THE MYTH
- May 15, 2020
- 7 min read
Inspired by ancient legends and folklore to modern world mysteries.
We have formulated a collection presenting legends and stories which have prevailed through time and space. Featuring fabled creatures of the deep blue seas that have left men hunting for thousands of years. Glorious and powerful beings that soar through the burning skies and curious extraterrestrial questioning the system we follow.
Azure Dragon
Photography : Chandu Leandro (Black Box Creatives)
Editing : Ankita Suri
Brand : STREY
Chinese dragons are powerful and benevolent symbols in Chinese culture, with supposed control over watery phenomenon, e.g. summoning rain during a drought. Dragons are everywhere in China — in legends, festivals, astrology, art, names, and idioms.
Dragons are seen as lucky and good — quite different to the evil, dangerous, fire-breathing dragons of most Western stories. The Yellow Emperor (Huangdi, a legendary tribal leader) launched a series of wars against nine tribes on the Yellow River Valley, and incorporated the other tribes' totems into his own dragon totem after defeating them.
This explains why the dragon has attributes belonging to nine other creatures: eyes like a shrimp, antlers like a deer, a big mouth like a bull, a nose like a dog, whiskers like a catfish, a lion's mane, a long tail like a snake, scales like a fish, and claws like a hawk.
The basic designs and illustrations of the dragons were further understood only after researching and understanding the reasoning, After finalising the charachter with the Chinese dragon I got down to making sketches and designs around the same.
A modern styled holographic dragon
After further refining and studying the client profiling to better our design in the favor of the market, I chose a traditional style of drawing the dragon. Similar to the ones seen in old paintings and traditional artifacts.
With an exaggeration of their manes, making them curled up and more cleaner. I was able to make a motif/ print that would blend in with this traditional mythology while keeping the colors bright and each shape highlighted. After confirming the fabric as one of the recent take on duchess satin using polyester satin in one of the factories. We finalized with having it machine embroidered to create a surface for added effects.
After studying the current trend study and seeing the rise for casual lounge wear and streetwear we decided to make a Satin shirt with satin shorts for the luxurious lounge touch and a soft Cotton jersey tshirt for the rough street style
Specification Sheet:
Lookbook edition:
Photography : Chandu Leandro (Black Box Creatives)
Editing : Ankita Suri
Brand : STREY
Barairo Dragon
Photography : Chandu Leandro (Black Box Creatives)
Editing : Ankita Suri
Brand : STREY
Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs. Keeping the detail of elongated snake-like body of the Chinese dragons, I decided to make a print which stayed true to show the exaggerated long bodies of the dragons.
Looking closely at the feedback I received for the Azure dragon I also made options for traditional style with a sense of vintage design and a modern style with immense detailing and realism.
Looking at the blue and orange contrast in the previous design I decided to make this a contrast of pink and teal. Exaggerating the manes, making them unruly and free. I was able to make a motif/ print that would blend in with the collection while still making a statement to stand out. As the fabric was confirmed with one of the recent take on duchess satin using polyester satin in one of the factories. With already having seen the strain and time required in machine embroidery we decided to use sublimation printing technique.
After seeing the feedback we received for the shirt and shorts we decided to add a casual lounge wear variety with t-shirt and a pair of track-pants sporting the barairo dragon
Specification Sheet:
Lookbook edition:
Photography : Chandu Leandro (Black Box Creatives)
Editing : Ankita Suri
Brand : STREY
Extra-terrestrial
Photography : Chandu Leandro (Black Box Creatives)
Editing : Ankita Suri
Brand : STREY
Is mankind alone in the universe? Or are there somewhere other intelligent beings looking up into their night sky from very different worlds and asking the same kind of question? Are there civilizations more advanced than ours, civilizations that have achieved interstellar communication and have established a network of linked societies throughout our galaxy? Such questions, bearing on the deepest problems of the nature and destiny of mankind, were long the exclusive province of theology and speculative fiction. We decided to take the mysteries of the extra-terrestrial beings into our collection.
As I focused on the illustrations and designs for the prints, the idea for the curiosity of the aliens was put forth. We always imagine them wondering and questioning our idioms, figure of speech and just some ways we function as a society. So I joined hands with a Graphic artist Mr. Bhreehan, to put forth the idea to motion. I created the vintage comic styled illustration. While Bhreehan managed to make it look futuristic with a modern styled edit. After a few changes we were good to go with the print.
As the font style and color changed the base of the t-shirt went from black to white. I also created a set of trackpants and shorts so it could be combined as a set.
Specification Sheet:
Lookbook edition:
Photography : Chandu Leandro (Black Box Creatives)
Editing : Ankita Suri
Brand : STREY
The Majestic White Horse of Olympus
Pegasus, in Greek mythology, a winged horse that sprang from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa as she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. This creature is traditionally depicted as a pure white horse with wings. Besides his ability to fly, which literally set him above all other horses, Pegasus had an arsenal of supernatural powers. He had free passage from the mortal realm to the immortal realm. Wherever his hoof struck the Earth, he created beautiful springs with water that could inspire artists.
As this beautiful stallion stood out with his majestic wings, I decided to highlight the wings with more detailed lineart. We experimented with the color for the horse and decided on the pure white base as opposed to the realistic shading. As we considered screen printing as opposed to DTG printing.
Wanting to give a colorful base or a tie and dye base we decided to digitally print the fabric and then screen print. As the t-shirts offered color and contrast we decided to tone down the bottoms with plain black.
Specification Sheet:
The Dragon Labyrinth
Moving forward with the collection, I wanted to portray the baroque style often linked with elaborate and dramatic mythologies of the west, with the geometric and eastern style often drawn with or around Chinese dragons and folklore.
Specification Sheet:
The Loch-ness Monster
Loch Ness monster, byname Nessie, large marine creature believed by some people to inhabit Loch Ness, Scotland. Reports of a monster inhabiting Loch Ness date back to ancient times. Notably, local stone carvings by the Pict depict a mysterious beast with flippers. The first written account appears in a biography of St. Columba from 565 ad. According to that work, the monster bit a swimmer and was prepared to attack another man when Columba intervened, ordering the beast to “go back.” It obeyed, and over the centuries only occasional sightings were reported. Many of these alleged encounters seemed inspired by Scottish folklore, which abounds with mythical water creatures. As people grow more curious, there are several search parties created and the creature is often linked as a friendly monster.
After finding several pictures of nessie, most of them were of the monster having a long neck. Keeping in mind as it is often referred to as a water creature I decided to create and use this image as a print. We experimented with DTG and digital prints to see which ones would give a clear and crisp print without making the artwork dull.
As the creature is often linked with a swamp or deep waters we decided to reflect it with choosing the base of the garments with a kale green.
Specification Sheet:
The Griffin
The Griffin is a magicalbeast which originates from Greece. A mythical animal typically having the head, forepart, and wings of an eagle and the body, hind legs, and tail of a lion. Also shown in the Hogwarts Headmaster's office door has a knocker in the shape of a Griffin as well as in the latest "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" series, Newton Scamander was shown keeping a griffin in his basement. This mythical creature is often seen in flags or to represent certain houses or clans.
The griffin was fun to illustrate and I had two key ways I wanted to portray it. Often eagles and lions are seen as symbols of power and authority. Also an eagle mid flight is considered very intimidating. To portray the griffin mid flight screeching the war cry I made the above illustration. Similarly griffins are also shown in flags and represent certain houses and clan. Keeping the essence in mind, I also made a side angle for the griffin to show the front body of the eagle and the hinds mimicking that of a lion.
UT QUOD QUIS NON INVENTUS EST IN CONSPECTU : The sight of which one was not found written in.
Specification Sheet:
The Illuminati Dog
Illuminati, designation in use from the 15th century, assumed by or applied to various groups of persons who claimed to be unusually enlightened. The word is the plural of the Latin illuminatus (“revealed” or “enlightened”). According to adherents, the source of the “light” was viewed as being directly communicated from a higher source or due to a clarified and exalted condition of the human intelligence. It’s the conspiracy theory to dwarf all conspiracy theories. A smorgasbord of every other intrigue under the sun, the Illuminati are the supposed overlords controlling the world’s affairs, operating secretly as they seek to establish a New World Order.
Giving the illuminati a Strey touch I decided to add the Dog logo of ours where the third eye usually resides.
Giving the look a asymmetrical touch and a sense of chaos with the style lines and panels with highlighted flatlock details.
Other options made:
Nosferatu: The First Vampire
The name "Nosferatu" has been presented as possibly an archaic Romanian word, synonymous with "vampire". However, it was largely popularized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Western fiction such as Dracula (1897), and the film Nosferatu (1922).
Rise of the Phoenix
In Ancient Greek folklore, a phoenix is a long-lived bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor.
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