No, this isn't a post about memories of Amsterdam and well...other unsavoury nights... but actually a girl who has a natural high and doesn't need the help from illegal substances.  Amy Sarabi, the 2nd of my fellow American roomies at Hyeres might be a name that some of you recognise if you follow the goings on in Gen Art, where Amy was featured as part of San Francisco's Fresh Faces in Fashion Gen Art event last year.

For a girl who gets the giggles in an instant, who gets easily amused by almost anything, she creates work that is quite frankly stunning and on a technical level that is so high and precise, that it's almost frightening.  I have seen Amy at work as she participated in the Arts of Fashion masterclasses in Texas and in Miami, so I have seen her at a non-giggly state, yet because I knew her as person first, designer second, her work is even more astonishing to me (does anyone else get that surprised feeling when they see a friend they know intimately do something really impressive in their vocation/career?)

Anyhow, inspired by the gills of a mushroom (yes, it really doesn't have to be lofty at all... check out your veggie drawer pronto), she explored pleating techniques, unconventional materials and shapes that literally stand away from the body and encase it in an entirely different way from how we think clothes should do.  Right now, she's stocked at San Francisco boutique MAC (Modern Appealing Clothing... does exactly what it says on the tin, me likes...) and her pieces cost a pretty penny because so much work go into them and Amy works alone, slowly but steadily to ensure she meets demand at her stockists.  The level of detailing and craftsmanship is most definitely evident in her work which I had judged during the Arts of Fashion competition last year where she also won an award.

Giggles to gills, fungi to fashion, I just can't stop alliterating... I'll let the beautiful images speak for themselves (they were a pain to download at 80MB each but worthwhile...)...