Collection Notes: Silk Laundry Spring/Summer '24

Katie Kolodinski’s fascination and love of nature and science has inspired Silk Laundry’s best collections. The designer’s trademark study of softness and drapery coupled with a harsh juxtaposition of masculine and feminine design elements is on spectacular display in “Golden Ratio: Mathematics In Nature”.

In his short story “The Library of Babel” writer Jorge Luis Borges states “The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite and perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries…” Silk Laundry draws from this limitless gallery of the cosmos to galvanise this new collection.

Perfection is Katie Kolodinski’s new proclivity. Specifically, she embraces the inherent intentionality and perfection with which our natural world operates. A quick glance over the initial releases from Silk Laundry’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection and it is clear that the earthly world around us is the jumping off point for where the collection originated.

Hours of research culminated in the discovery of 19th century German philosopher, marine biologist, and artist Ernst Haeckel’s work. Throughout his career, Haeckel’s produced some 100 intricate illustrations that emphasise symmetrical interpretations of nature to support his faux-Darwinian theories of evolution. This study of symmetricity in nature is based on mathematical sequences first observed by 13th century Italian mathematician Fibonacci.

Equally significant to Silk Laundry artistry, is Fibonacci’s 1202 book Liber Abaci (Book of Calculation).

Through the introduction of what is known as the “Fibonacci sequence;” this mathematical progression of numbers relates to the golden ratio that has been used to predict outcomes across the natural world. From the shape of galaxies and the arrangement of leaves on a stem to the reproduction rates of rabbits, the Fibonacci sequence, and by extension, the Fibonacci spiral– a visual, geometric representation of the sequence–have been used to accurately describe and study patterns in nature.

It is this application of perfect natural design observed by both Fibonacci and Haeckel that inspired the prints seen throughout Silk Laundry’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection. Motivated by the work of both Haeckel and Fibonacci, highly detailed, hand-drawn interpretations of their work cover shirts, pants, and dresses–a clever choice that places the exactness of mathematical-inspired illustrations in direct contrast with animism and the unpredictable drape of liquid-like silk. It is this harsh tension that prevails throughout the collection, propelled through the bold colour contrasts chosen by Kolodinski.

Bright ‘Geranium’-red, ‘Amaranth’-pink and ‘Wave’-blue accent the abstract rabbit print, designed by the brand’s in-house artists who, by extension, give deference to the Fibonacci sequence’s historical application to studying the reproduction rates of lagomorphs.

In other interpretations, like in the Cotton Grid Grandpa Shirt, Kolodinski nods to more literal reflections of mathematics. The custom grid-crochet pattern is inspired by graph paper, “on which new ideas have been formulated, problems have been solved, and the mathematical rules that govern both the human and animal world have been recorded.”

Silk Laundry is always highly conceptually driven, each collection is inspired by a larger overarching theory, thought, or intellection, but “Golden Ratio: Mathematics In Nature” feels deeper in its conceptualisation. A triumph of design and interpretation of the natural world, discover the newest collection online at The Forme.