🇬🇧 Morpho + Luna launches Dancing Butterflies
Combining the aesthetics of Japanese Art Deco design with a new, sustainable fabric, Morpho + Luna’s latest collection of Italian-made nightwear is luxurious and eco-aware
Tradition and invention have long underpinned the success of Italy’s textile industry.
Morpho + Luna’s founder and creative director Cécile Gavazzi drew on these strengths when she collaborated with Como-based Mantero, silk weavers and printers for the world’s most prestigious fashion houses, to produce her latest collection of Italian-made, fluidly-tailored sleep and homeware. ​
Launching 8th October 2021, Morpho + Luna’s Dancing Butterflies range, which includes kimonos and pyjamas, combines Resilk®, a sustainable fabric developed by Mantero, with exquisite, Art Deco-influenced designs inspired by documents in the Mantero archive: a resource for leading designers across the world.
Resilk® and Morpho + Luna
Mantero, a family business founded in 1902, spent four years researching and developing Resilk®.
Produced from scraps of silk waste left over during the production process, this upcycled, patented fabric is not a silk substitute but a luxurious alternative. As warm and gossamer-light as cashmere, Resilk® has a lustrous sheen: ‘It’s beautiful to touch, but has more weight than pure silk,’ explains Cécile.
Cécile used Resilk®for the latest addition to Morpho + Luna’s designs. The new, unisex Kimono works just as well as an elegant evening top as it does worn with jeans or over dresses for insouciant chic.
‘At Morpho + Luna, we’ve always been committed to slow fashion and traditional craftsmanship. But that doesn’t mean that we have to stand still,’ says Cécile whose family founded one of Italy’s largest silk mills in the early 20th century. ‘They were one of the first to import silk from Asia,’ she says. ‘So I was brought up to understand the importance of innovation. ​ Using Resilk® was a wonderful opportunity for us to use a sustainable material. Circular production is the future. As a small brand, we’re well placed to be an early adopter.’
Day to Night Pieces
Other pieces in the collection - pyjamas, robes, nightdresses, and eye masks - are made from a blend of Resilk® and pure silk, or pure silk twill in a palette that ranges from muted monochromes to singing yellows and deep, midnight blues.
Silk twill, with its firmer texture, lends itself to both day and nightwear, says Cécile: ‘Versatility has always been important to us. These are luxurious pieces that that you can wear at home – for a quiet moment of indulgence – ​ or when you’re out with friends.’ ​
Inspired by the Mantero Archive
The world-renowned Mantero archive includes thousands of drawings, designs and fabrics, organised by subject and era, which are viewable by appointment only. ​
For the Dancing Butterflies collection, Cécile drew on original, Japanese Art Deco designs, including a traditional Katagami stencil pattern, in the archive.
The Art Deco movement flourished in Japan from the 1920s to the 1940s when designers mixed references to the natural world with symbols of ancient and contemporary Japanese culture.
Cécile worked closely with Mantero’s in-house designers to digitally refine her chosen prints for a more abstract, modern feel: a process that took three months.
The butterfly has a special significance. Morpho + Luna’s signature motifs are Morpho, a vibrant blue South American butterfly, and Luna, a delicate white moth. These two creatures represent the masculine and feminine sides in all of us. This juxtaposition defines the label's luxury sleep and homeware collections with its mix of softer, decorative prints offset by tailored shapes.Â
Made To Order
For the first time some of the designs (available to buy from the website) will be made to order in the workshop in Italy.
‘At Morpho + Luna we have always been committed to slow fashion, but this is the first time we have decided to make our pieces to order,’ says Cécile. ‘It marks the next step of our sustainability journey.’ ​
Sizing
Morpho + Luna sizing has changed to become more inclusive. Selected made-to-order pieces will also be available in sizes ranging from XS to XL, so that as Cécile says: ‘Everyone can experience their own Morpho + Luna moment.’
Prices start at 115€ for an eye mask.
The collection will be available to buy directly from Morpho + Luna’s website, ​ and at the showroom, Via Amedeo Melegari 4, Milan, ​ +39 02 8968 2264.
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Note to editors
Mantero
Mantero Seta is a world-renowned, family-owned textile company founded in 1902 in Como, Italy, by Riccardo Mantero. ​ Mantero’s history of artisanship spans four generations. For over a century it has been a leader in the creation, production and distribution of men and women's luxury textile fabrics and accessories.
The Mantero Archive is one of the most extraordinary textile collections in the world. It includes 10,000 books, 60,000 scarves and thousands of hand-drawn designs, test papers, printed, plain and Jacquard fabrics, from the world’s most prestigious fashion houses.
Background to the Resilk® Process
‘Luxury waste’ left over from the production of scarves or print proofs is usually left in the warehouses to be destroyed. To regenerate this surplus material, Mantero has developed a new and sustainable textile product which meets its high standards of quality and production.
The silk leftovers are mechanically destroyed, then shredded and bleached using sustainable techniques and materials certified by the Global Recycle Standard.
This material is then turned in to a neutral-coloured yarn which can be woven and dyed, printed and embellished. The result is Resilk®, an extraordinary fabric which combines the qualities of cashmere – warmth and lightness – with the lustre of silk.