Society has become more and more conscious of what they put in their bodies. What you ingest comes from somewhere after all, and every step of the journey it takes before it gets to you will affect you in some way. So why shouldn’t you be as conscious of that journey in regards to the items you put on your body as you are of what you put in it? This question is what led Sveta Khachatryan, founder of the clothing line Alice Blue, to use only natural dyes in her work.
After studying painting and video art at the University of the Arts in London, Sveta began making wearable art. The only problem was that people weren’t using her creations. They considered them so pretty they’d frame it or place it on the mantelpiece. “I wanted to change that. I like the idea of people wearing my art, my creations. It’s there to be aesthetically pleasing and it makes me happy to know that my pieces make others happy.” This interest in creating items that bring people joy is part of what has motivated her Alice Blue designs. “I treated my line as a form of artistic expression. I don’t pay attention to what’s in style or what’s fashionable at the moment. I want everything to be genuine.”
After moving back to Armenia, Sveta became the only natural dyer in the country. She didn’t start off knowing what the process entailed and taught herself from the ground-up. Through experimentation, and a lot of time spent researching and reading, Sveta learned that there are infinite ways to naturally dye fabric. She began with cabbage, turmeric and beets, items that were easy to find in Armenia, and expanded from there.