One to Watch: Kevork Kiledjian
Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 10:51 AM 
Photo by Jim Watson / Getty Images
Last week I received a tip from reader "fashion boy," that the first lady's dress above hailed from the label Guilty Brotherhood. This was an exciting bit of news on two fronts, as 1) the dress was part of the President and First Lady's historic trip to India and Indonesia, yet even several months later, remained a mystery, and 2) Guilty Brotherhood is a label I'm not familiar with -- who doesn't love a new discovery?
With a few emails sent, the dress proved to be from the line of Kevork Kiledjian, who also designed Guilty Brotherhood. A point of clarification: Kiledjian decided, after the SS11 collection for Guilty Brotherhood, that he will, from now on, develop his line under his own name. The dress is black and red feather print (not ikat, as many in the media, as well as this blog, speculated), from the designer's Fall Winter 2010 collection, and available at Ikram in Chicago.
With that information in hand, I visited the Guilty Brotherhood website, to learn more about the designer and his sexy, avant garde designs, often constructed of leather and lace in black and vibrant red hues.
"Torn by extremes all his life, Kevork Kiledjian has created a dualistic style defined by the relationship between luxe and urban. Founder of the brand Triiad, still recognized as a seminal success in the history of French street wear, Kiledjian has also been at the heart of brilliant and diverse collaborations in the fashion world and beyond. In 2008, Kiledjian, hoping to share his personal vision of luxury and his love for the modern woman, opened the doors of the provocative and sumptuous pret-a-porter Guilty Brotherhood house."
What fascinates me most about this pairing is the setting. Kiledjian certainly has one of the sexiest aesthetics of any designer in Mrs. O's repertoire. And yet, on the occasion she chose his work, Mrs. O was at her most modest, honoring the culture and custom of Indonesia. It is an interesting - one wonders, deliberate? - tension to ponder.
Guilty Brotherhood, Kevork Kiledjian