Before It Was Mine: Herderin at The Living Archive
On September 16 and 17, Herderin returned to The Living Archive for Before It Was Mine, a sold-out, two-day exhibition of sustainable fashion at the Rivian Showroom in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. Over the two nights, the garments were shown on the body, set out in a showroom exhibition, and displayed on a table alongside raw materials and the collection statement. On the second night, Alix joined a panel moderated by KQED.
The room said as much as the clothing did. Before It Was Mine gathered the part of San Francisco that cares about sustainability, design, and creative space, and seeing it fill Rivian's showroom was a reminder of how connected that community has become.
A return to simplicity
Many brands in the show spoke to where their materials come from. Herderin's place was in what comes after that: a return to minimalism. Good design is mostly a matter of clearing things away, not designing more. Herderin keeps making the same point, even when it feels repetitive: clothing can be a way of being in the body, and getting dressed is a practice we return to every day. That idea runs through Alix's research and through every piece Herderin makes.
The colors came from a vision
Herderin is mostly undyed, with two exceptions: a rich indigo and a rich walnut. Those two colors are the foundation of the studio, and they came from a vision. During a breathwork retreat, Alix met her late paternal grandfather, a man of Iranian heritage who had once traveled to America to find her and couldn't. They sat together on a cliff above the ocean, she in walnut brown and he in deep indigo. He told her that everything she built should be joyful, and shared rather than held back.
That is what Before It Was Mine is about: what we inherit from the people who came before us, and what we leave for the people who come after. Many people don't realize that Herderin is, at its root, an homage to ancestral wisdom. Regeneration looks backward and forward at once. It honors the herders, growers, and makers who carried this knowledge, and it lays groundwork for generations not yet here. Herderin works in that space between past and future.
Two bodies of work, side by side
One of the best parts of the show was sharing it with Allen Litton of Bodies as Clothing. His work centers on indigo, and our pieces sat naturally beside each other, two practices that complement each other without trying to.
Thank you to Kara Fabella and The Living Archive, to Rivian, to KQED, to everyone who sews and dyes this work, and to everyone who came.
photo credits: Beni Tovs, Camy Totah, Melissa Demata