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STYLE
SILKEN STYLE With the luxe looks of Lao artisanal silk, you can cut a fine figure even when travelling with the most pared-down of wardrobes. LAO SILK SAMPLES BY OUDONE PRECIOUS SILK KIMONO DESIGN BY ALEXANDRA BARTER MODELLING BY NOUTNAPA SOYDALA (DANCER AND CHOREOGRAPHER AT FANGLAO DANCE COMPANY) PHOTOGRAPHS BY VAN HAI TEXT BY VANIDA PHIMPHRACHANH & DOMINIQUE LE ROUX
T
he slow life... Laos is admired for its authentic, inthe-moment lifestyle now so lacking in much of the rest of the world. While citizens of the fastest First World cities dream of easing the pace, and fashion and style tastes are now celebrating individually crafted, artisanal products, Laos has not yet lost these. Premier among them is silk weaving – the patient art of collecting worm-spun silk, hand dyeing it, and then interlacing it into careful, precise patterns. Lao weavers understand that the essence of artisanal excellence is conscious repetition – there are no shortcuts. The luxury of time is what Laos can still offer: sumptuous fabric made with time and local know-how. Once-off pieces. Unique. Crafted slowly. While in Renaissance times, rich gold-threaded fabrics were reserved for the aristocracy, you can now add a look of luxurious quality to a simple travel wardrobe without breaking the bank by investing in a single statement piece that can be worn in a myriad of ways. The value and beauty are all in the one-of-a-kind details: a handmade piece offers unique colors and traditional pattern combinations that the industrial economic scale cannot emulate, and an item as simple as a scarf can enrich so many otherwise-plain outfits. And, as if you needed further incentive for a dash of shopping: today’s conscious fashion trend reminds us that it is our duty as consumers to support this kind of handcrafting, not only because of its enduring quality and style, rather than the planet-destroying fast-fashion of the masses, but also because here in Laos this handicraft empowers women when we value the transmission of their special know-how, and it helps to safeguard Lao cultural heritage and identity.
