By Judy Carmack Bross
“All a savvy woman needs to travel the world for business or pleasure is a carry on with one dress, one suit, one casual ensemble and a half a dozen scarves to lend an air of sophistication,” artist, photographer and founder of LensFlair Editions Susan Aurinko.
Susan Aurinko
Next month Aurinko initiates a monthly Classic Chicago column that incorporates photography, travelogue, and stories about scarves she purchased in exotic places. She will also explain how she creates beautiful scarves from the photos she takes and the works of other artists from around the world.
“I really love the column’s title ‘My Silk Roads’ because it draws historically on exploration, the Silk Road, and curiosity which I have in abundance,” Aurinko said. “It could be India one month, Florence the next but each dispatch will note a scarf I have found there.”
Aurinko’s love affair with scarves goes back very early in her childhood.
“My first memory of scarves was my mommy tying them on to go in my dad’s convertible – he always had a convertible–to keep her fine hair from blowing. Of course, in those days, women got their hair done at the hairdresser’s every week and did all kinds of crazy thing to preserve the “do” until it was time to get it done again.”
Model wears one of two Lynn’s Rose scarves designed by Aurinko to benefit the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation through their Purchase 4 Pink initiative.
Aurinko travels the world as a photographer and often sees potential scarves in the photos she takes, but this month her photo to scarf process is emphasizing Chicago as she releases two scarves from her photographs to benefit the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation through their Purchase 4 Pink initiative highlighting Breast Cancer Awareness month.
“I have done several scarves to benefit charities and my reversible scarves are sewn by a group of local women who are survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. I was raised to always give back,” Aurinko said.
Aurinko’s grandfather’s handkerchief
“I have been collecting scarves all my adult life, beginning with two large patterned handkerchiefs that belonged to my grandparents, one is a large pink and black silk handkerchief that I sort of adopted and began to wear. When I modeled as a teenager I bought scarves and when I worked in display, both as an apprentice with a department store visual merchandiser from Norway and later as the Virtual Merchandising Director for Saks Fifth Avenue in Scottsdale when I was just 21, I used scarves on the mannequins whenever possible. Needless to say, they sold with the ensembles the mannequins wore.
“In the early eighties, I produced fashion shows with two hairdressers and all the modes wore scarves or shawls, as did we three. I had gone to Columbia College to study photography and was showing and selling my photographs but I wanted to find another way to expose my work. I was shooting tiny details of walls filled with graffiti and struck upon the idea of putting all these details into grids on a scarf. I had a few samples made in New York but had issues getting them hemmed, so the project went on the back burner for a time. However, I never stopped designing them, I just didn’t make them up as scarves.”
Then, during COVID, she met Federica Ghidelli. Ghidelli had recently moved with her husband and two small children from Milan where she had worked for the house that designed accessories for YSL Dior and others.
“We teamed up to create the first set of samples, having them printed and sewn in Montreal from two different and lovely types of silk. We were quickly off and running, up on the web, taking orders, with Federica designing using my photographs. We did a few encouraging trunk shows, but Federica decided to dedicate her time to her kids and freelance photography. I was back on my own, designing with my photographs as I had been before. I love collaborating so in addition to my own designs I started to incorporate the work of some painters from Chicago and Europe. I am also working with an architect in Dubai to bring in some of her architectural drawings in a design.”
We asked Aurinko about traveling light and also about how best to accessorize with scarves.
CCM: You say that all you need when traveling is one suit, one dress and one casual outfit and several scarves—very valuable information. Is there a way that you choose the variety of scarves for travel?
SA: Besides scarves, I really love colored shoes and boots, so the choice of shoes definitely plays into the travel and scarf choices. Now of course, the Hermes scarves stay in the drawer, and I choose scarves from my own line to travel with. They’re so versatile – there are so many ways to use them to dress up an ensemble. I kind of think of scarves as jewelry – no one will mug you for scarves, so they’re safe to travel with. And I love it when people stop me to ask about the scarves – I definitely get orders that way! “
CCM: Do you recommend trying different ways to tie them?
SA: We’re working on doing videos for the website to show many ways to tie the same scarf – it’s a work in progress, but I’m hoping to have it up soon. The byline on the site is “Wear with everything or nothing else.” You can literally wear the larger ones as a jacket or a skirt, and the mid-size and long ones you can tie into clever blouses. And yes, there is no wrong way to tie a scarf – you may even invent something new.
One of two Lynn’s Rose scarves for the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation
CCM: Tell us about your LensFlair Editions and how you choose the subjects for your scarves and about the technique you use to create them, using your work and that of other artists from around the world.
SA: I love to shoot with the scarves in mind – sometimes I see a certain frame in my mind, and it screams SCARF, and it usually works out once I’m home in the studio. I love collaborations – love working with painters and other artists. If I like someone’s work, I’ll approach them, usually with a certain painting in mind that I can layer or pair with one of my photographs. I choose the color palette based on the artists’ piece and try a bunch of things until I get what I want. Then I show the artist, and if she likes it, we order a sample, and if we like that, it gets added to the website, ready to order! To date, all my collaborations are with women, but there are two scarf collabs with a male artist coming up! Stay tuned!
CCM: You are a photographer, teacher, artist, businesswoman and international traveler. How do these various skills come together?
SA: I think that everything I have ever done comes together in these scarves, these designs. I’ve basically been an artist all my life – I always wanted to be an artist, since I was very young. My mommy was super supportive of me becoming an artist. My dad wanted me to take over his real estate empire, (literally called Empire Realty!) so he was disappointed, but art won out, and off I went to Art School!
CCM: The love of beauty really centers your work, tell us more about that.
SA: I’m a Taurus – if you believe in astrology, and know anything about the Taurus profile, you’ll know that we value beauty and luxury. If you don’t believe in it, I’ll just tell you that those things are true of me from a very early age. I have always loved beautiful things – not necessarily costly things, just pretty things. Color and texture have always been important to me – I basically shop with my hands – if it doesn’t feel good, I won’t buy it, so the silks of my scarves have to be really lovely. I love fashion and consider it a part of my own self-expression. I’d like women to use LensFlair scarves in that way to express themselves.
CCM: Describe a trip you would like to take soon and where you will be looking for scarves.
SA: I’m trying to decide where go to next spring summer. But in the meantime, I’ll be going to Montreal in the spring, which should provide some interesting images for scarves. Also, I’ll be spending some time in Delray Beach Florida. I thought I’d never want to shoot in Florida last winter, but I stumbled upon the Morikami Japanese Garden and Museum, where I made the Morikami scarf from the shadows on a stone bench – I never know where I’ll find inspiration and it’s always a wonderful surprise when it happens.
CCM: Classic Chicago is so pleased to be starting your monthly column “My Silk Roads” in November. I know you have an exciting plan in mind: tell us about your premise.
SA: My idea for the column is a kind of travelogue in which I tell about a scarf I have found in a particular place. It seems I always bring home at least one scarf from wherever I travel, and now with the line, sometimes I’m bringing home an image that will become a LensFlair scarf. I often have really interesting things happen on my photo-expeditions to various places, and people have loved hearing those stories. It’s not exactly a journal, but a recounting of the way I travel because it’s very different from most people, and a glimpse into both my creative process and the places I go. I chose the title based on the explorers who traveled The Silk Road, bringing back luxury items – silks, perfumes, spices. I hope people enjoy “My Silk Roads”!
Watch for “My Silk Roads”, starting in November here in Classic Chicago Magazine.
