Diane Goldstein launches hand-crafted kimono label Monoki
Monoki is Diane Goldstein's new obsession. In 2005 the designer launched the womenswear label April, May with her husband, Yohan Sitbon, and this year she has started a new fashion project, Monoki. April, May was discontinued in 2015 following disagreements between Goldstein and her Korean partners, but now she is back to the design board with this new, single-product label focusing on kimonos.
Diane Goldstein is still connected to Asia, working as design consultant for Korean brand Bonnie Alex, but with Monoki she has headed West, basing the label in Los Angeles. All of the brand's models are manufactured there, starting from original martial arts designs, which Goldstein then turns into unique items: they are softened and re-dyed, then reworked with an artisan, by applying patches, embroidery and fabric panels and transforming them into fashion pieces.
Producing the kimonos is quite time consuming, but they are suitable for all seasons, used both as "jackets in fine weather and as indoor garments in winter," said Diane Goldstein. "I created the first models for fun, and they were a runaway success among my acquaitances, so now I am offering them to boutiques," she added.
Monoki's one-off items are now available at Paul & Joe in rue des Saints-Pères, Paris, at Gas in Paris and Saint-Tropez, and also in Saint-Barthélemy, Melbourne and Los Angeles.
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