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BEHIND THE SCENES: The making of the Amazones Collection

The Amazones Collection by Bastet Noir

Every time we start working on a collection, we have a particular picture of a woman in our heads. A strong, bold, badass babe who’s not afraid to push boundaries, a woman who wears her values on her sleeves and it’s not afraid to raise her voice if those values are compromised, a woman who’s strong enough to give voice to the voiceless by fighting against injustice. That mental picture is stuck in our minds and never changes. It’s safe to say it’s the only thing that remains constant. So naturally, this time around, it was no different. While digging through history, we came across a rare breed of women whose indisputable power is celebrated so many centuries later. Bursting with fortitude, these women were resourceful, fierce and never submissive. They were also one of the world’s greatest warriors, the Amazones. And so this collection is dedicated to those brave figures who once dominated the world. Read on, as we unravel what the process of making it looked line.

1. The Inspiration Behind The Designs

The making of the Amazones Collection by Bastet Noir
The making of The Amazones Collection by Bastet Noir

The Amazones were ridiculously talented warriors and in most cases they were not only equal, but better in many respects to their male counterparts. The intricate armory details guilded on their uniforms were a huge inspiration when designing this collection. And so each design bears a name of a famous Amazonian warrior. We took the military strict lines from their armors and implemented them into shaping the silhouettes, but decided to keep a thread of feminine tender touches through soft details, as we designed the sleeves to have a free flowy movement.

The Pentha Jumpsuit

The Jumpsuit bares the name of Penthesilea, who according to Boccaccio was in strength and skill superior to previous queens. She led an army of Amazons to Troy to fight against the Greeks. And so the Pentha Jumpsuit is named after her.

The Penta Jumpsuit by Bastet Noir made of deadstock linen
The Penta Jumpsuit made of deadstock linen

The long legged, sleeveless piece with cargo pockets placed on the bust, a Mandarin collar with trapezoid loops set carefully around the waist and two side pockets is exactly what we think a modern Amazonian should wear to battle everyday challenges. It has a removable waist band you can choose to wear it or leave it at home. It also has this effortless safari vibe that makes you want to sleep in it and never take it off. 

The Otre Jumpsuit

Ortrera was the first queen of the Amazons, who was originally a housewife in an arranged marriage. After being treated horribly by her husband she decided to take matters into her own hands and started training, hoping to learn how to defend herself with a sword, a bow and an arrow. Once confident in her abilities, she began to teach other housewives in her town to fight which led to them taking over entire cities training women and enslaving men.

The Otre Jumpsuit made of deadstock linen
The Otre Jumpsuit made of deadstock linen

The Otre Jumpsuit is an ode to her bravery, audaciousness and a strong will to turn things around. With cargo pockets placed on the bust and hips, the jumpsuit’s apparent strict lines are softened by the pastel baby blue shade of the linen. It has a cutout detail in the back with two thick straps shaping a squared neckline and an elastic waist detail. The bottom part has ankle length, wide legged pants with hidden back zipper.

The Alkaia Dress

Alkaia, also known as the “Mighty One” was an Amazon general who fought bravely and loyally.

The Alkaia Dress by Bastet Noir made of deadstock georgette silk
The Alkaia Dress made of deadstock georgette silk

The Alkaia Dress is dedicated to her Taurian courage and enviable loyalty. It is a loose fit, ankle length shirt dress with a Mandarin collar in olive shade with two square pockets, three big front buttons and same button details at the back. It has a removable wide belt that you can take it off or wear it on, depending on your styling preferences. The sleeves are slightly bishop shaped with elastic wrist ankle bands so you can adjust the length as you see fit.

The Thale Dress

Thalestris was a rebel. She was a woman who definitely didn’t conform to any rules. Instead, she made her own. What she represented to the Greeks was a perverse social order in which women not only dominated the culture, but actually assumed what were considered by the Greeks to be masculine social roles. Among other things, these included assuming the duties of a soldier and taking the initiative in sexual relations. The Amazons thus represented a threat to the Greek notion of ordered life. And so this dress is dedicated to her provocative, dangerously defiant existence.

The Thale Dress by Bastet Noir made of deadstock georgette silk
The Thale Dress made of deadstock georgette silk

With thin straps that connect the trapeze neckline, the Thale dress is just the right mix of sexy and classy. The Dress has two front pockets and simple waistband with two decorative buttons. At the back, the dress has a dramatic middle slit so when you walk, it walks with you and adds a bit of flare.

The Lampe Dress

Lampedo was an Amazon queen who ruled together with her sister Marpesia. The sisters called themselves daughters of Mars, which put terror in the heart of their enemies. The aim was to show that they were incredible warriors to be feared. Now, that’s a woman after of our own hearts. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any additional information on her greatness, but guess this is more than enough.

The Lampe Dress by Bastet Noir made of deadstock cotton
The Lampe Dress made of deadstock cotton

The Willow pattern on this dress is complemented by the cotton fabric that falls gently on every body silhouette and follows every curve. Dress’s sleeves are a mix of batwing and bell shapes with elastic wrist ankle band. The dress also has a Mandarin collar with buttons that go down the entire dress. So if you feel like it you can unbutton few buttons to add a dramatic slit or button up a few if you want to be decent. But who wants that really?

The Ori Dress

Orithyia was one of those dangerous women whose beauty was so often described by terrified and excited men that it became legendary. She was famous for her perpetual virginity, a technique that obviously made man mad and desperate. Her war techniques were outstanding and brought much honor to the Amazon empire. The Ori dress is dedicated to her dangerous beauty.

The Ori Dress made of deadstock cotton
The Ori Dress made of deadstock cotton

The Willow pattern on this dress is complemented by the cotton fabric that falls gently on every body silhouette and follows every curve. The bell sleeves add a touch of richness to the form and the corset shaped like bodice adjusts on literally every body type. We’ve made this possible because we added smocking details at the back and a hidden zipper to make sure it’s adjustable. Aren’t we genius?

The Myri Top

Another mighty Amazon was Myrina, who was leading a huge army of thirty thousand foot-soldiers and three thousand cavalry to start her conquests. She is one of the Amazons who was responsible for expanding her empire, far beyond Europe and into parts of Asia. The Myri Top is dedicated to her greatness as warrior.

The Ori Dress made of deadstock cotton
The Myri Top is made of deadstock satin silk

So, for this design, since what we found in stock from this flamingo print was extremely limited, we decided to make a cute top that would go with littrely every pair of jeans, shorts or skirt you’d wear this summer. At first our idea was for the top to be simple with just simple draped details around the turtle neckline and a hidden side zipper, but then we were not sure how to finish it and we didn’t want to leave it as simple as we designed it. So instead we decided to add the same draped details on the waist and voila the Myri Top was born. 

2. Picking The Fabrics

It’s summer y’all, so while digging through the leftover materials in the production facilities, we hunted down a small quantity of linen fabric. Oh, what a joy it was when we realized what we just spotted was a baby blue and sandy brown shades of linen. So obviously we had to take them immediately. Next on our search query was to find a light fabric with a print that wasn’t overwhelming, but was chic and relevant. And we found not one, but two. One of them was this beautiful red willow print pattern with 100% cotton composition and the other one was a subtle flamingo pattern made of satin silk that we absolutely fell in love with. Too bad there wasn’t a lot of it left, but we took it anyway and made a cute top.

The warehouse from where we rescued all the deadstock materials
The warehouse where we rescued all the deadstock materials

3. Picking Out The Colors

Honestly, we weren’t sure what to expect when we went hunting for discarded materials, but what we were aiming for was pastel colors and a fun summer print so thankfully that’s exactly what we found. But what we didn’t expect to find was this stunning olive shade, which was the perfect addition to the pallette. 

4. The Process Of Making It

 

As you probably already know, all of our collections are made in collaboration with our community of women single parents and this time was no different. The only difference was that this time our community of women was more involved into the entire process and not just the production. We collaborated on the placement of design details like pockets, zippers, buttons, even the looks of the seams. So this collection was definitely a joint effort between our designer team and these women owned micro studios. 

5. Photoshoot

In May of this year, we began a project that features various different photographers and artists around the world. We teamed up with few briliant artists scattered across the globe to bring you the vision of Bastet Noir seen through their lenses. 

The making of The Amazones Collection by Bastet Noir
The making of The Amazones Collection

So this time, we just made the product photos, which were taken in a studio with a natural light in the background. As we were thinking of this COVID-19 situation, an idea popped up into our minds to use mirrors. We wanted to capture how this virus kept us locked in our homes and made us reflect on the things that we have taken for granted. And what a better way to do so, if not standing in front of the mirror. Right? So those are the only partially editorial photos we’ve taken as we have few photographers lined up in the next few months to bring you their own vision of our label through editorials made by them.

Going through all the articles written about these fierce warriors, we couldn’t help but wonder: Were these women a myth or a reality? A part of us want to believe they were real, but the other part doesn’t, as we’re torn because women have always known better than man to solve issues in more peaceful manner and that’s why war has always been a man’s play-field. However, we’re glad, at least the myth exists. That way we get to teach our children that women are equal to man and that there is no such thing as masculine or feminine social roles. When it comes to the world we live in and the one we’re building right now, there’s no room for this patriarchal, medieval, stuck-up way of thinking. Wouldn’t you agree?

Sleek, sassy and slouchy, The Amazones Collection is made entirely out of dead-stock materials, which means limited quantities are available. Can’t wait to see the pieces? Click here to browse the entire line. 

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