NYFW Designer Pop Up Part 2: Nosofa & Shabeeg
On Feb. 12, the Fashion Mingle and DCG Media Group series continued.
Night Two featured double the designers. First up was Christina Liedtke with Nosofa Club. Immediately as I took a look at some of her collection, I knew that this brand has very versatile and multifunctional clothing. When I spoke with Liedtke, she even said, “everything I have can be worn 6 to 12 different ways.”
As the sustainability movement strengthens, the pieces are perfect as they are beautiful and stylish, and with so many options chances are that you’ll never get bored of finding a new way to wear them. The shell she was wearing was printed with a taxi on it, and there was a scarf just like it as well. A lot of her pieces showed this “city pride,” but in a very different and unique way. “How do we really take this and look at different concepts to really have women feel confident and sexy and beautiful while they’re still supporting their community?” asked Liedtke.
Her collection is so creative and unlike most other brands, completely nailing her objective. The advice she offers for young, aspiring students is to “be authentic, because that’s where you’re going to find out where your soul is going to live… where your passion is going to thrive.”
Her very own passion definitely paid off with such a beautiful brand.
Source: Oliver Archer
The other brand of the night was Shabeeg, which means “t-shirt” in Armenian. This collection was titled “Cilicia.” Cilicia used to be an independent region, until it later became a second Armenian Kingdom. This is a strong cultural connection as Mary Sukiasyan, who is the designer, is Armenian and extremely passionate about cultural confidence. Sukiasyan said her inspiration was “Armenian history and culture. We have 6,000 years of history. Somebody has to get inspired from this and make it into a brand.”
This collection is a perfect representation for what she believes in. It pays tribute to some incredible manuscripts of Cilicia. Even with such a strong connection to Armenian culture, Sukiasyan said, “It’s not just Armenians that like it. There are a lot of other nationalities that connect because of the fact that Armenia is so old, it sort of combines all the cultures together. It has elements of everything.”
Along with that, she adds, “By wearing Shabeeg, you become brand ambassadors to our culture and historical heritage.”
It’s amazing that such beautiful graphic tees and other items can have such a strong impact. Sukiasyan had some inspiring advice to give, like Liedtke, which was, “Dream. Dream big. Have a vision of where you want to be and what you want to do and just go for it.”
Source: Oliver Archer