Metamorphosis

It’s perhaps the most commercially driven occasion known to man. However, despite the cheese and pretension that come with Valentine’s Day, we’re all still suckers for it.

It gives old and moldy couples a reason to reignite their relationship. It gives young and randy duos inspiration to come up with more tricks to impress one another. For the singletons, it gives them a reason to drink heavily.

I found it appropriate to feature the romantic clothing of Silk Cocoon of the Goulbourn women, Jeannie and Katrina. Jeannie Goulbourn is perhaps the most inspiring paragon for love. She does everything with passion and warmth. Her ardent passion for life is reflected in her inimitable designs. Every stitch of a Silk Cocoon dress is made with the same ardor. She once discovered a waiter in a restaurant who could paint well. How she found out is intriguing in itself: she commissioned him to paint on 10 garments made of the famed Silk Cocoon fabric. This is only one of the many stories of how she has touched people’s lives. Jeannie’s vision for romantic garb is as cursive as her imagination: "I guess I was inspired by Norah Jones’ song Come Away With Me. I heard the words, the melody, constantly — this collection was a de-stressing, lovely experience for the youth that is forever in women, that knows how to dream to balance reality with idealism. A melody that embraces women of all ages — awesome femininity that draws no line in years between today and yesterday."

What makes the line so special is how it was made.

In a time where there is a new hot designer every month, Silk Cocoon shies from the intrepid catwalks and instead focuses on craftsmanship. "The weaving, the dyeing, the cutting of laces and petals, and stitching them back into new romantic forms — the labor of love with the knowledge that the recipient will keep this Silk Cocoon forever to give to a daughter and to a granddaughter. I incorporate trends, to mark the time a piece was done. But the piece is timeless and precious as I always manage to bridge tomorrow and yesterday to today! And I think that is most important, this balance I try to achieve in my life and in my designs," Jeannie shares.

"Come, come away, back to a lovely romantic past and to a wonderful tomorrow." And the dreaming and the doing is today — time present!