K2K looks Through Stained Glass

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within – American psychologist, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.

BAND launchings are happening all over the place. Soon, one of the most popular medium bands of recent time will reveal its 2019 presentation.

TT’s masqueraders will get a picture of themselves through K2K Alliance and Partners’ 2019 presentation Through Stained Glass Windows.

The band’s 2019 presentation will be launched in September.

More information on the launch date will be given next month.

Its founders Kathy and Karen Norman promise “a kaleidoscope of colours, reflecting the panes of stained-glass windows, with inspiration for the prints and clothing coming from cathedrals from all around the world.”

A release from the band said it is taking on a more spiritual tone this year, with next year’s presentation drawing its inspiration from the St Francis of Assisi peace prayer also known as Lord make me an instrument of your peace.

Kathy Norman said in e-mailed responses to Newsday, its five sections “speak to some of the positive coping mechanisms that are needed to balance the unsettling discord globally.” Through the Stained Glass Window was supposed to have been this year’s presentation but its founders decided to present its winning We Stand United as a precursor.

Norman said, “Both storylines speak to the socio-political economical environment, with We Stand United calling for an action of unity, while Through Stained Glass Windows focusing on the need for prayer in times where anti-globalisation, segregation and hate seems to be more evident.”

The sections are called Amare, Fidem, Spero, Lux and Gaudium, each representing a line from the prayer.

Next year, the band’s followers can look forward to a further artistic collaboration between K2K and Dany Sanz, founder and artistic director of Make Up For Ever. The French cosmetics brand is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Norman said of the collaboration, “In 2018, K2K partnered with Carnival Makeup Addicts, incorporating the cosmetic brand Make Up For Ever Professional Paris in our 2018 collection. Over the past year the relationship has blossomed.

“ Given the avant-garde and more theatrical nature of the brand, K2K has been given the opportunity to work directly with the founder and artistic director of Make Up For Ever, Dany Sanz through the co-founder of Carnival Makeup Addicts Neishel Vilain Pierron.” Sanz and Carnival Makeup Addicts will be, she said, creating beauty concepts for the 2019 collection.

Giving some historical background to the band’s 2019 concept, the release said, in the gothic era, the stained-glass window was referred to as the “Bible of the Poor.”

“Since many of the poor were illiterate, the colours, pictures and symbols held their own personal meaning and became a means for the poor to learn scripture.

“The stained glass in those times transcended boundaries between the affluent and the underprivileged,” it added. But for the Normans, the stained glass represents the “personification of life.”

The process of stained glass, the release said, like any work of art, requires “time, with patience and love being the prerequisites...”

“You see, a stained glass isn’t created overnight. It starts off as a clean canvas. Uncoloured. Unmarred. Unbroken. The pane is then scored with blade and broken. Next it is stained with the colour, then marred with dark indentations and eventually soldered back together to fit in the window frame. Perfectly,” it said.

To the Normans, life is like stained-glass windows made up of “shattered images of events that are pieced together over time... We arrive unblemished, but are eventually scored and broken by experience.” But this, over time, eventually builds a “resilient structure.”

Through the different pieces, the release said, “we discover a story of faith overcoming doubt; mercy conquering cruelty; light piercing through the darkness; and hope dominating despair. The stained glass is a painted story of our history, painted in colours so dark that they block out the light and painted in colours so vibrant that it let light in... Our lives are like stained glass windows making each one of us the most complex work of art.” Speaking to the costumes, the release said, it, “riffs between feminism and femininity.” Its dresses and garments, it added, “have a crusade-like underpinning with prints marrying Cubism and neoclassicism.”

“The accessories are oversized but incorporate a religious unpinning given the nature of the theme,” it said.