ZuZu Apparel Fall 2013

ZuZu Apparel's Circular Scarf, Pleated Top and Capri Pants

                It’s been over three years since Suleyman and I created ZuZu Apparel.  Gathering inspiration from textiles and textures found around the world we created a collection of eco conscience garments.  We use primarily natural fibers, Alpaca, Pima cotton and Linen.  We do all of our manufacturing in Peru and Turkey, two of our favorite places.  This Fall collection was the first time we worked in Pima Cotton, and we couldn't be more pleased.  Peruvian Pima Cotton is the luxurious cotton.  It’s soft, durable, and reasonable priced.  The ZuZu Apparel Fall collection consists of 7 Alpaca pieces, 14 Pima Cotton and two felted wool pieces.  We have dresses, tunics, tops, pants, sweaters, accessories and a felted wool coat and vest.  Everything can be mixed matched and of course layered.  Here’s a look at our Pima Cotton. 

 


 To the left our Giant Neck Dress and on the right our Twisted Top and Skirt Pants

Twisted Top and Rope Necklace

ZuZu Apparel's Fall collection is now in stores nationwide and at our Nomads.

 

 

Grand Bazaar

Suleyman at the Grand Bazaar

Istanbul's famous Grand Bazaar is a shopping experience like non other.  A labyrinth of 3,000 shops in 61 covered streets , it is one the oldest and biggest covered markets in the world. With Istanbul in both Europe and Asia, the Grand Bazaar has treasures from all over.  My favorite items for purchase are jewelry!  I pick up rings from Afghanistan, necklaces from Pakistan and bracelets with beads from everywhere.  My favorite jewelry is Turkish.  The Ottoman Empire ruled modern day Turkey for six hundred years, and no one did decadence like the Ottomans.  The style of the Turkish jewelry is intricately embellished with large gemstones fit for a Sultana, or a girl from Kansas.    

Bracelets with gemstones and beads from all over the world.

Ottoman Style Rings

Come see our selection of Grand Bazaar treasures now at Nomads.  

Note:  Want to go to Turkey?  Email us at info@magiccarpettraveler.com

Mexican Ladies

This month we are celebrating two of my favorite Mexican women, the famous artist Frida Kahlo and Nomad's own Rosa M. Salazar-Peterson co-author of Mexican Ranch Food.  What these two woman have in common is their authenticity.  Frida's is seen through her style and art and Rosas' through her style and  food.       

Frida's art can be seen at Kansas City's the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.  An exhibit of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Masterpieces of Modern Mexico is going on from June 1, 2013- August 18, 2013.  There will be over a 100 paintings, sculptures, photographs and drawings from Mexican Artist never before seen in this region.  To purchase tickets go to http://www.nelson-atkins.org/ .  

Rosa grew up in Mexico and learned the art of cooking from her parents, Don Tacho and Dona Ticho.  The recipes presented in their book are very authentic yet feasible.  I studied and lived in Mexico but the best Mexican food I've ever had is at Rosa's house. Rosa's cookbook can be purchased at Nomads or by emailing mexicanranchfood@gmail.com .  

Both Frida Kahlo and Rosa M. Salazar-Peterson have a unique understanding for the ingredients needed for life, don't miss the opportunity to experience it through their art and food.

Summer Vacation

The Olympos Beach in Turkey

Rather it be a weekend at the lake or a week on the Mediterranean, I hope everyone gets a chance to relax, read a book, and soak up the vitamin D that we've so desperately missed.  To support the summer festivities we have in store caftans,  hats, woven straw beach bags, colorful beach towels and of course linen.  All of these are my essentials for summer and our yearly trip to Turkey.  I love to pack for trips, rather it be a weekend or a month.   Everything has to go together so I can mix and match for several outfits. My goal is to fit everything into a 22 inch bag.  The first essential is shoes.  If your shoes are uncomfortable the trip will be miserable.  I always take two pairs for good measure, one that doesn't have to be particularly cute but good for walking. The other comfortable but stylish, something I can wear to a nice dinner or an occasion.  I take a pair of our OTBT or Nicole shoes every trip.  They are stylish with supportive soles.  

OTBT Fairfield

Nicole Ackard

After I've decided on shoes I can start planning my clothing.  

I personally love to travel in Linen for summer; it is cool, naturally wrinkled and dries very quickly.  Also, linen is popular around the world so I feel I stand out less when wearing it. 

Bryn Walker White Linen Dress and Chalet Jumper

Echo Design Kaftan

For summer,I travel in White, Black and whatever color I fancy for the season.  I usually have a couple of dresses or Caftans,  a couple pairs of pants and 3-4 tops.  For maximum room I roll them and put them in our Eagle Creek packing cubes.  These are great for compressing and organizing.  

Packing Cubes for the packing system

Large Quick Dry Travel Towel 

I then do the same in a smaller cube for undergarments, swim suit and towel.  If I’m not traveling by air a big bright beach towel is wonderful.  If traveling overseas nothing is worse than lugging around a partially dry beach towel.  I take our Eagle Creek quick dry towels. They dry in an hour and take up little room in your bag. 

Lastly I choose my hat and bag.  A sun hat is very important and extremely stylish.  We have two brands in store.  One is Wallaroo Hats, and the other a company out of Madagascar  Onigo.  Both brands are UPF approved and packable   

Wallaroo Sun Hat

Onigo Sun Hat

For my bags, if it’s a weekend trip I like to take a bright gigantic beach bag.  If I’m traveling by air I have to be more practical.  I always travel with a Baggallini bag for my carry on that can also act as a beach bag.  Then I have a smaller Baggallini bag inside that I can use for walking around the city.  

Baggallini Madrid Bag

Baggallini Globetrotter

Baggallini 2 inch Rolling Tote

For domestic trips we use our Baggallini rolling tote and for international we have Eagle Creek Luggage that has plenty of extra room for rugs, clothing and jewelry that we can bring back to share with you.  

Eagle Creek 25 inch Road Warrior

Peru Part 2

Suleyman outside of TiTi's house

We were recently in Peru where we attended  the Peru Moda show in Lima.  The event hosts manufactures and designers from all over Peru.  There are runway shows to feature the top designers and booths for the attendees to admire, look and feel the garments. 

 The aesthetics of Peruvian designers are like none other, with everything woven, dresses, jackets, pants, and swimsuits.  Of course with a culture so rich in indigenous handicrafts there is plenty of Amazonian and Andean designs to choose from.

Runway Show at Peru Moda

After attending the show and meeting with our manufactures to discuss styles for future seasons, we had some time to play.   It’s amazing the treasures we found this time around, people, places, restaurants and museums.  We are very excited to introduce TiTi Guiulfo as one of our new designers and manufactures.  TiTi specializes in working with the Andean communities to bring the quality and techniques of the people in that region to modern designs.  

Weaver at TiTi's house

We spent time at TiTi’s house and studio working and had the chance to meet her friend and jewelry designer Ester Ventura.  Ester incorporates textiles, seashells, gauzes and feathers into her jewelry making them sculptural pieces and wearable artwork.  We hope to work with Ester in the future to bring some of her designs to the Midwest.  

Ester Ventura's jewelry collection

We also had the chance to meet TiTi’s sister, famous Peruvian chef, Marisa Guiulfo.  Marisa owns several restaurants in Lima, La Bonbonniere.  French inspired with traditional Peruvian dishes, it is the best food we’ve had in Lima, with pastries to dream about.

Pastries at La Bonbonniere

This was our third time to Lima so we wanted to find some new tourist destinations within the city.  The three worth mentioning were very unique and unlike anything I've seen.  First is El Circuito Magico del Aqua, a park which has numerous and enormous fountains.  At night the fountains light up with different colors making a light show. 

Me at El Circuito Magico del Aqua under one of the fountains

The second is the Larco Museum, a privately owned museum of Pre-Colombian Art.  The museum is housed in an 18^th century vice-royal building built on top of a 7^th century pyramid.  Inside is an amazing collection of Pre-Colombian artifacts and a famous erotic archaeological collection.  

Erotic Art from the Larco Museum

Thirdly is the Convent of San Francisco home to a library consisting of 25,000 antique texts and the catacombs which holds an estimated 70,000 peoples remains.  Under the Monastery are the catacombs with narrow hallways that contain large deep holes filled with bones and skulls often arranged in a circular pattern.  It is a very eerie but fascinating experience.  

Catacombs at San Francisco Monastery

Peru Part 1

               

Machu Picchu

 Three years ago Suleyman and I took one of our dream vacations to Peru to hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, explore the Sacred Valley and visit the islands of Lake Titicaca.

Sacred Valley

Lake Titicaca

While we were there we did lots of shopping.  We started with one of the best, the Sunday market in Pisac.   We bought art from local artisans, jewelry and amazing leather and tapestry boots.  While in Cusco we went to several markets, a beautiful produce market (one of my favorite places to visit when in another country), a smoothie and juice market, and a random collection of goods market.  This was a great place to see what the Peruvians were buying and the best place for a bargain.

Pisac Market

In Lima there is an abundance of markets offering handicrafts from all over Peru.  We bought jewelry, carpets, pillows, woven bags and scarves.  Every market we went to we found beautiful baby alpaca sweaters, rich in quality and style.  It inspired Suleyman and I to start importing our own line of sweaters from Peru.  The following year we started our clothing line ZuZu Apparel. 

Preview of ZuZu Apparel Fall 2013

Preview of ZuZu Apparel Fall 2013

We now go to Peru every year in April to go to Peru Moda, a fashion event in Lima.  We visit our two fair trade manufactures in Lima to work on future seasons and we see what new designers are working on.   It’s a very creative event, with designers weaving their way through fashion.

Bohemianism

Moulin Rouge bt Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

The term Bohemianism first appeared in the early nineteenth century in France to describe the unconventional lifestyle of adventures, wanderers, artists, writers and musicians.   Our Kashee Spring 2013 Collection was inspired by the famous 19^th Century French Artist, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, his muse Jane Avril and the center of Bohemian culture, the Moulin Rouge. 

Jane Avril by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

The Kashee Spring 2013 clothing is decadent in style with extra ruffles, buttons and buckles, and artistic in colors with all hand dyed solids and tie-dyes. The collection can be mixed and layered. Just pick a color and go from there.  

 Moulin Vest, Tunic and Bohemian Leggings 

The Bohemian Top and Skirt in Dark Grey

Moulin Tunic and Leggings in Dark Mink

Jane Avril Dress in Blue

  

The French Royal Court invented layering as a style, in the 17^th century, layering silk, velvet, lace, and fur.  I wanted this collection to be rich in texture so when layered with its asymmetrical lines and extra detailing it makes for a very rich palette and Bohemian style.  

Engraving, unknown woman with spear by Antoine Trouvain, late 17th century