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Salomat Ikat: Fashion With a Conscience
I am always on the look-out for smaller independent brands that offer something different and unique. So, when I heard that a friend of a friend started a fair-trade fashion and accessories brand that uses my favorite Ikat fabrics, I had to check it out! If you read one of my older blog posts on Ikat, you would know that I love this traditional Central Asian pattern weaving that produces beautiful and vibrant fabrics. These were typically used to making traditional clothing in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. But with western designers discovering Ikat and incorporating into their runway collections (just think Oscar de la Renta, Gucci and my beloved Tory Burch), this…
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Asian-Inspired Crunchy Salad
I love good and healthy salad with a dinner meal. Depending on what I have around in my fridge, I often experiment and come up with my own recipes. This is one of them! A very easy Asian-inspired salad with a lovely crunchy texture. It’s delicious, fresh, colorful and full of goodness. INGREDIENTS Salad 1/4 of small purple cabbage 1 medium size carrot 2 cups broccoli and/or cauliflower 50g of salad mix 1 avocado Nuts (e.g. walnuts, peanuts, pine nuts) Sesame seeds to garnish Dressing 2 tsp of peanut butter 2 tbs soy sauce Dash of water Dash of olive oil METHOD Grate carrot on a large setting, chop broccoli and/or…
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Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: Return of the Prodigal Daughter
Every time I land in Bishkek, I am filled with mixed feelings – excitement and worry. On one hand I look forward seeing my family and friends, on another – I always wonder: will I connect with the city? Will it recognize and welcome me, the prodigal daughter who has left it in the end of the 1990s? I have visited Bishkek in the last couple years several times. I hardly go to new trendy places and popping everywhere Western-style cafes. Instead, I look for clues to put together in my mind the image of the city I used to know. I have grown up and moved on, so did…
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Colours of Ikat: When Fashion Meets Tradition
Having grown up in Central Asia, my early memories of Ikat associate with colourful dresses and baggy pants of the Uzbek women in Jalal-Abad. The Ikat fabric with its zig-zaggy pattern usually came either in black-and-white or multi-colour combination. Now that I haven’t lived in the region for a long time, every time I see Ikat a feeling of something precious and familiar takes over me. Ikat has been popular for few years now and was featured both in the home design and high fashion. A more modern version of Ikat has been popularised by such great designers as Oscar de a Renta, who visited Uzbekistan and fell in…
