If you read my previous piece about the Atelier Aura Spring Summer 2017 collection, you would now how much I admire their dedication to the slower pace of the fashion industry. It was a pleasure to catch up with them again in Paris and I even took the time to try on some of these great pieces (which you can see on Instagram).
The overall aesthetic of this latest collection is a natural progression from their last. From perfectly deconstructed tailoring to the hand-stitched details and piece which are both fitted and loose in just the right places, each piece is timeless.
For this Autumn Winter collection, Atelier Aura continues to use timeless and natural materials, including stonewashed organic linen which is not often considered a cold weather fabric but nothing about the brand is ordinary. Alexander, the designer of Atelier Aura, wanted to experiment by forcing the free flowing, naturally creased linen to meet the harshness of raw, industrial rubber. The pieces were coated in burned, molten rubber by hand while intentionally leaving the hand-stitched seams untouched. Here, the duality of classic and innovative contemporary craftsmanship are on full display.
The linen pieces are also tailored to the clients' needs, all made by the designer himself. They can be made in their natural stonewash, painted, waxed or rubber coated, all by hand. While the treating of the linen with molten rubber is innovative, I also found the methods used to wax the linen was much lighter and softer to the touch than I had expected. I also cannot overstate how much I love the fact that the pieces are left to dry in a remote barn in Iceland.
