Individualism in Fashion

You’ve probably noticed that the ability/need to stand out as an individual in the fashion world is key to expressing individuality and personality. For instance, vintage and retro themed clothing has spiked over the last 10 years, and while fashion appears to be going full-circle, our desire to be unique is only ever-growing.

Now, if you’ve ever read the Kuma story, you’ll know Mari Ojasaar has believed that life is to be unique and should always be lived in that way. Her expression is that life is lived as an art, and we think it should be too. Therefore, there is always a need for individualism in society and most certainly in fashion.

Based on our values, and the desire to live in a unique and inspiring fashion world, we got to thinking and decided to create a tool that would help you become as unique as the very butterfly your brooch is inspired by. Simply put, this is the Kuma Design ‘Create Your Own Butterfly Brooch’ tool.  

Creating your unique butterfly brooch

The most beautiful thing about butterflies are of course, their wings. Did you know butterfly wings are transparent? They’re made up of thousands of tiny scales, and the colours in their wings come from light reflecting from them.

This, along with the need for a unique, expressive piece of headwear gave us the inspiration to create this wonderful tool. The combination of vegan leather, and complete control over the design allows you to express your soul through the design of your very own individual butterfly brooch.

Vegan materials for wonderful wings

Vegan leather is known to be one of the most sustainably sourced and economically friendly materials out there. It’s also very easy to dye, which is great for creative expression, and why it was a no-brainer for us to develop this tool.

In fact, vegan materials, especially leather are just as durable as traditional materials. It’s a myth that they aren’t! This ensures that our wonderful brooches won’t be breaking any time soon.

Using the Create Your Own Butterfly Brooch tool

Creating your own butterfly brooch couldn’t be easier. On the right-hand side of the butterfly, there are colour sliders – you can click on the circle of the slider as many times as you want and this will add more sliders to your butterfly brooch, giving you more and more control over the contrast, gradient and colour range of your butterfly brooch. The more colours you add, the more unique your butterfly brooch becomes!

The colour palette itself sits below the actual butterfly your creating, and there is an array of colours so you have the opportunity to really see the rainbow in your designs or mix and match colours to represent your outfit, style and fashion personality, without compromising on quality.

At the moment, there are two butterfly shapes you can choose from (we are designing some more) with two free Swarovski crystals to place wherever you’d like – you can find these options next to the colour palette underneath your butterfly design.

Thinking creatively about your butterfly brooch

Now that the technical know-how is out the way, it’s time to understand the creative process around designing your butterfly. You may have read Mari’s latest blog on her creative design process, and perhaps you can draw inspiration from this yourself? If not take a look at some cool ways to help you become inspired by designing your very own butterfly brooch:

Using social media – sites like Instagram and Pinterest will give you fantastic colour ideas, outfit inspirations and knowledge on what to match with your butterfly brooch. We suggest setting up mood-boards on Pinterest, leaving them for a day or two and coming back to see which board/style really inspires you and running with that.

Pantone’s Colour of the Year – no fashionista is without knowing the colour of the year. Check the website each season for a breakdown of the years colours and seasonal tones.

Magazines – still a traditional way of doing things but draw inspiration from reading your favourite magazines to give you fantastic style and tone ideas.

Think of the season – is it spring, summer, autumn or winter? The season could determine the colours you choose! After all, it’s very unlikely you’ll be wearing bright yellows or blues in the colder months of the year.