Mahsa

Today I fell in love with a sleeve. It sounds silly, I know, but it was the way in which said sleeve made me feel. The cropped, Victorian-inspired sleeve had me instantly aware of my wrists, the way my elbows moved and how that had a gestural effect on my hand. The sleeve was of a shirt named ‘Bow Blouse’ and the shirt was from a newly launched brand named Mahsa.

Mahsa is exactly how Mahsa does. After years of experience in the film industry, Mahsa Willis eventually came to the conclusion that fashion (or the expression of dressing one’s self) was in fact the language that felt most natural to her. Mahsa wanted to create a small collection of garments that were utilitarian, nonchalant and feminine. Pieces that moved with her lifestyle and echoed her own consumer values. In response to her own frustrations with the current fashion industry — too fast, too expensive with little to no substance or longevity, Mahsa makes what is true to her. ‘Beautiful imperfection’, edited down to a safari-esque palette, soft bows and raw, natural textures, is the exact extension of these notions. It makes me think that when you find something to be intriguing, functional and too beautiful to forget, you have to trust in the fact that other people will too. All it took for me was one considered little sleeve.

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Photographed by friend and internationally renowned photographer Derek Henderson inside Mahsa’s own home in Titirangi, built by architect Ewen Wainscott in 1964, the look book reveals interior details that would make any mid-century admirer weak at the knees.

*Mahsa is currently showing her debut collection ‘Beautiful imprefection’ at her pop up store at 197 Ponsonby Road, until Sunday 20th December.