One of my most cherished childhood memories was when my mother gave me a platinum necklace with a small translucent reddish-brown jade carving of a sword that she had purchased from a small jewelry shop in Hong Kong. For over 9,000 years Jade has been a symbol of the Chinese Imperial families, representing both the heavenly and earthly realms. It is believed that the stone can mystically protect wearers from illness and evil spirits. Like most Asian Mothers, mine believed that if I were in an accident, the jade, not my precious little body, would break. I was under the strictest instructions never, ever to take the necklace off.

As an important jade centre, the small northern Fraser Valley town of Lillooet has a significant cultural connection with the 1.35 billion plus inhabitants of modern China who continue to value jade highly for its beauty and its symbolic meaning. Jade, British Columbia’s official gemstone, is deeply embedded in the history of Lillooet.

Lillooet Jade Walk

Located 250 kilometers north of Vancouver, Lillooet is a community with a rich mining history, dating back to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858 when it was the largest town west of Chicago and north of San Francisco. Home of British Columbia’s first jade mine, the discovery of this priceless gemstone in the region is now commemorated with a fascinating and unique Jade Walk.

Cool to the Touch

Beginning at the Lillooet Museum and Visitors Centre on Main Street, the first stop on the Jade Walk is Jadehenge, an outdoor display of four jade boulders one of which measures nearly 3 meters tall and weighs over 7 tonnes. These four boulders, which range in size from that of a compact hotel room fridge to an enormous one meter wide, give you a sense of the stone’s density and hardness. Jade is harder than steel and requires many hours and a special saw to cut. It is also, uniquely, cool to the touch.

These four jade monuments also reveal the variations that can be found in the stone. A gem quality stone requires a rich deep green color, translucency and lack of fractures. On display at Jadehenge is a portion of a 20-ton boulder in which you can actually see a natural progression from serpentine – green material – to gem quality stone in the cross section.

The history of jade in the region is long. For centuries, local First Nations residents have been using tools for hunting and skinning salmon all carved from BC jade. From the late 1960’s and into the 70’s, Lillooet mined and exported more nephrite jade than any other place in the world. Green nephrite jade is also found in New Zealand and Russia while China is home to a white nephrite jade, which ranges in colour from reddish-brown to clear. Today, however, British Columbia is believed to have the largest deposits of nephrite on the planet.

The Jade Walk is the realization of the vision of prospector and hunting guide George Vanderwolf who has lived in Lillooet for over 63 years and who actually discovered the first jade mine in the region back in October 1964 while guiding American hunters in search of mountain sheep.

When the first jade rock was placed on display at the Visitor’s Centre in 2004, it looked pretty lonesome. So Vanderwolf and a band of community volunteers began adding more pieces and by 2010 there were 31 jade monuments situated throughout the town and at the cemetery all acquired from the various mines in BC. These can all be seen and enjoyed on the Jade Walk.

My mother’s beliefs notwithstanding, jade is beautiful stone and its significance both to Chinese culture and BC’s history cannot be understated. During your next visit to the Fraser Valley, take in the Jade Walk and learn all about BC’s official stone.

Tour maps are available at the Lillooet Museum and Visitor’s Centre and at KC Health & Gifts.

If you go: Lillooet Museum & Visitor Centre790 Main St., Lillooet BC

The post Lillooet: Where jade is more valuable than gold appeared first on styledrama.

Priszl

The look is all gold from fashion designer Priscilla Listia who has been actively involved in fashion industry since 2014. She is creative director and founder of emerging fashion brands ‘PRISZL†and ‘MIA AMICA†based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Her designs has gained recognition from the fashion world in both the homeland and abroad as a trend maker who successfully brings a new style of Indonesian traditional batik fashion. She was one of the selected designers for Indonesian fashion trend forecasting 2016 / 2017 by the board of Indonesia Fashion Week 2015.

Odysay

The ODYSAY silhouette has a distinct look: dresses are cut to clean and minimalist lines. Styles are deliberately uncluttered. Distinctive embellishments add surprising, delightful and highly feminine accents. The result is a dress of sensual and timeless elegance that favors lasting style over fleeting trends.

Founded in 2015 in Geneva, ODYSAY was born with a wish: to make every important moment of a woman’s life more sumptuous.

Mezis

South Korea brand targeting stylish professional women, they have a goal to create a leading global brand. Mezis has participated in several runway shows in Germany, France and China. The beautiful white dress above was a showstopper and demonstrates that have the talent to go big.

Srishti Kaur Designs

Srishti Kaur Designs offers customized eveningwear and bridal dresses based in New Zealand. Each gown is inspired by beauty, feminine elegance and minimalism, supported by high quality construction techniques and fabrics. Our aesthetic derives from an intertwining of elegance and simplicity ensuring women are left feeling beautiful and empowered.

Showcasing “Shades of you” collection at Vancouver Fashion Week SS 2018 with a selection of evening and bridal gowns. Each is made to evoke a different emotion in a woman from romance, seduction, power, drama to playfulness. The collection obtains a mix of subtle and traditional silhouettes – inspired by elaborate fabrics such as bold laces and 3-D embroidery, integrated with hand sewing and applique techniques.

Hadasa

Cesia Kerem Ramos was born in Panama to a Guatemalan Mother and Half Black/Half Chinese Father. Her design philosophy encompasses the social consciousness of heritage, nostalgia and the retraction of the known through faith. Her designs are purely inspired by her upbringing, roots, and culture.

In 2016, Cesia decides to open her first ‘atelier’ based in Guatemala catering to a private clientele. Returning to her mother’s country by starting her own luxury brand under the name: HADASA. The HADASA signature is characterized by the mixture and complexity of cultural heritage. Creating a modern, edgy but timeless elegant fashion.

Minori Isomichi

Fashion designer Minori Isomichi from Osaka Japan gave us a new perception of traditional Japanese culture and style. As a student of Marronnier College of Fashion Design, she has presented in several fashion design contests locally and abroad.

NVI

Ivonne Diaz de Sandi is a Mexican fashion designer and business woman, with 28 years of working experience in the fashion industry throughout national and international markets

As founder of NVI fashion brand which seeks to inspire women to be brave, achieve their dreams, show their gratitude, feel free to express their personality and show the world their inner and outer beauty.

The post Vancouver Fashion Week SS 2018 Top Looks appeared first on styledrama.