The Bite Magazine - issue 16

T here are a few things in fashion that are as time- lessly classic and chic as a well-starched, white but- ton-down shirt. It’s true. Ask anyone, man or woman, what they think composes a traditionally classic look and I almost guarantee each will say it includes a crisp, white button-down shirt. That being said, one may ponder how this mega-fashion staple could ever be altered or improved.Well, dear readers, designer Indra Kaffemanaite has taken it upon herself to do just that with her line of beautifully tailored and whimsically designed white shirts entitled ‘Balossa’. Balossa is the feminine singular form of the Italian-Swiss word ‘balosso’ which means foolish, stupid or harebrained. Now I highly doubt Kaffemanaite thinks her brand is harebrained or foolish, but perhaps she wanted to use it as a play on words or a way to express that fashion shouldn’t be taken so seriously. I hope it’s the latter, as her collection is some- thing to admire, to covet, and to want to hang in your wardrobe as your other go-to white shirt. I know when I first saw her pieces hanging at the PURE London event, I was actually looking over the railing of the first floor event space at the expansive forest of clothing stalls below and hers was the one that stood out. Her gorgeous white shirts were shown like a bright beacon in a sea of black murky water, calling me home to the safety shore, the shore of exquisite taste and high-end style. Inspired by one of Yves Saint Laurent’s most famous quotes, “I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes,” Kaffemanaite took the white shirt as her ‘jean’ muse, as something to transform and share with masses. “I would say the same for the white shirt - the most prac- tical, easy, sexy, spectacular and relaxed cloth. Brilliant piece of clothing that has been re-done and brought back in many concepts but has never given up to amaze me.” As a brand, one of Balossa’s main aspi- rations is trying to do just that, it wants to reinvent, bring to life and twist a little basic piece that already has everything. This reinvention, however, always includes simplicity, comfort, originality, elegance, bite fashion