Designer Discovery: We Are Islanders

I'm loving new Irish label We Are Islanders, which debuted just over a week ago at The RHA Gallery in Dublin with it's collection, "Tidal."

Pushing the envelope of the hipper-than-though heritage trend, We Are Islanders lends a contemporary twist to traditional Irish fabrics, infusing them with modern details. Materials like beetle finished Wexford linen and Tipperary wool pair with newer sustainable fabrics like bamboo silk and salmon leather skin, resulting in some utterly inventive yet classic pieces.

Perhaps the most intriguing items in the collection are one-offs that were dyed by the high tide on Sandymount Strand during the Dublin Fringe Festival. The festival installation comprised three vats constructed along the shoreline, which used a buoyancy system to dip dye garments during four high tides, creating a "textural timelapse" and recording the Dublin tide lines in fabric. (You can view a video of the incredible process here.)

Those white clogs are killing me, but the rest is just lovely. It's a little reminiscent of Boston label Emerson's early collections, no?