invite their response through their movements, their emotions, and their dance.

Photo by Stef Patashvili

All designs were organically made, taking into the concept of working with the multiple mediums and various techniques of fabric manipulation, papier mache, and construction. Every artists had a very different background as well as style which gave life and a different spirit to each of their headdresses. The form was very important, the base of each piece started with a three dimensional study of shape, dimension, and volume and to build on top of that over weeks time.

Photo by Stef Patashvili

The fashion style is a mix between science fiction of Aeon Flux and the dark romanticism of Luis Royo. Taking into the background of the colors of the desert, the luminance of the sunset, warm and dark tones are placed into it. A natural fluctuation of the fabrics is visible from afar, as well as the definite and explicit contours and the volumes of the base elements of the headpieces and the outfits close by. Each element embraces opposites – the outside and the inside, the rigid and the fluid, the richness of the reds and the formality of the blacks.

Photo by Anton Stroganov

I was first inspired to design by my first trip to the desert. Not only is this project intended for Burning Man, the process is also important. It took over a month long preparation of local artists, including jewelry designer Josie Adele, mask expert Jesse Kauppila, make up artist Aurora Jimenez, as well as the creative input of model Anat Elektrik.

See more images from the procession below:

Anat Kat

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The second annual San Francisco Fashion Awards is coming up, and Nika Tang has been nominated as one of the best Event Producers. Please visit sanfranciscofashionawards.com and vote for Nika!

In case you don’t know, Nika has been producing and participating in some amazing shows this past year, the partial list is as follows:

• February 08 – Eternal Spring 2008
• March 08 – Opel VI Fashion Show
• May 08 – “Higher Fashion” Benefit Soirée
• May 08 – “Bugs and Spiders” Fashion Show
• June 08 – “Alice in Wonderland” Croquet Tournament and Trunk Show
• July 08 – “Sky of Diamonds” Anon Salon
• August 08 – “Beijing Olympics Celebration”
• August 08 – “Dreams and Illusions” Burning Man Center Camp
• May 09 – “Cycles” Opel VII Fashion Show
• May 09 – “Temple of Fashion”
• May 09 – “Projekt Inferno”

Please show your support by voting and we will see you at the awards ceremony.

VINDYCO – Retro Barbie-like outfits in a blend with sequins, mini-skirts, and metallic colors. It was great to see Cindy’s designs on stage and how they can each stand out but come together and form a lovely collection.

DIMITRI & DEVORA – With a wide range of color, Dimitri and Devora presented a vivid mix of prints in style variations of tube dresses that models took down the runway with no shoes on but with a very natural and seemingly sensual face to the audience.

DANDELIONS AND DEAN – Wearing dark make-up and a puffed up ponytail, Joy Dean’s designs walked down the runway with nothing but a confident look and amazing assortment that included ruffled dresses, feather shoulders, and wide leg pants in bright blue color made this collection a hit.

INVISIBLE HEROE INDUSTRIES – From flower print satin to a denim strapless to black lace and sheer fabrics, Charlie B. does not cease to impress. Her variety of dresses kept the crowd looking and making their picks out of the whole collection making it a very successful one.

KAYO – Kayo’s designs stood out from the rest by exploring a color palette into many possibilities. Similar prints were turned from dresses to pants and tops which made the collection very cohesive. Adding to this, models had eye liner that matched the color of the outfits and each other while their hair was explosive and big creating the best combination.

LITTLE RED SPARROW/ELLA MENTAL – Nika Tang collaborates with Alyssa Ghessi to create a new collection filled with color, dynamics, feathers, and soft comfortable cotton wears and dance fabrics. This collection incorporates strong warm tones, dyamic textile designs, and hat designs to create the modern “cowgirl”.

MISS VELVEL CREAM x ESTAR x FLUIDANCE – Scatha joined forces with Allison from Estar Hats and Josie Adele from Fluidance. Together they put together a vibrant combination of dark colored dresses in satin, and velvet, stunning hair pieces with delicate detail, and a surprising combination of trims and shapes in their collection.

Alexandria von Bromssen & Del Geronimo present an art and fashion exhibit this May 2nd at Space Gallery, titled PROJECT INFERNO.

Featuring a varied array of works inspired by Alighieri’s epic poem, this installation will bring avant garde and fashion forward fashion designers, fiery-hot painters, sculptors, performance artists music, models, and you together in a sweltering gestalt.

This exhibit runs for one week. The gallery opens at 7 pm. The official reception lasts until 8p.m., but the festivities won’t end till 2 am.

Space Gallery is located at 1141 Polk Street SF. For more details please reference the official website is www.leftprojekt.com.

FEATURING ARTISTS:

FASHION DESIGNERS:
MISS VELVET CREAM. ALEXANDRIA VON BROMSSEN. ESTHER ALLISON. JASMIN ZORLU. GAIL B. SHRIVE. CHELSEA SNYDER. NIKA TANG. AMY FINK. JAIME. KAYO

PAINTERS:
MAGGIE VAN SCOYK. S.N JACOBSON. OWEN COOK. OWEN GERONIMO
DIEGO MARCIAL RIOS

SPECIAL GUEST ARTISTS:
SANDY YAGI. MIA CHRISTOPHER. AMELIA LEWIS. MISSY FEIGUM.
JEFF PIDLYPCHAK. KATHLEEN FIGUEROA. MISS FORTUNE DESIGNS. ALICIA DEBRINCAT