Spring  Summer 2009 Collection - YIN YANG     As a harsh winter gives in to a pleasant spring and summer, it is time for gratitude. It is time to pay homage to the mysterious forces of nature that defines our state of being. It is time to celebrate the highs and the lows; it is time to put existential angst behind us and look forward to a smiling hope ahead. A time to celebrate the yin and the yang. It sure has been a crisis-driven year. As we all watched the Dow and the Sensex sink like stones, as we watched terrorists play havoc with human lives and national dignity, as we heard the resonating sound of revered corporate giants bursting like balloons all around us, like many others, even I found fear lurking its ugly head deep within me. For days I was numb, almost comatose with the sheer inertia of gloom and doom. I was shrinking with fear and hopelessness. What was happening inside me was also occurring outside. The economy was – and is – literally contracting – less money, less confidence, less expansion. It suddenly struck me this was the Yang force. In that one epiphanic moment, it dawned on me that when one force goes to its extreme, it creates its opposite! Just as all those sub-prime loans turned into foreclosures, all this yang contraction should be turning into yin expansion sometime soon, because it's pretty extreme right now. I feel the ensuing expansion will occur on subtle, but very powerful levels. That was the moment. The inspiration for this collection. As luxury plays hide-n-seek with austerity in the months to come, our minds, emotions, spirits are forced to intermingle. Suddenly it seems our collective mind is opening up to new ideas and possibilities. Our creativity is generating new ways to conserve and share. Our hearts are opening up to people in a new way, feeling our interdependence. Our spirits are expanding, we see ourselves changing in quite positive ways. The Yang is creating yin! Yin-yang imparts perspective and balance. It applies equally well to managing a large corporation or running a small business to governing a nation or leading a small team. We need to prise open our hidden reserves of strengths and gain new confidences. We need to expand the ambit of our spirits. We need to steal the dark out of the night and paint the day white. Our Spring Summer Collection celebrates the Yin-Yang force of inevitability. A stark black and white collection of bikinis, cover-ups, sundresses, is an emphatic reiteration of the impending positives of life. From darkness and hopelessness emerges brightness and hope. Yin Yang is balanced in a dynamic equilibrium. Anshita Asnani