TALES FROM PARIS ~ It's hard not to step back into the nineties with the latest British Vogue cover featuring the "Original Supermodels": Christy Burns (Turlington), Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Naomi Campbell.
Max and I were fashion design students in London during the birth of the supermodels. The January 1990 British Vogue cover by Peter Lindbergh was the supermodel certificate that skyrocketed these five models to superstardom. This Vogue cover gave George Michael the idea to feature them in his music video, Freedom! '90. Imagine our excitement by this combination of great dance music and fashion with five supermodels in one video. It was something fresh, glamorous, and fun. George Michael celebrated the individuality of each model, and he didn't even appear in his video (Does anyone know who the boys were in the video?).
This may sound silly today, but seeing this music video then was a rare and exciting moment because there was no internet, so no YouTube. We couldn't watch it whenever we wanted. We had to wait until Top of the Pops or MTV aired it. When my favorite music videos appeared on TV at home, I stopped everything else and was glued to the screen. And then Gianni Versace had four of the five supermodels walking down his runway singing "Freedom", at his Autumn/Winter 1991 fashion show.
Later on, when I was lucky enough to get into the Paris fashion shows (without invitation), being there and seeing my fashion idols was an unbelievable experience. This was before the Instagram age; we only saw them in magazines, on TV or at fashion shows. Their appearances were unique moments, and Paris Fashion Week was the place to be. I often waited near backstage doors to catch a glimpse of the models I had only seen in magazines. They fascinated me, observing how they dressed in their clothes to go to "work." Often, they dressed up in vintage clothes rather than the latest fashion labels and looked so stylish in an eclectic way. I couldn't help noticing some used their Birkin's as tote bags to carry their makeup kits—an occasional designer freebie. Fashion was moving away from power dressing; the total look from head-to-toe by one designer was on the way out.
Years later, I saw Jane Birkin with the world-famous bag named after her and was intrigued by how she nonchalantly personalized it with lots of charms dangling from one of the handles and even a bumper sticker on the body of the bag.
What a wonderful surprise to see the supermodels back together again on the September cover of British and American Vogue magazine after decades, thanks to Edward Enniful's discerning talent, who also shared the news on his upcoming departure, "This issue is an important one for me. These pages mark my final September as editor-in-chief of British Vogue".
Sadly, Tatjana Patitz is no longer with us; only four wonderful women are on the cover instead of five. They have all aged gracefully but have kept up with the times, continually reinventing themselves with new chapters, and even survived the grunge movement, a reaction against supermodel stardom. Seeing the latest Vogue covers confirms so beautifully and reassuringly that age is no longer an issue; inclusivity and sustainability are what matter today.
That unexpectedly impactful January 1990 British Vogue cover, styled by Sarajane Hoare, was in black and white without razzmatazz, no accessories, no heavy makeup, and no big hair; they even wore their own jeans for the shoot, shot on a street in the New York Meatpacking District, and yet their natural beauty shines through. British Vogue editor-in-chief Liz Tilberis asked Peter Lindbergh to photograph the "nineties woman." He replied that he couldn't do it with just one model. This cover is a gentle reminder that beauty cannot be summed up with just one woman, and making a big splash can be done without excess.
For Eve and Max, we strive to capture these free spirits, embracing different beauties with a caring, quiet luxury, allowing each woman's inner supermodel to shine through.
]]>To anyone who questions society's rapid transition into a heavily digitalized space, where things like NFTs (non-fungible tokens), cryptocurrency and blockchain technology consume our everyday, Francine Ballard quips, "It will be just like the Internet. People might not understand how it works exactly, but they use it."
Ballard is the Houston-based CEO of House of Web3, which sells jewelry and apparel that is tied to unique digital assets. (Think wearable 18K gold jewelry, plus a digital art component featuring the jewelry in its design.) A longtime fashion editor, she launched the company in April 2021 after discovering how blockchain technology relates to her interest in luxury resale. "With blockchain, you can assign royalties and digital smart contracts, which is what an NFT is," she says. "That royalty automatically tracks a product's amount over its lifecycle. You can't break it. It's indestructible, immutable and perpetual."
House of Web3 (HW3) has since collaborated on art and jewelry collections with Moda Operandi, Fred Segal and Sotheby's, with other big retailers on the horizon. It's an enormous testament to Ballard's success as an entrepreneur, especially in an industry where most key players are men. On the heels of a rebrand (from Metagolden) to accommodate the growing vision for her business, Ballard — a longtime friend and colleague of Max Trowbridge and an ardent supporter of Eve & Max — chats about our future as a digital society.
What was the initial consumer response to your first 'connected fashion' brand, Metagolden?
Proceeds from our first jewelry collection gave me the ability to reinvest in the business. Subsequent collections then oversold. Some people told me, women don't follow this, or they won't buy it, but they did. I was able to reinvest once again and rebuild the website to be Web3 compatible, meaning you can purchase with a credit card or crypto.
Describe your brand's recent evolution from Metagolden into its new name, House of Web3.
We launched as a jewelry brand, which was perfect two years ago when we were the first movers in the space. We've now been fortunate to collaborate with fashion brands and artists, and I want to broaden my offering to our consumers via apparel. We have big plans to push the boundaries further and incorporate a centralized community into our House of Web3 platform with our Founders Membership Pass this month. We are where digital and IRL fashion converge.
Why does Web3 — the latest iteration of the Internet after the more static Web1 and social-driven Web2 — appeal to you so much?
The metaverse is powered by blockchain (a more immersive version of the Internet). It is decentralized and self-sovereign. Individuals have the power, just like an entrepreneur. Everyone is funding growth for something, and they benefit from it as well. There are financial incentives to participate. When you buy a digital membership token, you are buying into collective ideals. The power of the community is what will push the next project forward.
What will House of Web3 offer?
Apparel and jewelry tied to unique digital assets like 'wearables' which you can wear in VR (virtual reality), or opulent filters that you can wear in AR (augmented reality) on your social feeds (Instagram, Snapchat).
Let's talk more fashion with your favorite Eve & Max pieces.
I have so many! The one shoulder jumpsuit, the hoodies, the silk pants… I'm always traveling for work and talking about sustainability, and I want to stand behind what I'm talking about. Eve & Max is a brand I believe in. One day soon- with everything you wear you'll have the capability to trace how it was sourced and produced. Max launched her product with that in mind- telling the story of the garment, where it came from, what materials were used. It's about accountability.
Why does the Eve & Max brand resonate with you?
Max is a dynamo. She doesn't wait for answers or solutions to come to her- she creates them. She's wildly inventive and entrepreneurial and her designs are uniquely artistic. I think she's really, way ahead of the curve with what she's doing. That's what inspires me about her brand and what I hope to accomplish with my own.
We consider Eve to be nurturing, with a natural nod to a maternal strength. The name, Evelyn, was given to both of Max's grandmothers and given to Max as her middle name. Samudra's mother was also a nurturing presence in his life and influential in his fashion career, as he drew early inspiration from her fashion magazines and sense of style. With Eve & Max, Samudra and Max nurture their love for creativity and artistic expression while developing authentic client relationships, experiencing the journey of conscious consumerism and building a sustainable business model.
Our clients are Eve; you are our muse. Deep-thinkers, progressive nurturers, and passionate women who are consciously aware of the impact and legacy of your life choices. You're inspired by styles and silhouettes crafted for lasting beauty and quality. Because of this life appreciation, you believe in impactful dialogues, just as we do.
In our Conversations series, we share stories that inspire, admire and punctuate our mindset with mindful anecdotes from trailblazers, innovators and disruptors who embody the sentiments of Eve in their unique ways. Representing the best in their industries and deeply devoted to their personal and professional pursuits, these inspiring women respect the planet and strive to protect their environment. They care about their consumption, whether related to nutrition, media, finance, art or the clothes curated in their wardrobes. We hope you love their stories of translating passion into real actionable change.
Collectively, we are all Eve — women who understand that to create a beautiful life, we must first be beautiful human beings, beautiful souls. Contributing to life meaningfully and being conscious about consumerism is the root of intentionality to nurture our future. Like sustainability and philanthropy, conscious consumerism is a significant way to contribute to the betterment of our surroundings while supporting those we love and those we don't know. When we are intentional with our choices, a beautiful life can begin to take shape. Eve can be found within all of us as a source of accountability for owning our beliefs and as a muse for inspiring us to be authentic in everything we do.
]]>Dubbed Blue Inferno, this collection translates Williams' complicated yet delicate acrylic on canvas work onto loosely tailored and printed silk shirt-dresses, blouses and pants. On the eve of the collection's debut, we spoke with Williams about everything from his love-hate relationship with gardens to his circuitous journey to becoming an artist — and the little laugh we should all give to the rare-air realms of fine art and fashion.
Before we talk about fashion, tell me a little about how you approach your work. I make very graphic work. It always involves computers and CNC machines in their design and making — but it also involves a fair amount of intuition and chaos in the painting step. I'm an artist — but at one point in my life, I was a passable software developer. I am pretty math-y for an artist and pretty systematic. I tend to develop a system and then execute it over and over until I've exhausted any power I see left in it.
Your collaboration with Eve & Max isn't your first foray into applying your art to the world of fashion. I made Erin Cluley (Erin Cluley Gallery) a painting of her wearing her wedding dress, which turned out pretty good, so I did some floral dresses. My wife and I had been going on walks in parks, looking at flowers, and taking pictures of them. (I'm not a big garden guy. My parents are landscape architects, and I grew up going to every garden in the country.) I brought the pictures of the flowers into Adobe Illustrator and started layering in my painting technique, getting more chaotic by adjusting the splatter.
So, the work evolved and took on its own life. Working with the super-splatter and the stencils added some chaos to the work. I made several red ones that were like various kinds of infernos. Even though they were floral images with spray paint, they became this otherworldly fire landscape.
And so came the starting point for the work that inspired Blue Inferno. When Max and I started talking about this project, Max had selected one of those paintings, but it was red — and she wanted blue. So, I made some color changes in Photoshop. I added more splatter. Then, I played with it to make it into a pattern, which is pretty challenging, creating from a painting to a pattern, so I had to add more chaos to it to make it work. There's some real splatter; then there's some Photoshop air-brush splatter, and then there are some actual flowers, but it's pretty far separated from the source material.
How was it working collaboratively with a fashion designer? When you're an artist, you spend a lot of time on your own, but I like the company of people, and I enjoy looking at fashion and talking to people about it.
You mention chaos quite a bit as it pertains to your work. How do you define that? When I talk about chaos in this sense, I'm talking about noise in the image. The funny thing is, of course, it isn't chaos at all; it's planned. There are things you don't know how they will turn out — and those create some noise. And then, you add noise on your own, which is kind of cheating but totally fine. All art is lying and cheating. You create these systems — and there is truth in those systems — but you break the rules every time to get where you wanted to in your head originally. Theoretically, you give yourself to the process and the machine, and then you steal it right back.
It's closer to photography than painting — it's about processing images. But the reality is, it's paint. In the end, I'm making many decisions, and I can't say that I'm letting chaos do what I want.
How did textile choice, pattern and the human body impact your work for Eve & Max? It's all very flowy and fluid. That lends itself to a lot of different patterns. In a way, it makes itself compatible with whatever design you choose, but there's also a comfort level embedded in that work. It's an elevated comfort, and it's not a cheap comfort. These are not sweatpants. But they're sort of elevated sweatpants, in a way.
What are the differences between being the artist and the consumer? Being an artist means you can never afford your art and can never really access expensive clothes. There is this dichotomy between having access and having the means: It's about intellectual access versus physical access. You're often surrounded by many people who have had enormously different lives than yours.
When did you first feel called to make art? I'm from Fort Worth, Texas. I remember going on a field trip to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth when I was 12 years old. I remember there were three Ellsworth Kelly works right when you walked in — three monochrome canvases. I remember they were very simple, very overwhelming. And, you know how people see art, that it's minimal, and they think, "Oh, my kid can do that. It's bullshit." Well, I saw that and thought, "Wow. I can do that! That's awesome." I loved their audacity, and I fell in love with those works. I've always loved museums, but there was something about that moment that I thought, "I think I can do this."
And it all played out from there? I went to school and got an art degree, but I assumed that wouldn't be my job. So, I went out in the world and started getting corporate jobs. I worked in sales, inside sales, project management, and production management, and I ran a screen-printing shop for a company that got sold to Amazon. All the time, I'm working as an artist's assistant and going to The Chinati Foundation in Marfa and making paintings at home, assuming no one will see them.
Not the most direct way to pursue an art career... After [the company I worked for] was bought by Amazon, I had a year's worth of money saved, and I taught myself computer programming and started writing art criticism. After a year of that and visiting every gallery in town, I started taking my painting a little more seriously. Erin Cluley did a studio visit with me — and since then, I haven't really looked back. I realize I had been trying to do it my whole life, but I never planned for it whatsoever. It just came to me. The work got good, but luck lined up just right to make it work, so I just got there when I needed to get there.
How do you view fine art and fashion's differences (and similarities)? Are there trends in fine art? Certainly, but fashion is structured for trends because of the various seasons and shows. It is structured for resale and changing so we can sell more — although I know part of the Eve & Max brand is against that. Art is not really structured that way.
Do you consider fashion to be fine art? Certainly, fashion is an art form. Is it fine art? It really depends. To a certain degree, commercials are art; pornography is art. The question is: Is it good? There are also some good commercials. Fashion is an art form with a lot of commercial weight driving it, which art allegedly doesn't have because we have these apparatuses (museums, academia) that allegedly prevent that from happening. I think fashion can be a lot sillier, but it can also take itself seriously. Fine art is very serious but laughs at itself a lot — in the back room, at least. I think fashion is the other way. It's laughing at itself less, but it's a seemingly frivolous thing.
Zeke Williams is represented by Erin Cluley Gallery in Dallas, and will be presenting at Untitled Art Fair during Miami Art Basel, 2022.
]]>The lunch commenced with a little shopping of Eve & Max, followed by deep-dive conservations between Eva and me, into how our businesses consider the positive impact of conscious consumerism. It’s easy to get lost in the overwhelming, almost desperate sense of how we can all support our world, the environment, people, and causes. In my small way, this is why I created Eve & Max, to participate, to offer my modest contribution to the world.
The world needs love and attention every day; however, breaking it down to compartmentalize into small ideas helps support more significant agendas. And by that, I mean how we function every day, our shopping habits, how we consume everything, especially how we shop for fashion, and how we use our money for good.
The attending ladies also shared life experiences about their careers and what conscious consumerism means to them. It was a pleasure to listen to comments by Kasey Lunquist Reiter, general partner of Rise Ventures, Jenn Kenning, CEO of Align Impact, from Vasser Seydel, director at The Oxygen Project, Nicole Neeman Brady, principal at Renewable Resources Group, and Dulari Amin, board member at Beyond Capital Fund, such an inspiring gathering of entrepreneurially-minded women, all of who are contributing and making an impact in their respective worlds.
If you would like to become an ambassador of the Beyond Capital Fund, do visit BCF for more details. Lastly, if we can all make small changes to our shopping habits, collectively, we can all make an impact.
]]>With the recent debut of her first book, I asked my dear friend Eva Yazhari, CEO of Beyond Capital Fund and author of The Good Your Money Can Do, to share her powerful, thought-provoking sentiments on social impact investing. Essentially a guide on how to apply good intentional efforts to your social impact mindset and your financial investing. If this is a topic you know nothing about but always intrigued to learn more, then this is a good read for you.
What does Beyond Capital do, and what is social impact investing?
Beyond Capital is an impact investment fund founded on the core belief that the true power of investing lies in aligning one's money with one's values. Especially now, in the era of a global pandemic and the movements for racial, social, and economic justice, investing with our values front and center are paramount to achieving more equity and integrity in our societies.
When I founded Beyond Capital in 2009, we set a clear mission: to demonstrably and sustainably improve the quality of life and standard of living for consumers at the bottom of the economic pyramid. We centered our efforts on India and East Africa, where the lack of access to basic goods and services is one of the world's most pressing issues. We then honed our focus even further to select social enterprises working in healthcare, food security, financial inclusion, clean energy, and sanitation, where we felt we could make the most impact.
To date, we've built a successful 12-year track record. Our investments have reached more than 8 million people, 5.9 million of them women, living in the world's most impoverished communities, with every $1 we invest impacting the lives of over 20 individuals.
This is the essence of social impact investing -- an investing strategy that focuses on companies, organizations, and funds to generate social impact alongside financial returns.
How does your investing align with your personal purpose?
After starting my career and spending more than a decade working in private equity and investment banking on Wall Street, I was inspired by the moral philosopher Peter Singer and his influential book, The Life You Can Save. I am fortunate to have a family history of public service and was motivated to follow in my grandfather's footsteps after hearing stories of his time spent operating a health clinic in the 1950s and 1960s in East Africa. I have been endlessly inspired by his example of how giving back can fuel a life filled with purpose. I knew I wanted to create an organization that would marry money with meaning.
The values that drive us to do good are different for everybody. The areas I wish to contribute toward are gender equality, zero poverty, diversity and inclusion, climate action, and education—all in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals. To begin defining your values and areas of focus, start by examining your upbringing. It is likely that what you grew up to care about—and what your family raised you to value—will have shaped your own beliefs.
You just launched your debut book, The Good Your Money Can Do; what inspired you to write this book, and what can we learn?
I was inspired to write The Good Your Money Can Do based on my own experiences with navigating the world of impact investing. When I left my Wall Street career to dive into the then-nascent world of impact investing, I was met with skepticism and, worse yet, dismissal by investment advisors. So, I conducted my research, shifted my mindset, and questioned the status quo. I stayed determined in the face of naysayers and remained hopeful in the community I found and built of those investors who shared my mission.
My goal for The Good Your Money Can Do is to serve as a playbook for anyone interested in becoming more aligned in their investments and values. I hope my journey will inspire readers to ask themselves how they can un-tap the potential of their money to make a lasting positive impact in the world. As I write in the book, "think of conscious investing not just as asking more of your money, but also asking more of yourself."
How can women consider investing for good?
A recent survey at a private bank showed that 90 percent of women surveyed indicated that they want to invest at least a portion of their wealth in a manner that aligns with their values.
Even well into the 21st century, there remains a persistent stigma that keeps us from talking openly about our finances to our family, friends, classmates, and colleagues. There is also a historical tendency for money to be a man's business (this is still common thinking in many parts of the world), leaving women and children out of the conversation. This phenomenon persists despite the increasing parity between the wealth of men and women, with women controlling 51 percent of the wealth in the United States and representing an increasingly greater share in the coming decade. Still, a UBS study found that the millennial women surveyed exhibited less financial independence than the women it surveyed in the baby boomer generation.
Investing platforms such as Ellevest streamline the process for new and seasoned investors who care about social returns as much as financial returns. Ellevest CEO Sallie Krawcheck and her work in empowering female investors served as inspiration for The Good Your Money Can Do.
How does your book and work ethic identify with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals from a fashion consumption aspect?
Leaders at the United Nations unveiled this set of seventeen goals in 2015 in the hopes of creating a more equitable and sustainable world by 2030. These goals are focused on ending poverty, fighting inequality, and addressing climate change. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) serve as reference categories around which investors can design their intended social and environmental impact and envision what is possible.
Goal number 12 is Responsible Consumption and Production, which new sustainable brands like Eve & Max are addressing. However, fashion consumption addresses many more SDGs, including Goal 1, No Poverty; Goal 5, Gender Equality; Goal 13, Climate Action, making it a perfect starting point for a consumer who wants to align multiple personal values with their conscious consumerism.
I also recently spoke with Marci Zaroff of ECOFashion Corp on The Beyond Capital Podcast. Marci is an eco-lifestyle pioneer who coined the phrase "eco-fashion" in 1995. Since then, she has built a "greenhouse of brands", including a range of lifestyle companies that empower conscious consumers and businesses to live more sustainably without sacrificing style, comfort, or affordability.
Sustainability is shifting from the fringes of mainstream culture to its very center, and we all have a part to play in the transition. There are win-win solutions for investors, consumers, and producers to use all resources for good.
Before becoming a conscious investor, how can we become conscious individuals?
Being a more conscious individual means examining where we're focusing our time, energy, and, yes, our finances. We live in a special time when purpose and meaning are shining through to every area of life—both in the day-to-day choices and the momentous decisions we all make as human beings sharing this planet.
The first step to becoming a more conscious individual is to think about what truly matters to you and your values. Perhaps you are passionate about saving our world's oceans and their ecosystems from plastic waste. Maybe your focus is on making healthcare more equitable across the globe. Or, you are centered on supporting women-led businesses. By homing in on those issues and what you can do to help find solutions, you can be more intentional and effective in all of your efforts. From there, you can recognize the importance of living your life by leading with your values and practice being wealth conscious by setting your idea of wealth to one of abundance.
Being wealth conscious is a mindset that connects money and meaning. I have found that there is a direct correlation between giving back and success. Wealth consciousness is rooted in the viewpoint or mentality through which someone views wealth. A Sufi proverb states: "Abundance can be had by consciously receiving what you already have." Put simply, abundance and lack are typically two sides of the wealth consciousness spectrum. We can choose to appreciate what we have in our lives, be intentional and purposeful with how we spend our time, earn a living, and impact the world, often bringing greater meaning beyond ourselves. On the other end of the spectrum, we experience a lack if our only goal is to make money without regard for purpose. In that case, no amount will ever be enough.
Part Two in your book discusses how to become a discerning consumer. Please highlight your best thoughts on achieving this?
How to be a conscious individual also applies to being a discerning consumer: It begins with defining your values. What are you passionate about? Concretely, if you care about the climate emergency, stop using single-use plastics today. Yet, do not beat yourself up if you cannot do it all at once. You can also advocate for large companies to do more and provide better options.
Know what you own and review your options carefully to ensure your resources are being invested in line with your values. It also helps to surround yourself with a community that supports your impact goals. As the famous Max Lucardo quote says, "No one can do everything, but everyone can do something."
You've interviewed many inspiring entrepreneurs and CEOs with businesses that focus on good via your Conscious Investor magazine and podcast. Name a few companies and leaders that would inspire us and why?
We've had the honor of talking with several purpose-driven leaders such as Ian Walker of Left Coast Naturals, Jeffrey Brown of Brown's Super Stores, Suzanne Lerner of Michael Stars, and Ajaita Shah of Beyond Capital portfolio company Frontier Markets.
I admire fashion entrepreneur Suzanne Lerner so much. Lerner exemplifies the notion of acting in accordance with one's values. When Lerner founded her company, Michael Stars, which became a well-known brand in the eighties, she did so with the value of women's equality foremost in her mind. Aside from using her status as CEO to amplify her voice, Lerner also reflects her values in other ways. Her company, Michael Stars, for instance, produces T-shirts with the statement "Feminism Is for Everybody." Further, her investment portfolio is 100 percent aligned with her values.
Suzanne does not stop there, however. She is politically active and wants to help change policy to make a difference for diversity in corporations and gender rights across the board. With her political activism, she supports LGBTQ+ rights and racial equality as well. Her active citizenry work has become a natural extension of her values in the same way her business and portfolio are. Now, you can benefit from her example by applying her approach to multiple areas of your life.
These inspiring leaders are all changing paradigms in what it means to run a social enterprise. Ajanta's story with Frontier Markets is also particularly fascinating. She is redefining work for rural women in building a company that can scale across rural India quickly.
How can investors and consumers avoid greenwashing?
At Beyond Capital, we conduct a rigorous due diligence process into each of the companies we seek to invest in; it's a critical part of our investment framework. Our Director of Social Impact, my friend Matt Raimondi, is also an Associate Director at Sustainalytics, a research, ratings, and analytics firm that tracks the Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) efforts of more than 12,000 global companies in emerging and developed markets.
Unfortunately, the phenomenon of greenwashing is present in impact investing, as it is in the world of consumer products; this is why it is crucial to implement your values directly, rather than converting your resources to generically categorized impact investments. Clear values create a compass that can guide your decisions and set a benchmark for measuring success. In other words, you need to do your homework.
It is essential to keep a keen eye and an open mind to build a portfolio that truly matches your values. Some simple common questions to ask are how does the business make money? Does the company's business model add up to a sustainable and profitable business? Are its activities extracting or creating value for the stakeholders?
What are your best suggestions on how we can be productive citizens of climate change?
It is important to acknowledge that our actions do not exist in a vacuum. If you are not aware of this, then even the most well-intentioned efforts risk doing more harm than good from time to time. A critical component of creating a positive impact is understanding the environment in which you are acting.
Life is a series of personal choices, and as an active citizen, your choices have broad effects on your surrounding environment. Investing the wrong way or not knowing what your money is doing is a personal choice as well—and these choices can have lasting consequences, as is evident when considering issues such as climate change or lack of diversity.
By recognizing that all of our actions have consequences—and no investment is neutral—and we can spend our time, money, and resources on organizations contributing toward a cleaner, safer, healthier planet. Once you start living, consuming, and investing in a purpose-driven way, it isn't easy to turn back.
]]>While in the planning stages for the collection, founder Maxine Trowbridge stumbled upon an article about the Rainforest Foundation and its work to halt deforestation of the Amazon. It seemed the perfect fit: After all, the collection is largely inspired by contemporary artist Adam Ball's painting of an abstracted rainforest landscape, which comes to life as a pink print atop silk charmeuse dresses, kimonos and more. Not to mention, lending a conscious eye toward sustainability and respecting the environment is always at the core of Eve & Max's business model.
Max reached out to the foundation and was promptly connected to executive director Suzanne Pelletier, a dynamic leader who has led the Rainforest Foundation since 2009. We caught up with Suzanne to learn more about the foundation's work and understand how it empowers indigenous people living in the rainforest to protect their land. What we discovered was all at once thought-provoking and insightful. The bottom line? Efforts to preserve human rights and the environment must go hand-in-hand — and the time to act is, without a doubt, now.
The Rainforest Foundation has an exciting and star-studded founding story. Sting is at the core of it all.
Over 30 years ago, Sting was on tour with Amnesty International. He was introduced to an indigenous leader from Brazil — chief Raoni Metuktire a Kayapo leader — and the chief told him about a dam that was going to be built that would dissipate his territory. He invited Sting to come to visit his territory. At that point, Sting saw what the implications would be if this dam were built — it would have destroyed the chief's community — so Sting understood and came to learn the importance of why the community was pushing for the rights to manage their territory.
From that point, Sting tried to work to develop the first privately funded territorial reserve in Brazil. It was the first time that private funds helped create a protected area for indigenous people — not a national park, but to help the community get its territorial rights through the legal system. It was the beginning of what's called rights-based conservation: working with local communities to assert their rights, and then, as a result, forests and the environment are protected.
Much has evolved in the foundation's 30-year history, but has the mission of empowering indigenous people to protect the forest remains the same?
The Rainforest Foundation was the first international organization to take that approach. Now we see over the decades more and more research has come back showing that it's the most effective strategy you can take to stop deforestation. We now know that the deforestation rates on indigenous territories where the indigenous people have secured land rights are about one-third less than the deforestation rate on other land types. We pushed forward that approach, and we've always maintained a strong connection to indigenous leaders and communities — and we've always worked in partnership with those communities.
Over the years, we've focused consistently on land-titling with communities and always providing direct financing to the communities doing the work themselves. We're not focused on building up big teams in the US or within those countries. We have an adequate staff level to do our work. Still, we really try to support the local indigenous movement as much as possible through direct financing of their work, technical training and capacity training.
We've now grown into a network. There's two other Rainforest Foundations, one is in the UK, and one is in Norway. Collectively, we work in Asia, Africa and Latin America. We've helped title over 33 million acres. We've also assisted with territorial monitoring on a much larger area with long-term protection for 33 million acres.
The foundation's goal is to "protect nature and human rights." Often, people forget that these two issues go hand-in-hand.
When you look at where forests are protected, it's where indigenous peoples have rights. Often, they may have rights on the books in these countries, but they're not actually being enforced on the local level. So, there's a lot of illegal activity that happens: People come in and try to take indigenous peoples' resources.
Communities, if they assert their rights to their lands and their forests, they are the best protectors. We help communities understand their rights, assert their rights, make sure they can meet with government officials, know their rights, and push for them. We make sure they get the technical training to back up their case for what they're trying to push. All of those things go hand in hand, and they're mutually reinforcing.
And it's not just rights to territories: Indigenous people's cultures are so tied to their resources. If they lose their land, they lose their culture. So there's a powerful connection between the importance of indigenous people pushing for their rights to exist as people. Their rights to practice their own culture and religion and traditional practices go hand in hand with how they view their resources, and how they use them are a lot more sustainable than most people.
Humanity at large is facing that same critical question: How can we continue to survive and thrive if we're not taking care of the planet and the environment around us?
We're facing a point now that we've never faced before with climate change. The more we learn, the more we realize the clock is ticking, and we really have a few short years to take action. The United Nations and many countries are looking at 10-year goals — so by 2030, we have to meet certain criteria. But the reality is we need to start moving immediately towards those goals and contemplating our daily lives and values. We need to consider where all of our products come from, how all of our laws are created, and the values behind those laws and regulations. So far, we're not going to meet those goals. We have to move quickly!
Are these issues around climate change even more glaring in the Amazon?
In the Amazon, we have even less time because not only is climate change, in general, affecting the Amazon, but the Amazon is a potential driver of climate change. We usually think of the Amazon as this enormous carbon store, which it is, but that balance is tipping. Scientists have calculated that if we lose 20 to 25 percent of the rainforests, we would forever change much of the Amazon. It would flip to a savannah, meaning it would get so dry that those wet forests won't come back. Right now, we're at about a 17 percent loss. So, we're close to this tipping point. We don't have ten years to act in the Amazon, and we have to act immediately for that whole system to continue functioning. If we lose the Amazon, it'll be very hard for us to mitigate the climate crisis.
And it's not just about carbon and climate change?
The Amazon is an incredibly important source of global weather patterns and water, especially rainfall. The Amazon generates the majority of its own water, its own rain, just through the trees taking it up through the roots and then raining down. So, the more trees we cut down, the less water gets brought up, which means there's less rainfall. And that cycle is like a feedback loop. It not only affects South America — about 70 percent of the GDP of South American countries is dependent on water or rainfall from the Amazon. It's a substantial economic force in Latin America, and it also affects weather patterns in the southern United States and the Gulf of Mexico.
What is the biggest challenge facing the Amazon?
The main driver of deforestation is cattle ranching — absolutely number one. Seventy to 80 percent of all rainforest destruction is one way or another from the cattle industry — and then that usually leads to soy farms being planted. Whether it's on a big industrial scale or a small scale, that's the most significant driver. There's obviously illegal logging that affects deforestation, but when you look at the bigger scale, it's agriculture.
Cattle ranching is a huge industry and a big part of the culture and livelihood of people living in South America. How do you balance the industry's cultural and economic importance with the need to protect the forest?
We look at what works. We know what the drivers are, and they've been the same — cattle ranching and agriculture — for a long time. Brazil is the biggest country in the Amazon. It contains 60 percent of the rainforest, and that's where over 60 percent of the deforestation is happening, so let's talk about Brazil right now. Previously Brazil was able to cut its deforestation by about 80 percent just by doing a few things — and a lot of that had to do with law enforcement. They had strong laws and enforced them, and they had a robust monitoring system. Even though cattle ranching and agriculture is an enormous economic driver in that area, they were able to cut deforestation down that far. That's incredibly important. Government policy and enforcement are enormous.
It comes down to how we coexist with our environment: How can we thrive as human beings with our practices and the things that sustain us without destroying the earth as a result?
A lot of it comes down to personal decisions and knowing where your products come from, knowing you're not contributing to deforestation. It's not easy with a commodity. But the more that individuals can do that and the more that governments put conditions on the supply chains of the products coming into their countries, it can happen.
There are good examples, and in Brazil, there are good public policies that were pushed for deforestation-free beef that many big companies signed up for. It's a mix of individual consumers putting pressure on governments and companies to do enforcement of laws.
Max Trowbridge talks about this when discussing the reasons and ethos for why she launched Eve & Max. It's the idea that we can all do our little part and be conscious about sustainability. As an everyday consumer, what are some small, relatively painless steps we can take to support the Rainforest Foundation?
As much as you can try and know where the products you buy come from and the effects of those products, it's still difficult. But we have a responsibility as a consumer to do this as much as possible. Make sure that you elect elected officials who have your values, so they'll push for policies and regulations that reflect your values. That's enormous. Understand the issues. Vote with your wallet. And with your philanthropy, support organizations that are helping people that are actually on the ground doing the work to protect forests — that's important. Make sure your money goes to people that are going to use that money to protect forests.
Are you also working on scaling some interesting technological endeavors?
The next thing that we've been working on for several years and expanding is community-based monitoring with technology. When indigenous people integrate high-tech tools on deforestation analysis and monitoring with their traditional ways of governing and monitoring their territories, deforestation decreases dramatically. Time is of the essence. Now that we know what works, it's just a matter of trying to scale up as quickly as possible, leveraging relationships of indigenous federations and leaders across the region and trying to increase training and program support to get as many communities as possible to use this technology to protect the forest. It's cost-effective, and it works.
Is there much of a focus on reforestation?
For us, the most important thing to do is to protect as much forest as possible. It's the most effective and the cheapest way to protect the forest in the short term, but we also have to replant a lot in the Amazon. We are starting this year with reforestation on a small scale in some communities. We're doing some pilot projects at the community level and trying to develop a way that communities across the Amazon that are protecting their forest but have had part of it degraded over time, for one reason or another, can start trying to replant.
The last thing I'd say that's related to monitoring and reforestation: We're trying to develop a sustainable way to support those local projects across the Amazon, so we're developing a blockchain-based payment system for indigenous communities. We're helping them use satellite data to show forest cover in their community and use that as evidence to receive payments for their work to protect the forest.
It's interesting to imagine indigenous people, with their ancient traditions, interacting with such high-tech technology. Do you ever face pushback of integrating tech into their cultures?
We have been incredibly impressed with the quickness by which the indigenous leaders we've worked with have picked up the technological tools. A lot of young people are excited to be able to use these tools. We're helping train these community-based monitors — many of whom had never used a phone before — to learn how to use smartphones and customized apps. They're downloading and uploading maps and taking data points. It's incredible. We were also wondering what the older people would think about this new technology in the communities. I have spoken to many elders that have said their culture is constantly evolving and that technology is a way to help protect their culture. They're all for it. Many young people don't feel like there's an economic opportunity or job opportunity for them in their community, so many go to the city. This technology could be a way to engage them and keep them working at home to support their community.
Covid dominated the news cycle of 2020. Did you lose traction because climate change and the Amazon weren't as top of mind?
The news cycle was definitely crowded in 2020, and climate change and tropical-forest protection was absolutely not front and center. Now, juxtapose that next to 2019. In August, the fires in the Amazon were all over the papers globally — and last year, in 2020, the fires were worse! They were 10 to 20 percent worse, and they were barely covered — definitely not front-page news.
Even during Covid, when I think about a lot of the storytelling, it was: "Oh, the economy is shut down, so climate change must have reduced" and "Oh, the sky is blue again." But deforestation was up 10 percent last year, and no one was looking. People weren't out enforcing anything. That story barely got covered.
We tried to tell stories of what was happening in our communities related to Covid and trying to make that link between Covid and deforestation. It was kind of a different story than what they were thinking.
What is it about Eve & Max that made you agree to have the Rainforest Foundation be a beneficiary for this collection?
You could tell sustainability was a part of the DNA of the brand. It came out front and center in the story, the mission statement, and how Max developed the collection. It's all aligned with what companies could and should be doing. Eve & Max seemed like a great example of a company that's not just talking the talk, but it looks like Max is working on setting an example and running her business in a really ethical way.
I hope this is an opportunity for us to reach beyond our current audience — because our audience is converted, and they've probably changed some personal habits, and they're donating to an organization that's going to have an impact. The more we can reach beyond our people through partnerships like with Eve & Max, the better.
What is one fear that you have for the rainforest and the environment at large? And what is one hope that you have?
I fear that we don't act quick enough — and that people will become paralyzed by the enormity of the problem, and they won't realize that they can do something and that all it takes is for everyone to contribute.
And my hope is for young people. Something that also got lost in the news: Remember that incredibly optimistic Fall we had of young people with the climate strikes? They were influencing governments, and it was this inspiring moment of solidarity with young people around the world holding all the Boomers to account. I feel like that narrative got lost over the past year, but I have to remember that it gave me hope that young people can get motivated to do something, and adults respond.
What projects or campaigns are you focused on in 2021?
The most important thing right now is a continuation of 2020. We're trying to help our communities stay safe from Covid. Indigenous people were particularly at risk for Covid in South America because of the lack of healthcare, the lack of information and lack of medical supplies. That's been a big focus of ours with education, communication, and food. They shut off access to their communities to try and keep the virus out. Fingers crossed it doesn't last all that much longer, but we're realistic. That's number one. We have long term partnerships with communities, and we're trying to help them stay healthy.
What is the best way for us to support the work of the Rainforest Foundation?
Learning is number one and then supporting groups like ours that will directly support communities that are going to protect forests. It's not just us; it's a whole bunch of groups together that are going to help push for change and provide direct support. Donate to groups where you think they're having an impact.
Samudra had arrived to study fashion at the London College of Fashion, a passion he had felt called to pursue since his younger years spent poring over his mother's fashion magazines. It was there that Samudra met fellow fashion student Maxine Trowbridge and the two became fast friends.
Samudra and Max would continue their friendship long after their university studies ended: Samudra even designed and made the getaway outfit Max wore upon departing from her first wedding to her honeymoon. A pale gold satin, A-line mini skirt, and coordinating jacket, a silhouette reminiscent of the style of Claude Montana and Thierry Mugler. While the two have stayed in touch, despite oceans separating them physically, it is now — more than three decades later — that the duo has reunited professionally for the first time. Together, combining their penchant for design, Samudra and Max envisioned and created the debut collection for Eve & Max. As co-creative director for Collection Twenty One: Respair, Samudra lent his impeccable tailoring and technical abilities to a roster of 12 looks that are all at once elegant and intentionally designed for a sustainable future.
After decades working as a designer for fashion houses, the likes of Louis Vuitton, Hermès and Jean Paul Gaultier, Samudra's collaboration with Eve & Max serves as a welcome bit of serenity for the designer — and marks a chance for him to weave a sense of conscious beauty into fashion.
We recently caught up with Samudra, currently based in Paris, to talk about his journey from East Java to Paris' most renowned catwalks. What we discover is a designer in the truest sense of the word: one whose hard work and passion have guided him to hold a respect for craftsmanship, detail and aesthetic in the highest regard.
Tell me about your Indonesian upbringing. Did your childhood inform your interest in fashion and design?
I was born in East Java. When I was growing up, my earliest experiences with fashion and clothing were through my mother. At one point, my father traveled abroad, and when he returned, he brought my mother clothes and foreign magazines. To me, it was something that felt so exotic. The magazines were my earliest introduction to fashion. Of course, I didn't read English. I didn't speak English. I [eventually] learned at school, but I was just looking at the pictures from the beginning to the end. It was so exotic to me: the foreign language, the pictures; it was amazing and so eye-opening.
Isn't it incredible how a few magazines sparked what would eventually become your career?
It was my window to the world. And looking back, there was no Internet, no foreign magazines. As I grew older, there were more and more foreign magazines in town, but they were at least three months behind because Java is so far away. To me, it was really something. When I watched the news, it was not really to watch the news, but I was waiting for the end because there was always something afterwards relating to fashion or art. It was a glimpse into something more exciting to me. The newspaper would have small black-and-white pictures. I remember images of Yves Saint Laurent's latest collection in Paris — and from that newspaper-quality photo, it made me wonder and aspire to work in fashion.
You eventually pursued your dream and moved to London, where you attended the London College of Fashion and then the Royal College of Art.
My parents wanted us to have a better education, so they sent us to study in Australia. After I graduated [high school], my parents allowed me to choose fashion, which was a fantastic opportunity. I wanted to go to London because the fashion school sounded amazing. When I arrived, it was like I was living in a fashion magazine. Certainly, there were all of these big designer names around. And while I couldn't meet them, I could go to the stores to see their creations. It was like a dream come true for me.
You and Max Trowbridge, founder of Eve & Max, met at university?
With Maxine, we connected almost immediately. We would have lunch together in the canteen, and we would sit together. I still remember my time in London with her. Now, I have another chance to work with her. Being invited to be part of her project, I'm grateful for that. We don't see each other a lot, but our relationship is strong. When I arrived in London, I felt like she welcomed me. Although it was a long time ago, it's something I don't forget. There's something genuine about that.
London in the '90s was quite a time for fashion. It was a new era.
It was when Alexander McQueen had just started. It was early, early McQueen. John Galliano was very well known. At the time, I can remember Honor Frasier, Stella Tenant. The models were these aristocratic girls, but then you also had Kate Moss. Being a designer in London at that time was about being young — but being young didn't mean that you didn't look at history. John Galliano and Alexander McQueen are two great designers, and they never forget the past. They look to the past to create something new.
Who influenced you as a young designer?
At the time, I didn't understand what McQueen was doing, but I was lucky enough to see two of his shows in London. There was something about the technique as the foundation of his work — the tailoring. He takes the old tradition and plays with it. To me, London is still like that. London is not afraid of the past, and the young people still embrace it. That was inspiring to me.
You were at Louis Vuitton for six years, working as a women's and accessories designer under then creative director Marc Jacobs. How did you get a foot in the door?
Thanks to my former professor John Miles (and he's not the only one), I am here today. He put my name on the list. At the time, Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs contacted the Royal College of Art and asked my professor for recommendations — and my name was on the list with other ex-Royal College of Art students. Could you imagine? How generous. For him, it was simply giving a recommendation, but it was very, very important for me. Without that, I wouldn't be here today. My father reminds me about this sometimes. There is no way that we could have planned this career. My father could send me to fashion school in London, but he couldn't find me a job at Louis Vuitton or Hermès.
What an incredible experience it must have been, being so young and working for a fashion house with such pedigree and gravitas.
When I started at Louis Vuitton, I was the youngest on the team. It was an amazing time. I did a lot of things that seem insignificant, but looking back, it was a big experience, learning how to start from zero. I started working with Marc [Jacobs] to help develop the tag and trying to adapt the LV monogram and deciding what the code of the womenswear would be. It was trying to know the house's heritage, and then we would play with it in fashion.
Any memorable moments from your time with Louis Vuitton?
Right at the beginning — I don't know if you remember — for the very first Louis Vuitton womenswear collection runway show, Marc decided to do something very luxurious: silk, cashmere, no logo, no bag (well, there was one messenger bag), and everything was white. Everything was luxurious and discreet. There were double-faced cashmere skirt, coats. In one of the interviews, he mentioned that he didn't want the first collection to look like an airport carousel, but after that, little by little, he embraced the heritage and the studio started to be more playful with it. I worked a lot on the accessories with Marc, and it was an interesting experience. He was always asking: What kind of heels would go with this length. It was back and forth: clothes and accessories. I stayed until Takashi Murakami's collaboration. I was there when Marc invited Stephen Sprouse to do the spray paint on the monogram.
From Louis Vuitton, you went to Hermès. Talk about moving from one iconic French fashion house to another.
Before I joined Hermès, I had an introduction to the world of Hermès through Marc Jacobs. He knows so much about Hermès — and he would often talk about the iconic bags. When I started coming to Paris, Yasmin Le Bon, Naomi Campbell, they would all mix something they bought at Camden Market, but they would wear it with a Birkin bag. They would just carry it as if it were a tote bag. I love those kinds of looks.
Through Hermès, you first met Jean Paul Gaultier — he was artistic director for the house at the time.
In 2003, when Mr. Gaultier was appointed artistic director of Hermès, and it was recommended to me that I contact him. So that's how I had my first interview with Mr. Gaultier. When I heard back from him, it all went very quickly. At the time, Mr. Gaultier had so many collections: menswear, womenswear, couture, plus Hermès. I couldn't believe it: Hermès is such an amazing house, and Gaultier is such an amazing designer, but they cannot be more opposite, could not be more different. It was another amazing experience for me. Louis Vuitton was an international company, but it was very clear that Hermès was a French company. Everyone spoke French. It was incredible to work with Gaultier from his first collection to his last collection. He was there for seven years. I was there for seven years.
Aesthetically and technically, working for Hermès must have been a true education.
Hermès is not only about leather, but it is also about cotton and linen — and Gaultier is happy working with cotton, linen, cashmere and wool. We were trying to find the finest cotton, the finest linen. Those years were formative because it wasn't just about making expensive clothes. It was about quality and process. It was also about trying to be respectful and not just touching the amazing material but also being respectful of the time it takes to make the clothes — we didn't do anything at the last minute. At Hermès, we had time to breathe.
After Gaultier left Hermès, you stayed with him, working for his namesake brand.
When the collaboration ended in 2010, he offered me to come work with him 100 percent for his collection. Mr. Gaultier is someone who is strong technically. He loves playing with the traditional elements. He's not afraid of history. He's great at tailoring, but he's also great at dresses. At Hermès, he loved working on leathers, knitwear, using exotic skins. He's someone who is curious, and it was enriching for me.
How did Gaultier's artistic expression influence you?
I could say about working with him at his own house for the past ten years that it's the creativity that is so important; it's the fire, and it's the inspiration. He opens different worlds to me through research and books. He would ask me to look at certain things, and then I would go very far. That's part of the job that I like. Also, it has become a discipline; it's like a habit that I will research and look at things and be open-minded — to be very curious.
Where do you find inspiration these days?
Right now, I find contemporary art and contemporary dance inspiring. Through contemporary art and contemporary dance, I can see how these artists and choreographers find inspiration from what's around us and make something beautiful or make something provocative. Through art, I can find the answers to certain questions of what's going on today. I don't always understand the movement, but I find it inspiring because I don't understand it immediately. Subconsciously, all of this will come back again and influence my work in fashion.
Art and fashion continue to blend more and more. Do you find fashion to be fine art?
The one similarity between fashion and fine art is that you can live without it, but life is so much better with it. We don't need them, but it would be so boring without art and fashion. Fine art is something you admire. Fashion is something you have to wear. You live with it differently. Fashion is more personal. A painting, a sculpture? You can live with them. But fashion has to be practical if women want to wear them.
What makes you excited about collaborating with Eve & Max?
First and foremost, it's because of Maxine. Both of us have had a feeling that we should do something together. Thanks to Maxine's clear vision, it has come together. I like how it's progressing, almost naturally. Working with Maxine brings me back to the London times. We don't live in the same city, but we still have the same connection, which is amazing. I'm so happy that she invited me and that she wanted me to be part of it. We worked together on this collection, and I'm excited to see where it will take us.
Is there a specific piece from the new collection that you think will resonate with women?
What comes to mind is this T-shirt sweatshirt: It looks like a sweatshirt that you cut the sleeves off of, and it's a V-neck to make it very easy and practical. The idea is from a T-shirt sweatshirt, but everything is lined in silk. In one of the photographs, the sleeve is rolled up, so there's something quite casual about it. What Eve & Max has to offer is very relaxed, yet everything is lined in silk. It's not like a normal sweatshirt that people wear to do sport. It's something familiar, but it's not a copy of something produced in mass quality. The first piece is in pink. It's very delicate and combined with a full skirt. It's sporty, and there's something quite casual about it — but not casual negligence.
What do you feel we will see in terms of trends in the business of fashion going forward?
One of the reasons that I got excited about this project is that both Max and I like something that is quite quiet. It seems to me that the fashion world, before the pandemic, was screaming. Everything was louder, bigger — and I like that Eve & Max focuses. It's more a whisper rather than a scream. I quite like that idea. We've been through quite a lot — and I went through certain times feeling like my job is really unnecessary. My dream is that in the future, people in fashion will design something more and more towards sustainability.
Going back to the conversation we had earlier, we have to ask the question, "Is this respectful?" It's a complex subject, sustainability, but if people or companies practice it more, I think we will get somewhere. It's so complex, and I don't have all the answers, but ideally, it would be good for fashion to have a certain responsibility rather than just producing a new collection and saying this is a new look. It's not enough to just produce a new silhouette. It used to be like that, but it's not relevant today. I really like the idea that Maxine and I don't pretend to have the answers, but both of us really want to touch on this issue of being more responsible step by step. We don't have the means to change the world, but we can play a part in it.
]]>It is late afternoon London time, and we have given contemporary British artist Adam Ball a buzz. He takes our call from his studio, a place where he has spent an extraordinary (and unexpected) amount of time since the world first went into pandemic-related lockdowns a year ago.
We're on the line to chat with Adam about his latest collaboration — a work created specifically for Eve & Max's newest collection. The work is quintessentially Adam: Energetic and observational in nature, the oil and acrylic painting transforms various shades of pink into abstracted elements that recall a densely wooded landscape. The work, titled Respair, was commissioned specifically by Eve & Max founder Max Trowbridge and comes to life printed atop silk charmeuse for dresses, kimonos, camisoles and more.
While the work certainly takes its color inspiration from notions of hope and joy that we all hope to embody as the world looks to re-open post-pandemic, its natural landscape motif was inspired by the rainforest — one of the world's most beautiful and most endangered habitats. Respair emerged after Max and Adam discussed at length the vision for and usage of the work. The result is a piece of art that is not only artistically aligned with Adam's creative ethos — but one that would reproduce effortlessly when employed for textiles on Max's designs. The result is the purest form of fine art and fashion colliding.
Adam is known for his richly detailed work that combines nature and abstraction in large-scale formats. His compositions result from closely observed source material, from images of his own DNA to digital mappings of human movement. The intricate and evocative works provide a decidedly modern view of nature in a 21st Century, technological world.
Here, a snapshot of our conversation, which ranged from a discussion on the importance of finding one's voice to the things we miss most about viewing art in person.
First and foremost, how have you been holding up in London during lockdown?
The upside of lockdown has been that I've been able to refocus and build a new body of work. I usually do a lot more travelling, exhibiting and all the stuff that comes with putting shows on. I would normally do four to six exhibitions a year, at least one solo and maybe two and a couple group shows. I was all set up to do that [in 2020], and, like most people's world, it all got cancelled from March onward. I'm quite excited and inspired to create this work in such an uninterrupted time.
How did this collaboration with Eve & Max occur?
I've known [Eve & Max founder] Max for quite a long time. I've exhibited at MTV Re:Define. I've had a relationship with Dallas for years through Kenny Goss and the Goss-Michael Foundation. I had my first show in Dallas, with what was then the Goss Gallery in 2007. I love Dallas. Max knows my work and owns my work. When she asked if I would create something for her collection, I was quite excited. We've had many calls and discussions, and therefore, it's given us the time to work out what we're doing and what we want to say. I specifically made a piece for her for this project.
What is the painting Respair inspired by, and what methods do you use?
The starting point for Respair was the Taman Negara rainforest in Malaysia, where I had spent some time trekking and documenting what I saw. When Max invited me to collaborate, I wanted to create an edited version of this experience, reflecting nature's life and energy. I created the painting from black and white images so the colour is freed from any formal representations and can be solely used to express the vibrancy of life, recapturing a positive, euphoric connection with nature at a moment when we most need it. I also added a pattern, inspired from old Victorian wallpaper, that was methodically painted in oil as a reference to the vastness of a rainforest stretching out in all directions, but something that would also work well as a repeated pattern printed on silk and echoed ad infinitum.
The art world has been particularly challenged by lockdowns and COVID-19.
While the art world has been in quite a bit of trouble and significantly disrupted, I think there's quite a lot of people out there who are still interested in art, still looking at art and still buying art. But I [sympathize with] my friends in the music world or the theatre world, or those who are just starting out in an art-world career. It's just so hard.
How has your work evolved since your earliest years as an artist?
The work I'm making now is almost unrecognizable and is very different from what I was making at the beginning of my career. I quite like experimenting. I'm constantly pushing [boundaries] with materials or processes. I make a body of work, and then that informs the next body of work. I always want to push myself and see what I can do — and so that's how one piece can lead to the next. But at the same time, I think it's crucial to evolve at a pace that allows your audience to still know the direction you're going.
Has Covid accelerated the pace at which your work has evolved?
Undeniably, it has had an impact. Because there are fewer distractions, more time in the studio and hardly any studio visits, I've been making slightly different types of work. Most creatives, at some stage, have some sort of creative block, and often, for me, it would come just after an exhibition. It was the most painful process. When you're drained after the previous exhibition, and you go back into the studio, it's really quite painful.
As I've got older, I've become better at dealing with that and predicting when it might happen. I've been doing that equally during lockdown — trying not to put myself too much under pressure. I've learned with time how to deal with some of the artistic uncertainties. But still, it was pretty demoralizing. At the beginning of last year, I had quite a lot of plans, and within a week, it was all cancelled.
You have worked with fashion designers in past collaborations, working with the late L'Wren Scott and shoe brand Clarks. What appeals to you about the intersection of art and design?
There's a very natural dialogue between the two. The thing about a great collaboration is when you combine A and B and end up with something you couldn't have got to on your own. I find it a great way to reach new territory. Being an artist is quite a solitary process, so collaborating is quite exhilarating.
Tell me about the work you did with L'Wren Scott. Your white-on-white cut-out works served as the backdrop for her Fall 2009 ready-to-wear collection.
All collaborations should be quite organic. My collaboration with L'Wren Scott was very much that way. [L'Wren's then boyfriend] Mick Jagger bought her a piece of mine. It hung in her studio, and it started influencing her collection. They got in touch and asked if I wanted to collaborate. We have a lot of the same views on attention to detail.
How did you and Max approach the work and how it would appear on a garment?
To me, the most critical thing is artistic integrity — and I don't mean that pompously. As an artist, if I'm going to do any type of collaboration, I need to do it for the right reasons — and those reasons must be art-led. So, we really discussed it and did it properly. I said, let's talk about what you're doing and what kind of work might fit and then I'll make a piece that makes sense.
Vivid color and an abstracted forest motif serve as important inspirations for the work you created for the collection. Tell me about the piece.
We wanted to make a piece that felt bright and optimistic. The painting is called Respair, which means "a return to hope." I wanted to create something that would also reproduce quite well. The use of color, imagery, the title, and the discussions we've had about the work have all come about because of Covid and lockdown. I wanted to make a piece that is a bit euphoric and joyful. It was very much a response to those feelings we're all trying to deal with and the uncertainty.
Do you consider fashion to be fine art?
I don't think I have a definitive answer. Artists now collaborate and work in many different fields in ways that they couldn't have done going back 50 or 100 years because it would have been seen as selling out. Artists now have a lot of opportunities to work with brands and do more commercial projects. But the kind of work an artist makes with the idea of exhibiting — when the art is made for that end, solely, rather than for product reasons — is a very different prong of the same thing.
Artists can and do collaborate, and the merging of the fine art and the fashion worlds continues to be blurred, but I still think fine art is very distinctive and separate. There's no negative to collaborating and trying out lots of prongs of your own artistic pursuits, but I think before you can merge with other disciplines, you have to get to a stage in your career as an artist where you find your voice. And it can take quite a long time. I think finding your voice is super important. Once you've found it, you know who you are and the kind of work you want to do.
Is it a question of whether or not you're making art for art's sake?
I worked on a large architectural creative project with HOK International. I made a work that sits on the outside of Royal Papworth Hospital in the U.K. It's public art, but it's structural, and being able to work on projects like that are great — but it's not something I could have done 10 years ago. You need to have a clear idea of the kind of work you want to do.
Can you pinpoint the moment you feel like you had found your voice as an artist?
By the time I did my first solo show in the U.S. in 2006, I had been making work permanently for 11 years. When I look back, it's roughly around then that I knew who I was as an artist. I think I had found the essence of what I was trying to do. There's a lot of resonance with what I was making then. When you first start as an artist, you've got to experiment, and frankly, you've got to look and borrow, make it your own and learn from your failings. You learn the kind of art you don't want to make and the kind of work you do want to make. And that takes time. Having the ability to let that happen slowly over time is really important.
Can you define the essence of your work that you just mentioned?
I have a belief that a narrative is really important in artistic pursuits. I think it's important that there's some background information, some depth and that I could discuss where the work came from. If I look back at my career, there is always some sort of underlying narrative. Although my work might have been much more landscape-based then, the things I grapple with now is still rooted in observation — in the landscape, the galactic level, the biological level.
What do you hope people feel or gain from viewing your work?
I try not to be too prescriptive about telling people where the work comes from or what it means. But I think it's important to understand the content and the narrative. I try to make work that, when viewed from two feet, is more interesting than when it is being viewed from 20 feet. As you get closer to my work, you get rewarded, and you get some sort of payback. It's about the surface and the subtlety. My work is fairly time consuming and painstaking. I make about 15 works a year, so many, many hours can go into one piece. Each artwork can look different from far away, and as you get closer, some of those processes become apparent — the layering, the surfacing. That's why I think exhibiting is so important — so you can see the layering of things.
Do you think art is more powerful when viewed in person?
That visceral reaction is stronger and more dynamic when art is viewed in person. I would hope that if I then spent a few minutes with someone looking at my work that the artwork would be more rewarding. All good art should be more interesting once you know a little bit of a background about the artist or the reason it was made. The visceral response is essential, but the background narrative should add to the viewer's experience.
What projects do you have on the horizon?
An exhibition this May in Bristol will finally open, and I'm doing another group show again in May in London, which has just been confirmed. One of the big shows I was going to do in May of last year now looks like it might happen in the middle of summer. The great joy will maybe be the great awakening when we can all come out of our lockdown, particularly in London, where it has been pretty dark and bleak. I'm hoping all of these projects may still get realized in one great big wave of creativity. But if Covid has taught us anything, it's let us not make any predictions.
A scroll through photographer Alexander Morgan's portfolio — or his Instagram, for that matter — will reveal images that carry a level of maturity and depth rarely seen from an artist who isn't yet 30-years-old. But after chatting with the 28-year-old photographer, who lives in Brooklyn, it becomes apparent that Morgan is wise for his years. He grew up a citizen of the world, with a childhood spent living in the US, Germany and South Korea. Equal parts creative and technical, Morgan studied computer programming before falling into photography — an artistic practice that soon became an obsession and a career.
In a nod to nostalgia and creative spontaneity, Morgan prefers film over digital photography. And while his work is dynamic, to be sure, it also embodies a profound stillness. The result is a perfect pairing of drama and solitude, with compositions that effortlessly pair shape and silhouette in a sublime world of carefully crafted light. Morgan aims to depict real women in moments of strength, exemplifying their natural beauty in a thoughtful and modern way. So when it came time to produce a campaign for Eve & Max's inaugural collection, founder Max Trowbridge knew Morgan would be the perfect lensman. We caught up with Morgan, post-shoot, to chat all things photography, inspiration in the time of Covid-19 and reshaping traditional definitions of beauty.
Before we dive into your work, tell me about your early years. You were a bit of a globetrotter.
My father was in the Air Force. So, I don't really have a hometown, per se. We moved every two or three years; we spent a lot of time on the east coast and in the south, and then went to Germany and South Korea. What I call my 'faux home' is Germany. My time living there really shaped me as a person. I was in the fifth grade, and we were in Stuttgart for three years. My parents pulled my brother and me out of the American school system — and we had to learn German and attend the German school in the local neighborhood where we were living.
That must have been quite the culture shock — especially for being so young.
My brother and I are half black and a quarter Indian. We were the only darker-skinned people there. It was a bit of a shock to be this poster American person in a European school, but everyone was super friendly and open. Having had that experience, I've always gravitated toward European culture, values and way of life. With work, I've been lucky to travel back to Europe a lot. It has shaped the aesthetic that I have, with anything from interior design to clothing.
How did you first fall in love with photography?
Funny enough, I went to college for computer programming. But I always had a creative background as a kid — I was always building things and making things. [Years later] when I was living in New York, a friend of mine who's a photographer would stay with me. He taught me the basics of how a camera works. He shoots all on film, and it was a huge learning curve. At some point, I decided to invest in a camera and try to learn it. It was by accident that I got really into photography. A good friend of mine from high school, who used to take photos of us when we were skateboarding, came to visit and helped me get more familiar with the technical aspects of photography. It snowballed into a career change. I quickly became obsessed.
Your work has a profound stillness to it. Describe your creative ethos as an artist.
There is a sort of calmness to a lot of the photos that I post, which is a bit of an anomaly for me because people would probably describe me as very energetic and chaotic — loud, I guess. The ethos for my photos, especially when I'm photographing women, is to try and find a way to make women feel empowered and beautiful. I want to try and show a strong woman — and to make someone realize that everyone is beautiful in their own way and then capture that moment. I really enjoy working with friends who aren't classically trained models. Working outside of the preconceived notions of how to "model" often leads to more authentic moments. Sharing the end results is always the most gratifying part. What I really try to focus on is making someone feel comfortable — and finding interesting moments with lighting to make it compelling.
How the fashion world defines beauty is in rapid flux. How do you define beauty?
There's definitely been a shift in the industry's beauty standard. I hope it's not performative. For so many years, it was fair skin, light features, straight hair. Now, we're celebrating all different backgrounds, body types and cultures — and we're realizing we should have been doing it this whole time. These are beautiful human beings that have so much more depth than just a person on a magazine cover. That depth comes with diversity, and being a little bit more progressive with our decisions. When it comes to people, beauty is all about energy.
If you could shoot anything, anywhere what would it be?
I would love to do more reportage and documentary-style photography in places like Africa and the Middle East and capture the environment, the people, and the characters there. Everything that's happening in those places doesn't get captured enough — and I don't think there's a lot of well-deserved attention being focused on places like that.
The images you captured for Eve & Max are stunning. What was the creative process like working with stylist Sabrina Dee and founder Max Trowbridge?
It was a collaborative process. Sabrina, Max and I worked really closely on this one, everything from casting to the creative art direction of the shoot. The process is what really stood out to me. This was well planned out and very intentional in terms of what we wanted to get out of it. After seeing the clothes, I became very excited about shooting the robes. What I enjoy shooting is always very dramatic, but very still: It's a bit stoic. It's a robe catching the wind in a very surreal moment. We shot in Williamsburg. We built a very small set, where we shot the interior moments — and then on the roof deck for the skyline.
From the global pandemic to civil rights issues, we are in unprecedented times. Where are you finding inspiration right now?
It's honestly hard. In the beginning of the pandemic, I was really driven and motivated to do a self-portrait series. But as I started seeing more and more things happen, I took a hit and became unmotivated. There were two or three months that I couldn't find any inspiration. There were too many things going on — the global pandemic, the BLM movement, which really hit home to me. At some point, I had to push myself to be with people, who really helped me get back in the flow of things. After that, I started to slowly gain inspiration. It's hard to get inspired in moments like this. But once you start the embers, you can get the fire back.
Your preference is to shoot in film.
Film is the process that I work most comfortably in — and it's the look that I enjoy about the photos I take. It's more of an observation. I don't think I get the same results with a digital camera.
Working in film is a completely different mindset than digital. There's no instant gratification. You don't quite know what you captured until the film is processed.
It changes the entire way that you shoot. You're more conscious of what image you're trying to get, but you have to trust your instincts. I'm more present when I'm shooting film. I'm not looking back and pulling myself away from the space that I'm sharing with the subject. It's not a step-in-step-out process where you're just chasing an image. It's always an image that I totally forgot about that I end up loving the most. It's spontaneity, in a way: The spontaneity of getting your film back and realizing, 'Oh, that was a beautiful mistake.'
Who do you admire artistically speaking?
I've become quite close with Laurie Bartley. I've been fortunate enough to travel with him and see him work. His process is unreal. He is so intentional, I haven't seen anyone work like that. We were in this small, very old town in Morocco and he had an image in his mind of a herd of sheep surrounding a car and a woman. We didn't have any resources out there, but he was able to find a shepherd and find a car. It's humbling to be able to work with someone who has such a strong vision and is able to make it come to life.
Gregory Crewdson is another. He shoots in these sets that mimic a highly dramatized movie scene. It's kind of dark. It's kind of eerie. There's a very cinematic feel to his work, and it's very beautifully shot. That's the kind of work I would like to do in the long run — building these worlds and shooting in a way that feels like a movie still, with a narrative behind it. As a fashion photographer, Helmut Newton is another inspiration. He is a legend. His body of work has inspired so many photographers. Visit: Alexander R. Morgan.
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In many ways, this company is 20 years in the making. In 1999, I wrote my first business plan for a trunk-show driven, digital brand that utilized the power of the internet to eliminate the need for wholesale. It was quite similar to what has now become my larger vision for Eve & Max. Back then, the concept was ahead of its time: We were decades from the direct-to-consumer model taking the fashion world by storm; sustainability wasn’t yet a buzzword in the industry; and environmental distress wasn’t commanding headlines the way it does today.
Two decades later, I found myself at the start of a new journey — one that would reference my decades-old plan, with added attention to the social and environmental issues I am passionate about. The first spark came in 2019. My husband was on the tail end of a successful battle with cancer — and with the notion of mortality weighing heavily on my mind, I found myself asking the same question: If not now, when? I tossed my fears out the window and decided to finally pursue fashion design again in full force. The result is what you see, here.
My brand ethos starts with the name: Eve serves as a symbolic nod to the mother of all living. (Both of my grandmothers were also named Eve, derived from Evelyn) And Max serves as a reminder of the human connection to our earth. As a company, my hope is that Eve & Max will nurture a sustainable journey, respect all that is living and embrace the world with love and care.
My aim is to grow a business that empowers women to buy less and shop smarter. I am passionate about the environmental issues that impact our society and planet — and it is with great humility that I hope to nurture a socially conscious, ethical business model that respects the planet, while presenting women with beautiful clothing made of environmentally friendly materials whenever possible.
To reduce waste, I will create one collection a year, available on a pre-order basis through virtual and in-person trunk shows. Each piece is intentionally designed to be seasonless and timeless — and in an effort to unite the realms of fashion and art, each season will include a limited-edition collaboration with a contemporary artist. I’m pleased to release my first collaboration with New York-based Ruben Burgess, Jr. — a talented young artist, who works in natural materials such as turmeric and wine. His work is often inspired by fashion, all while being both haunting and beautiful. His work is the perfect image to adorn my organic cotton tee.
While I hope you turn to Eve & Max when it comes time to add a new staple to your wardrobe, I also encourage you to join our community as we embark on a socially conscious conversation about the little steps we can take to make the world a better place. I’m of the belief that sustainability doesn’t need to be an overwhelming topic; and it shouldn’t be a buzz word or a trend used in an industry fraught with waste. To me, sustainability is a lifestyle and a journey: It is a means of living with intention and taking the steps, no matter how small, to make this planet a healthier, happier place for us all.
With gratitude,
Max Trowbridge
Founder, Eve & Max
For her inaugural collaboration for Eve & Max, founder Max Trowbridge looked to New York-based artist Ruben Burgess Jr. as a partner. The 28-year-old artist is known for his single-line drawings, which are a feat of physical and mental triumph: Not once during the creation of these works does Burgess lift his pen from the canvas. The continuous-line works, which fall under his aptly named “Sartorialnolift” series, walk a careful balance between perfectionism and vulnerability; they dabble in the space between being beautiful and haunting.
Burgess has long been fascinated by the artistry of the fashion world — and he prefers natural materials over synthetic mediums. For his commission for Eve & Max, which appears on a limited edition, organic cotton shirt, Burgess worked in turmeric and coffee to depict an anonymous woman in an Alexander McQueen-inspired gown, gazing at a work of art. As Eve & Max looks to amplify the synergies between the worlds of fine art and fashion, there could be few more perfect visuals to embody the brand’s creative ethos. Ahead of the launch, we gave Burgess a buzz to discuss everything from his adoration of Rei Kawakubo to his recent experimentation with a tattoo gun, and what quarantine has been like from his home in Brooklyn.
Tell me about how you came to discover your Sartorialnolift practice? I know it started while you were on a train in Paris ...
I recognized [the method] most when I was abroad studying fashion theory. Basically, it was just me sketching in my sketchbook. I had been dragging my pen across the paper, and I drew something in one line. It was a mild shock to the system — like when you try an amazing new food. It was something I couldn’t explain. In the beginning, I was very fashion-driven, drawing my favorite designers, portraits of designers themselves and then portraits of voluminous clothing.
Tell us about the practice of drawing without lifting the pen.
Contour line drawing is a practice for art in general and art students. It’s used to open perspective and open minds. However, this kind of practice became my main medium — and so when I approach a project or a piece, it’s very intuitive. It’s not pre-planned. I have a reference or inspiration photo that catches my eye, then I’ll take a couple breaths and go from there. It’s all about feeling. It’s all about flow. One line to the next. It’s something that literally flows out as it’s being drawn. I like the concept of the mind being able to complete the work. There are a lot of non-connecting moments within the drawing that are connected by the flow of the line.
It seems symbolic in many ways: the idea that the pen never leaves paper.
There is a connectivity between the lines and the art of allowing things to happen — the art of allowing things to unfold. It’s definitely present in this practice. I’ve got to have that trust. I tend to drift toward the darker end of the spectrum in terms of the subject matter. Whatever the classical form of beauty is in art, I tend to go to the darker side of things. That being said, I really enjoy the delicate line as well. There’s this back and forth — balance and chaos — that I try to walk between. But that’s just for me, too, and in the way, I live. I see the beauty in the grotesque.
Your choice of natural materials (coffee, wine, turmeric) is thematic with your visual work.
The colors I choose are only pigmented. I love fermented raw materials, like turmeric or wine, and I enjoy the rotting change of color and its deterioration over time. That feeling is balance and chaos, beauty and destruction. I enjoy the raw connection with the materials. When I use something that’s a little more off-script — a little more unusual — it aligns with that back-and-forth with my work. I love when I have colors that rot over time on paper. If I were to use a strawberry and rub it onto the page itself, it would turn into a shade of brown later. It still holds that same meaning, it’s just not a bright pink anymore. It’s a reflection: Nothing stays the same.
And your work is all one-of-a-kind?
With all of the things I do, everything is one-of-one. There’s no rough draft, there’s no retry, and I don’t retry the same image twice.
What is it about fashion that you find particularly inspiring?
I was interested in the fashion world for the psychology of it all. I’m interested in the reasons people gravitate toward what they gravitate toward. I enjoy the art aspect of fashion. My favorite designer and my favorite artist, if you will, is Rei Kawakubo, who founded Comme des Garçons. My interest in fashion is not about trends or classic beauty, it’s about how we can reshape and build on the body as a base for the art. I like a lot of Japanese designers who tend to push the boundaries on what that even means — and what clothes are.
Tell me about the work you created for Eve & Max.
With Max’s piece, we discussed back and forth what she wanted to represent and portray on the shirt. I took it and went with it. She was wanting somebody viewing art, but her reference photo was the feeling she got from one of my last pieces I did of an Alexander McQueen dress. It was flowy and very structural. I wanted to capture something that was anonymous, if you will, but also maintain the feeling of not being able to tell what time period it’s from. The image could mean many things to many people. I used turmeric and coffee on heavy grain watercolor paper. For a few of the lines, I tattooed the ink into the paper with a tattoo gun. I’ve been tattooing and translating my work into tattoos. It was one of those experimental things. I wanted to see if I could do it on watercolor paper, so I just left it on there.
In these times of uncertainty, where are you finding inspiration?
It’s within the uncertainty itself that I find inspiration. I’ve actually been steering off the path of drawing lately. Whenever I want to aimlessly create, I’ve been gravitating toward plaster sculptures. Within these uncertain times and moments of total aloneness and stillness, I’ve been doing things that don’t hold too much weight on my shoulders. I wanted to take a childlike approach to inspiration and almost have the plaster be like playdough. I want to go with whatever comes to me, rather than sitting down and drawing. I actually found it harder to sit down and do one-line drawings during the quarantine. I’ve seen more nature during this time than I ever have — going upstate, going to the beach. I never thought I would see more nature now than I ever have before, after having moved to the biggest city in the US. It’s this backwards thing: Uncertain times have led to endless exploration, specifically within moments of solitude.