Modern Alchemy

Manimekala's eclectic graduate collection establishes her own coven of modern witches. Researching moral clothing laws from 17th century Puritans to the Amish, she has conjured simple yet dramatic silhouettes. Taking inspiration from the raw beauty of volcanoes, and ceramicists such as Ken Price, she has performed technological alchemy to develop each of her unique fabrics. Starting with handwoven raw silks, she combines traditional textile processes such as marbling and screen-printing, with sublimation, heat-bonding and laser cutting, to create futuristic plastics with iridescence and molten gold. Mekala’s girl practises sorcery in secret, for which she is feared and revered. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”