Following up our successful debut collection, ‘The Courage Spur’, the story continues which had begun at The Choice culminated at the attainment of inner Serenity. But we asked ourselves, does life stop at attaining Serenity?
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That question spurred us on our next journey, which resulted in our second collection: Odyssey of Power.
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This second full collection is a profound exploration of the journey of achieving personal power, as a result of feeling the freedom to dream, pursuing these dreams and what happens thereafter. Quintessentially Aquillora-like, this collection features five distinct stages experienced in this journey: The Dreaming, The Pursuit, Power, Indulgence and The Descending.
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To tell this profound sartorial story, our passionate team of designers, artisans and craftsman worked with painstaking attention to every last detail, drawing from their inspired imaginations to craft, refine and temper this collection, until every last variable of quality was uncovered and brought up to a level of unparalleled excellence.
The story begins with The Dreaming. Dreaming costs nothing. And yet it is an essential first step in achieving anything of value.
Once we have felt true serenity, it unlocks our ability to dream by freeing us of all our previous constraints. The old fears, the old anxieties, the old doubts. Everything. We are free to dream of more, to see potential in ourselves and the world at large; We are opened up to a new world of possibilities. The freedom to dream comes as a new beginning itself for many. And it all starts with a Dream.Â
Whether they are day-dreams or night-dreams, Dreams are characterized by the impossible and the infinite. Impossible, unbelievable things happen in our dreams, that we can or may want to make possible, while we sense infinite potential endemic in them.Â
The Dreaming is the first step in our journey to make the impossible, possible. Dreaming boldly is itself an act of courage.
To capture the feeling of dreams, our team utilizes luxurious co-ord sets of pants, blazers and coats, with bold silhouettes fit for the dreamer in each one of us. As dreams sometimes show us specs of extreme details, this is translated onto sheer, multi-coloured, geometric patterns. While paradoxical architectural patterns are artistically placed on monochrome vest and blazer sets. On the other hand, contrasting elements in flowy, painstakingly layered organza fabrics to emphasize the vivid haziness of dreams.
Dreaming of great, but still impossible things is one thing. Manifesting it and bringing it forth from the realm of the impossible into our reality is another thing. Thus begins our pursuit to make what we saw in our dreams, real. Characterized by speed, purpose and an upward movement, The Pursuit is the process stage of chasing the recalcitrant ideas and visions of our dreams in the real world through tireless building, creating and overcoming the inevitable obstacles that throw themselves at us in the process.Â
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With our courage discovered in our own hearts, we pursue our dreams boldly. We are inspired by the spirit of discovery and creation, and we impose our will on the chaos to make order out of it. Even when we don’t know all the answers, we are excited and exhilarated by the process itself.
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Attempting to capture the feeling of upward movement and speed, each piece is crafted to showcase this with painstakingly crafted pleats on strong silhouettes of vests, pantsuits and abayas. Serene hues of beige and blue are blended with vivid tones of green and black, balancing the play of strength and calm in oneself while in pursuit of a great aim. Completed with statement belts, contrasting piping and custom Aquillora buttons, each element adds a touch of exotic craftsmanship and passion.
This stage, the heart of this collection, represents the peak of what we are able to achieve as humans, when we dream the impossible and pursue our vision unwaveringly: We achieve greatness. We attain a sense of untainted power. We have achieved what we dreamt of. How many people are able to say this in their lives?
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When we have mastered our fears and anxieties, to reach this stage, we’ve tapped into our courage again and again and again, with the full knowledge that it is an inexhaustible source of life and power within us. We drink from this pool of our courage to keep working, striving until we achieve greatness. And through the process of making our dreams a reality, our courage manifests itself as a feeling of utmost Power. And everyone around us gets to witness this. Our success is conspicuous to the whole world, in lieu of what we have achieved.
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To represent this particular stage, our team masterfully makes us of exceedingly eloquent embroidery patterns with tone-on-tone sequins emanating a regal sense of greatness and power held. Fused with a neutral colour palette and black bold lines, each silhouette in this stage embraces the idea of Power.
The feeling of power, after we have achieved something extra-ordinary, though it feels like it could last an eternity, slips away from our finger after a while. After working tirelessly to achieve our dreams, we feel entitled to a few rewards, a few fruits of our labor. And rightly so. As a result of our achievement, when the world showers us with rewards, it’s not too bad to enjoy them a little.
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Thus, the fourth stage, Indulgence, is characterized by utmost enjoyment and relaxation. The rewards of achievement, power are ever tempting us to indulge in them. Enjoying the fruits of our labor, is a universally human experience after all.Â
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To explore the feeling of pleasurable indulgence in the utmost of luxury, sophistication and enjoyment, our team utilizes ultra-luxurious fabrics and masterfully created embellishments. Flowy kaftans and pantsuits crafted in silk and velvet with the most exquisite and unparalleled crystal embellishments replicating fine jewellery, to tell the long-loved tale of how we all enjoy such Indulgence.
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No true journey of greatness can culminate with only the enjoyment of rewards. Embracing this sense of humility to let go of pleasure at the right time, brings us to the final stage in this journey: The Descending. Sometimes, to achieve something more than what we have just achieved, we have to take a step back, and descend from our high place of success, adulation, enjoyment and luxury; If not literally, then mentally. No matter how hard, how long it took us to achieve our rewards.
Thus, the final stage, The Descending, is about getting out of our newfound comfort zone and pleasures and adulation, to strive for more, realizing that if we stay there, we will not grow. The aim is to come down to a place of humility and a new beginning. Like a successful artist taking a step back after a major success, and realizing that she has to begin at the beginning to achieve more.Â
Geometric patterns, ethereal colour illusions and statement buttons pay homage to this natural sense of reclamation and descent from peaks scaled. While versatile silhouettes of long coats paired with pants embrace a clear path to the next dream and criss-cross elements with monochrome reminds us to keep strong so we can dream new dreams.Â
