My Day at the Met

Blending in with the zellig tilework of the Met's Moroccan courtyard

After waiting 8 long years for the Met to finish renovating its Islamic Art collection, I could hardly contain my excitement to finally see it. As you’ll come to see in many more posts on the topic, I’ve long been obsessed with geometric motifs. The first time I set eyes on images of Moroccan architecture in middle school, I was mesmerized. In college I studied the spiritual meaning of these designs, taught myself how to draft them, and did many art and photography projects inspired by them. Naturally as I moved into fashion design, my love for geometric designs followed along.

Wearing: Self-made knit top, self-made crystal necklace, Asos pleated chiffon palazzo pants and yellow leather handbag, Vintage lucite bangle, Kenneth Cole boots.

I’ve had the idea for this top swimming in my mind for some time, and the prospect of going to this Met exhibit inspired me to finally make it. The geometric motif knit fabric came from a dress I found many years ago. I cared more for the fabric than the dress, so I bought it to make something new with it. With a limited amount of useable fabric, I decided to make a color-blocked top (a current trend I’m loving). The angular white strip is inspired by the thick white outline of Moroccan zellig tilework.

To play up both the color-blocking and geometric angularity, I paired my new top with these cobalt blue pleated chiffon palazzo pants, one of the funnest pairs of pants I own!

My rectangular yellow bag even joined in on the geometric color-block party, creating a vibrant palette that matched my elated mood walking into the Met.

I’ve noticed that over the past few years, designers are increasingly drawing inspiration from Islamic tilework, including Preen Spring ’11 and Marni Fall ’11, both gorgeous collections. I walked into a Marni store last month and was really feeling the geometric theme. Although deeply rooted in age-old tradition, these motifs have a transcendent timelessness that makes them very modern, especially when crafted and styled this way:

Marni Fall '11

I think we’ll continue seeing this trend in both fashion and home decor. Perhaps it’s the growing interest in the Muslim world that inspired it, in which case I hope it will open people’s eyes to the beautiful and diverse artistic traditions of a misunderstood people. I think the fantastic Met exhibit will do its part to open viewers’ eyes as well. More about the Met exhibit itself in tomorrow’s post!

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