"Seeing" Sound: Terez New Year New You Collection

nyny-jan-2021-plp-desktop.jpg

The evening succeeding the recent Capitol raid, Zara Terez Tisch of Terez sat humbly on the floor of her home bathroom to introduce her New Year New You collection via Zoom. Although the clothing designer admittedly almost cancelled the event, she maintained that the new pieces are key in restoring positivity and joy. When the world leaves us speechless, we must explore additional means of being heard, a mission that the brand is actively striving to achieve through their latest inspiration: synesthesia (aka “seeing” sound), influencing bold, innovative, often emotional designs that can’t help but stand out.

Tisch hosted the live launch event exclusively for her Joy Team members, a community composed of the most passionate Terez consumers. The group contains people of all ages and backgrounds: college seniors, new mothers, tweens and everyone in between. Yet all share similar values: “We believe in joy, we believe in positivity and celebrating life’s moments, both the small and the big,” Tisch preached to a screen with over 60 faces.

After a brief introduction and expression of gratitude for her supporters, Tisch premiered her collection, inspired by the concept of music as a universal language that brings people together. According to the brand, “each style allows us to experience sound in a new way, by bringing vibrations to life visually and in color.” The line specifically explores rhythm and beat through fashion: “I needed to figure out: what does music look like? What does sound look like?” Tisch explained. “It's about seeing sound. When you hear, when you feel those beats, when you feel music and you get immersed by music, what does that visually look like? How can that overcome you?”

The collection is substantiated by custom sound splatter styles, featuring paint bouncing off a speaker as the bass builds. The prints are creative, colorful and mesmerizing, achieving a sensation Tisch rendered akin to watching a cake rise. The designer showed a video of a man inserting paint into a subwoofer to help explain her vision. “As the music vibrates, and as the bass gets higher, [the paint] goes further up into the air,” Tisch asserted. “You can see the music. You can literally watch the vibrations dancing. The connection between sound and paint and how it all melds and comes together—now, that is special.” The sound splatter is printed on the brand’s DuoKnit Active set in three different colors: black, dove and navy. The leggings are also squat-proof: “I like to do videos wearing the leggings with hot pink underwear and doing a big squat. Everyone's like, ‘Come on, don't do it,’ but you can't see [the pink]! It's actually a very phenomenal trick,” said Terez.

The collection also depicts sound waves through the Chladni technique, specifically demonstrating visual patterns when sand vibrates to music. “Ernst Chladni was a scientist who was very interested in what sound looked like,” Tisch explained. “He created these metal plates, and in the middle of the plate, he poured some sand. Then, he connected the metal plate to a wire and connected that to a vibration speaker. When he flipped the switch, turned the levels up and made some vibrations stronger, and some vibrations less strong, the plate vibrated. Depending on the sound waves and where the vibrations were, the sand on the plate would create patterns.” These designs complete the Chladni capsule: Terez bought metal plates of her own to achieve a similar effect, where subtle rainbow patterns are projected onto a black base. Seeing Sound and Sound Waves Hi-Shine Active is among the sets manufactured in this print, adding to Terez’s roster of signature, vibrant workout ensembles.

The New Year New You collection is rounded out with several supporting pieces, including CozyCozy loungewear in pink and cobalt, WorkIt tanks in three new colors, and the Mini Star UpLift Active. “We just launched our mini stars this past holiday in silver, and now we have two new, mini star foil prints,” Tisch adds. “These are actually clear stars on top of a pink [fabric].”

Amid the current politically-charged landscape, it may seem difficult to find your voice amid the chaos. However, Terez celebrates peace, positivity and individuality in their latest line, ensuring that the “new you” always makes his/her voice heard through style.

Shop the New Year New You Collection at https://www.terez.com/collections/new-year-new-you.

Photo Credit: Terez