1. April 27, 3:30pm. It's the afternoon of the Human Wear Fashion Show, Kathy is at her fitting of a new silk batik collection by Lola Saifi, a famous designer in Uzbekistan, She and Liliya, the shop assistant, are going through the collection, Kathy pulls out and scrutinizes a silk multi-layered batik dress decorated with vibrant patterns and shapes on a dusky-pink background.

Since the dress is not her size (design samples are teeny), she makes do with pulling it up to her face and looking at herself in the mirror. "That's what I love about batik painted onto silk the sense of color and the sensuality of it. I have to feel comfortable. I like to wear the dress, it can't wear me", she states. Kathy is constantly traveling, whether she's flying to her house in Great Britain or to Margilan, a town in the southwest of Uzbekistan to develop projects.

Definitely, experimenting with design ideas for clothing based on the traditions of Uzbek people is of great help in the creation of good and beautiful everyday wear. There are two places in the city of Tashkent where you can buy these fabulously unique clothes at very very wearable prices: Human Wear Gallery located on
1,Chimkentskaya Street (phone 56 86 27) and
Human House, located on
Usmon Nosir Street 30, (phone 11 5 25 38).

2. This decorative pattern (such as all patterns and symbols connected to women and the theme of blossoming and bearing fruit) is derived from the traditional sun and almond bodom shapes found on kerchiefs kalgai.

3. Collections by famous Uzbek designers such as Alexandra Chichinova, Lola Salfi, Sherzod Atabayev have reached considerable popularity since they ideally combine avant guard and classic cuts with traditional Uzbek silks. Designers are using the technique of hot and cold batik, coloring only natural fabrics with mainly nature derived dyes. The color pattern is brushed onto the fabric, which is then cut and sewn.