Translating the classical four elements into fashion through styling naturally occurring shapes and silhouettes. As the most advanced species on Earth, we as humans hold the power to create masterpieces with what Mother Nature has given us. With such power, comes responsibility; a responsibility to take care and caution in our work, and preserve our wonderful planet. The fashion industry is the second largest industrial pollutant, though this often goes unnoticed. This is your sign to become a conscious consumer, know who you are buying from and how your clothes are made. It may seem futile but, we CAN change the future, one garment at a time.
EARTH
Stretch Suede, draped and styled by Leyla Perek
“How I love to hear the rustle of the leaves upon the trees
When the foliage of summer is a moving in the breeze
When the oak and beech and maple are a tuning up the air
As they hear the quaking aspen sending signals everywhere.
The deciduous forest people are a music making band
With their symphonies so simple that a child can understand
For there’s meaning in their rhythm and a pleasure ‘mong the trees
When the wind is blowing through them and a stirring all the leaves.
There’s an overture in whispers which is soothing to the ear
Then a chorus full of comfort just a chasing out your fear
As the louder it is sounding and the louder yet again
Till at last are joys abounding when it falls in sweet refrain.
Yes, it brings you heaps of solace when the wind is blowing soft
In a lullaby of nature which will bear you way aloft
Till you leave this world of trouble with its fretting and its care
As you listen to the rustle of the leaves a playing there.
O, I love to stop and hearken to the music of the trees
As the wind is soughing through them or a playing with the leaves
There’s a harmony that holds you in the noises of the wood
Where I never tire of listening for it does a fellow good.”
The Music of the Trees by Charles A. Heath
AIR
Cotton Linen Blend, draped and styled by Leyla Perek
“Air so fine
Blowing winds of another kind
Stir around me as to hold me tight
whistling my name the sound is so right
Racing by me as I walk by
wiping as tear that I cry
Surrounding my body this wonderful air
Feeling it blow through my beautiful hair
Heavy Winds tossing me to and fro
Feeling the warm air blow
Waking me up to sense a new life
even before my afterlife
Air essential to mother earth’s new birth
Bringing new life to mother earth
Wind blowing rapidly through flowers and trees
planting as it spreads brand new seeds”
Air by Vivian Ennis
FIRE
Organza and Mesh, styled by Leyla Perek
“To hold a flame,
you must already burn.
And you do,
with a dragon’s fire roar,
louder than a thousand jet engines
taking off, flaring to stain
the sky blood red
copper bright,
melting gold.
Your fire keeps you
throwing yourself
at the door
of your own sky.
You won’t stop
until you answer yourself,
allow your own lighting.
If you stay closed
you will still kindle
within and without,
burning down
your own barricades.
So succumb. Let it win.
Be sucked in
to the violet-blue heart
at its root, flick back out
in yellow tongues to lick
your fiery flesh,
the liquid brass
of your blood,
your aureate air.
Fire yourself back
into the infinite life
that is of you
and not you.
Ignite again and again
within the eternal blaze
that consumes
everything in time
but itself.
You hold the flame
Already, you burn.”
Fire by Orna Ross
WATER
Silk Satin, draped and styled by Leyla Perek
“Honor and thanks to the sacred waters within:
to the streams,
the mother of vitality
the fertile womb of creativity
the channels that are moved by sun and the moon
into currents and tides of ever-striving harmony
circulating currents of life
bringing balance of warmth and coolness, unity and boundary, stillness and flow.
Pure gratitude we give for the blessed tears of rain that flow
with gift of feeling and empathy.
Comforting the thirst of our roots, cultivating our human
tenderness.
Waters within, sustaining our life even in the times of driest inner desert.
Thanks be given for eternal inner springs that refresh our
energy and outlook
Teaching us great powers of healing, cleansing, and clarity.
In praise of the beauty of water
Shimmering through clear heart, subtle mind, and radiant body.
Like glistening moonlight on ocean’s waves, and the
spirited spray of the waterfall.
Delight be within the sweet melody of dance through fountain, waterfall, stream and ocean wave of spirit and soul.
Blessed be water within.”
In Praise Of The Beauty Of Water Within by Jennifer Reis
Main Credits
Styling: Style Director Leyla Perek
Photography: Leyla Perek
Production: Leyla Perek
Makeup: Gillian Tioffo
Hair Stylist: Gillian Tioffo
Model: Gillian Tioffo
Location: David Goldman Technology Centre at University of Sunderland, Tel: 0191 515 2000, www.sunderland.ac.uk
Textile Stockist: Hobbycraft, Team Valley, Gateshead, Tel: 0330 026 1047, www.hobbycraft.co.uk/stores/gateshead
