Courtesy of MiH Jeans

Editors' Notes

The MiH Scoop Neck T-shirt from the Shibori collection created in collaboration with Niki Livingston.

Courtesy of MiH Jeans

Editors' Notes

Niki Livingston leading a Shibori workshop at the MiH headquarters in London.

Photo Credit: Yoshihiro Makino

Editors' Notes

Niki Livingston leading a Shibori workshop at the MiH headquarters in London.

Courtesy of MiH Jeans

Editors' Notes

Niki Livingston leading a Shibori workshop at the MiH headquarters in London.

Courtesy of MiH Jeans

Editors' Notes

The MiH Scoop Neck T-shirt from the Shibori collection created in collaboration with Niki Livingston.

Courtesy of MiH Jeans

Editors' Notes

An MiH scarf from the Shibori collection created in collaboration with Niki Livingston.

Courtesy of MiH Jeans

Editors' Notes

The MiH Scoop Neck T-shirt from the Shibori collection created in collaboration with Niki Livingston.

Courtesy of MiH Jeans

Editors' Notes

The MiH Oversize shirt from the Shibori collection created in collaboration with Niki Livingston.

Courtesy of MiH Jeans

Editors' Notes

Niki Livingston in her Los Angeles studio dyeing pieces using the Shibori technique for the MiH Shibori collection.

Courtesy of MiH Jeans

Editors' Notes

Niki Livingston in her Los Angeles studio dyeing pieces using her Shibori technique on the MiH Shibori collection.

“Having your own studio really facilitates a constant dance party,” says Niki Livingston, a Shibori artist who works in Los Angeles’ Chinatown in a space she shares with her husband. But lately, Livingston has been logging more miles in the air than she has traversing the concrete floors of her downtown studio. She’s collaborated with MiH Jeans on an online exclusive Shibori collection that includes limited edition dyed shirts and scarves, and has been hosting Shibori workshops at the MiH headquarters in London to teach students her dyeing techniques that originated in ancient Japan. Livingston, who is best known for designing the dressing room curtains at The General Store in Venice and the drapes inside bedrooms at the Ojai Rancho Inn, began learning the art of Shibori after viewing an exhibition at The Japanese Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo nearly a decade ago. There she saw a “room filled with the most beautiful, delicate, antique Shibori kimonos,” says Livingston. Soon the artist found herself on a treasure hunt as she started to discover more clues about the ancient art. “The art of Shibori didn’t really begin to imprint on my consciousness until I stumbled upon a book containing photographs of indigo-dyed Shibori kimonos.”

Now the intricate dyeing process has become second nature to Livingston. The artist ties certain fabrics with rope and sticks of bamboo, and clamps other pieces with washers to produce the desired wrinkled effect. Each piece is unique, and no two items look the same. The idea intrigued Chloe Lonsdale of MiH who contacted Livingston about a silk scarf Lonsdale spotted in L.A. that Livingston has created. The idea for the collaboration developed when Lonsdale came to Livingston’s studio. “I instantly fell in love,” says Livingston who identifies the Oversize shirt with a polkadot pattern as her favorite piece in the collection. “It’s most representative of my current state of mind,” she says, adding “It’s partially an homage to [Japanese artist] Yayoi Kusama, and her irreverent femininity.”

By Ellie June

Pictured: The MiH Scoop Neck tee from the Indigo Love collection by Niki Livingston.
Courtesy of MiH Jeans