Russian women have an uncommon sense of style... I am always amazed by the sheer artistry of handmade clothing I see on trips to Russia. Batiked fabrics, unusual colors, flamboyant styles, and intricate decorations combine to create wild, but stylish folk clothing. The fabric artists who inhabit Moscow‘s Izmailovskiy Park on the weekends, selling their painstakingly crafted work, are a serious group—and sometimes awfully snobbish! They welcome commissions for custom orders, but only in standard sizes. When I'd get turned down by a particularly snooty artisan, I‘d always say that I could make my own pieces and they'd be just as good—if not better! And now I'm out to prove it. The Izmailova Jacket is inspired by the bright, patterned jackets I saw on arty, sophisticated Muscovite women. Reversible, in medium-weight cottons, one side of the jacket is patterned fabric, the other plain, with hand stamped, fabric painted cuffs, collar, and borders in a design complementary to the patterned side. Loose construction, with tapered sleeves, and a single-button closure at the collar, and set-in pockets. (The first one I made was tossed in the suitcase and dragged across three continents, got used as a pillow on a 8-hour flight to Frankfurt, caught on the wheels of a luggage cart in St. Petersburg, used as a market basket in Tashkent, and still washed up so well that I was taken for a chic Parisian woman in Moscow!) To see how it looks on a real human, take a look at the About Us section. To see the reversible aspect of the Izmailova Jacket, click on the photo. Length, 34 inches. Izmailova Jacket, $140  Please remember that the colors you see in the photo are not exact due to different monitor calibrations—contact me and I will send you a swatch sheet so you can see the actual fabrics used. Compass Rose Studios will send a palette chart to clients for custom commissions. main | lamps | clothing | Uzbek fans | about | sizing links | feedback/ordering info | travel stories Copyright © 1998 Compass Rose Studios Site design and HTML by Qdesign of Bethesda, Maryland. If you experience any problems with this site, please let us know.