I apologize for taking a long time since I last updated my blog.

It has already been about two and a half years since I opened a small pop up tailoring shop in Florence, Italy.

It's been a very amazing experience to be able to join the group of craftsmen in the old town of Florence as a Japanese tailor with a background in London. The tailoring culture is very famous in Florence traditionally and it exists still a little preciously. I would like to also express huge gratitude to all the people who supported me. Thank you for all my international friendships.

Changing completely the stories I'll jump ahead a bit, but the topic I would like to introduce today is actually about my attraction for the antique linen.

<Flax Plant>

I use often linen in my designs, and there's a reason for that.

The "linen" that I use is mostly antique linen made from European flax, or hemp made from cannabis which have different quality with any kind of Asian linen what I know. 

If I talk about my original culture, the different from the stiff and firm "linen" used in Japanese Shinto for example, European antique linen and hemp fabrics have a particular weight and falling feeling in the texture.

<Flax fields in France>

When this type of European linen is incorporated into the clothing design, it adds a unique, floppy feeling to the overall silhouette.

The clothes made from linen fabric have a rich and chic character unlike the clothes made from the other fabrics such as usual cotton, even when they wrinkle slightly it gives different new taste in the contemporary fashion market. Linen fabric has a lifelike texture, it lasts long and allows them to be worn for many years.

A lots of valuable vintage French clothing are made from European antique linen or hemp which are traded in high price especially in America, Euro, UK and Asia such as Japan. Even if it is very old pieces the strength of linen clothes and brightness of the fabric remain impressively as it was before.

In terms of the physic it is also said the strength of the linen fabric is actually the most powerful as natural material.

Traditionally, linen has been widely used in various cultures for familiar designs close to everyday life that require particular thickness such as ship sails or tents as nomadic houses.

<Mongolian Tent>

<German potato sack made by Hemp>

Interestingly, the research into "fabrics and frequencies" has been widely conducted in the field of quantum phisics in recent years, there is a Jewish doctor Heidi Yellen has pulished research that proves the frequency of “linen” is far higher than other kinds of materials.

According to this study, normal healthy human body has a signature frequency of 100Hz, and organic cotton is the same – 100Hz. The study showed that if the number is lower than 100Hz, it puts a strain on the body.

The organic cotton is generally considered to be gentle on the skin. The reason why the organic cotton is often used for the underwear or baby clothing is due to the ingenuity of the design, which aims to make it as comfortable as possible for the body.

In addition his research has measured the frequency of “linen” to be 5000Hz, which is very high compared to the other materials. It is said that the reason of "linen" sheets are often used in the hospital beds is to heal the bodies of sick people whose frequencies have dropped, it has an effect to raise the frequencies of human bodies. Jesus Christ is often depicted wearing "linen" robes, and the fact that "linen" is often used for religious ceremonial clothing seems to be related to this fact of its property as high frequency of the material.

I personally love and use a lot of antique linen bed sheets. Once you experience its comfortable texture on the skin, you will never be able to rest satisfied with sheets made of any other material. Yes I definitely can say from my personal experience that high-vibration fabrics have a healing effect on the body during sleep for sure.

<Antique linen bed sheets>

Unfortunately, durable, high-quality natural materials like antique linen are no longer produced anywhere in Europe today.

This is because the old manufacturing methods are too expensive now in terms of labor costs, and low cost linens are simply available anywhere already.

My antique linen supplier in Italy seems to have limited stock at the moment, and prices are rising. In Paris and London, linen is especially valued, and even in flea markets, it seems to be sold at a very high price.

I like soft, floppy materials like European antique linen, which are not stiff or tough as I know from Japanese linen. The trend for new high prices of the materials effects profoundly to rise my future products unfortunately. I would like to treat all the precious materials with care and cherish them until the very end, no matter what they may be.

I am extremely grateful and respectful to my customers from all over the world who can share these old values and qualities in the present moment.

Thank you for reading until to the end.

MZ

<curtains and children's clothing made by antique linen MOMOZONO Arte della Sartoria in Florence>