Ali Mapletoft is the super creative, imaginative and talented designer behind Age of Reason Studios in London. She illustrates, designs and produces the most beautiful silk scarves, dresses and even t-shirts. I’m not sure how I came across Ali’s work but we have been keeping track of each other on Twitter and Instagram and I was first introduced to “who made your clothes” by Ali. Beautiful garments that have been created by skilled craftspeople and designed by artists are always on the top of my priority list. It feels different, more fulfilling, more wholehearted, when I wear clothes and I know who made them and how they came about. That there’s a story behind the label or the person who made the label. Ethical and sustainable garments never go out of style.
I had recently shared on Twitter that I am looking to feature talented individuals from across the world on my blog. Around the same time, Ali and I also got talking and I was thrilled when she decided to send me two of her most gorgeous pieces! I’m wearing one below and the other one will be disclosed in due course. Simple, elegant, beautiful and unique garments.
I’m wearing the Midnight Landscape dress in a size 1 by Age of Reason Studios below.
Age of Reason Studios is a British Luxury Print Label with a playful, punk twist. I love Ali’s spirit, which is easy to glean from her social media updates. She’s fierce and wildly talented and oh-so-GORGEOUS! The label ships to India of course, and there’s scarves, pocket squares, dresses and t-shirts in their collections. The studio follows the fashion collection seasons and has limited edition production all year long. Age of Reason Studio’s wares don’t stay in stock too long – like the dress above is currently sold out and is expected to be back in stock July / August this year.
I wore the dress for a long day of social commitments. During the day I paired it with the large silver hoop ear rings you see in the above photographs. For the evening wedding celebration that I was attending, I removed the ear rings and wore a large silver necklace instead. Everything else in the ensemble stayed the same.
The dress does fly around quite a bit and might not be suitable for day-wear in a city like New Delhi. I plan to add one loose side-stitch on each side of the dress to shorten the slit a bit so that even if it does fly, my underwear doesn’t show. While I was being photographed in the dress, it was a very windy and very hot day and quite a few people got to see what underwear I wear. If the shoot had been done in a public place in the “Western World”, I doubt I’d have even mentioned this. Being in India, I would, however, need to look at this and while Ali’s website suggests one could also wear skinny trousers or tights under the dress, I LOVED how airy and pleasant the dress is without any bottoms. Tough situation!
Some phone photos of me during the day and the evening – the dress translates well from day-wear to evening-wear.
Thank you for sending over your beautiful work Ali, I am very excited about showcasing the second piece soon!
CREDITS
Dress : Midnight Landscape in silk by Age of Reason Studios, London. Designed and printed in the United Kingdom, sewn in China.
Necklace : silver by Amrapali Jewels
Ear rings : silver, from the streets of Thimpu, Bhutan
Nail paint : Maybelline Color Show, Bling on The Blue no. 608
Shoes : leather and canvas brogues by HatsOff Accessories
Location courtesy : Select City Walk, New Delhi
Photographs of me by Akanksha Redhu
Product photographs and post-production on all images by me.
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