I have been chomping at the bit waiting for the right time to discuss the Zaharoff Fall 2010 Collection.  Even though this is being written in May, I figure it's right around the corner so I might as well make some sort of entry.

                                            
                                                  
Yours truly just arriving into the island of Zanzibar.  I look a little rugged, having just come from visting Ethiopia, Sudan and mainland Tanzania.

Designers plan things out about a year ahead of time, so when clothing actually get into the stores, they are already working on next year's collection.  Fall 2010 was designed about ten months ago - I've already completed Spring 2011 and now getting ready to work on Fall 2011.  I have to admit, it is strange working in this unknown future, so when it actually catches up, I have already moved on to other things.

Fall 2010 was completely inspired by numerous visits to the main island of Zanzibar.  Even the name evokes thoughts of some exotic faraway place.  I would bet that nine out of ten wouldn't even know where it is located. 

Here it is:

                                                          

Zanzibar is a beautiful magnificent little island off the coast of Tanzania.  It is a hop and a skip away (16 miles or so)  from Dar es Salaam (known as "Dar" by the locals).  Literally the plane takes off, levels and lands - all in five minutes.  There are also multiple ferries between the capital and the island daily.  What is so unique about Zanzibar is that it is actually a number of islands - it is the archipelago of a handful of islands.  Unguja is the bigger island, which is typically referred to as "Zanzibar" (even the picture of me at the airport says "Zanzibar") and then there are smaller islands, including Pemba.

Zanzibar was once a separate state with a long trading history within the Arab world united with Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964 and still enjoys a high degree of autonomy within the union. The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City, and its historic center, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site. 

Zanzibar's main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. For this reason, the islands, together with Tanzania's Mafia Island, are sometimes called the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia). Zanzibar's ecology is of note for being the home of the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus and the (possibly extinct) Zanzibar Leopard.

It is in Stone Town, the historic center, where inspiration flourished for me.  It was incredible and immediate and lead to the beginnings of working on the Fall 2010 Collection.  WIth it's little alleyways mixed together with Arabian influences and African peoples, it is a artists dream come true - at least for me!

As mentioned, Zanzibar was a major trading port at one time, under British rule, and as such, was home to various government offices (like the British Consulate, Inn's, customs houses), and of course residences of wealthy sultans and merchants.  How to show your wealth to others?  Doors - yes, you read the words correctly, wooden doors.  They all had names as well - it was a symbol of their culture and heritage as well.  There is no other place in the world that has these special doors.  The wealthier you were, the more ornate the doors to your residence, shop, bank, or even harem (called "The Door of Fire").  And let's not forget security, they needed these to be big and heavy.

And to this day, walking though the alleyways, you can see artisans wood carving just like they did hundreds of years ago.  It was here I asked one very talented wood carver to carve the Zaharoff Made-to-Measure boxes you see in a Nordstrom store today.

This was the old Zaharoff MTM box, which I couldn't stand looking at in the stores - I was desperate to find a solution.  While walking through the streets of Stone Town, I found a talented wood carver - he didn't want to be bothered with me initially, but who could say no to me?  He told me to get him a paper copy of the lion.  I had to desperately search through the streets for a printer to hook my laptop.  It was just AWESOME!

The above is my scribble scratch of what I gave the artisan that created the Zaharoff Made-to-Measure box.  And the bottom is the end result:

This was just the tip of the iceberg of what was next to come and as we get closer to Fall 2010, I will share with you my inspirations from this tiny little island.  What I am hoping for is to show you that inspiration comes in every form.