Mokosh
Mokosh is a Russian brand of high quality jacquard wraps and Amata, who runs the business, draws on a lot of natural and folk references for the interesting and often intricate designs. Mokosh is a Russian brand of high quality jacquard wraps and Amata, who runs the business, draws on a lot of natural and folk references for the interesting and often intricate designs.
The Wrap
I’ve always loved the thistles design by Mokosh and it seems to be one of the most sought after. It’s not hard to see why, the repeating lines of Scottish thistles is a great pattern for a wrap as it hits the right balance of interest without becoming too busy and so allowing colour to take an equal emphasis.
Midnight’s thistle pattern is quite large and the colours of brown silk, turquoise cotton on an undyed tussah silk are very striking. I own Titania and I was worried it would be too samey but not so. Titania is on black cotton and is a more teal/royal blue whereas Midnight is an electric turquoise. As with all Mokosh, the middle markers are on both sides as the wrap is equally pretty whichever side you have facing out. Specifically, Midnight is a tri blend of 27% dark brown mulberry silk, 30% undyed tussah silk and 43% turquoise cotton and has a density of 267g/sq.m. Most of the thistles tend to come in this medium thickness and it’s about as high as I like to wear.
Midnight is the only wrap I have had the pleasure of owning from new. It came to me in its loom state, unwashed, stiff and absolutely redolent of the smell of raw/new silk…which is actually quite stinky but in a good way. So the first task was to give it a hand wash to help set the threads and then tap my foot impatiently whilst it dried so I could steam iron it – the first step to breaking it in.
Working with Thistles Midnight
This Midnight is a size 3, the smallest that was released however as I’m quite petite I have been managing longer tails or almost size 4 carries. First off, Midnight is taking quite a bit of breaking in which isn’t surprising due to the high silk content. After its bath it was still stiff with knots difficult to tighten however repeated wearings are making it supple and soft. The tussah is lending the wrap a grippy quality and the mulberry silk a shimmer that is very understated but pretty. The cotton is lending good support. I’ve been carrying Smallest in my usual robin’s hip carry but tied under bum. As Midnight is so grippy, a single knot is enough and the wrap doesn’t budge.
What I’ve loved about Midnight is the confidence it has given me to back carry. I’ve back carried using soft structured carriers for a few years and have happily mastered the “superman toss” to get my eldest nice and high on my back. I haven’t felt confident enough with wraps until I felt the supportive nature of Midnight. It’s medium weight and grippy texture is brilliant however, particularly as its softening, passes are starting to glide very nicely so I can work quickly. I’m also helped by the fact that Smallest has lost the potential to dive off my back. I can tell her to stay and she does, peering at herself in the mirror from my back whilst I faff about with fabric. As such I’ve been playing about with a ruck carry with a lot of success, tying off at the waist and if I get her tight enough, managing a knotless Tibetan finish. Even if my wrap job is not particularly tight I don’t have any worries about her drifting down with the need for lots of readjustment which is a tribute to the wrapping qualities of Midnight.
Wearing
If I want warm chic I reach for Fire Malachite and if I want shimmering glamour I reach for Fire Ribes (to be reviewed) whereas if I want a luxury workhorse, a jeans wrap, then I reach for Midnight. It’s fun, beautiful and is shaping up well to being easy to work with. It’s not quite there yet but it’s such a joy to use that when I reach for it, it’s not with any air of “well I suppose I’ll have to if its to break in enough”.
Many would approach a wrap with such high silk with some trepidation but I’ve chucked this about everywhere and if I need to cook but Smallest is exhausted I have her up on my back whilst I get on with making dinner. It has the desired effect and perhaps Amata injects 1% of magical sleep dust in her wraps because within minutes Smallest is asleep. The last time I wrapped her she was nodding off as soon as I started pulling the wrap under her bum to make a seat. Course I did what any parent would and paused cooking to take photos…
I’m deeply impressed by Midnight and so glad it came into my life at a time to coincide with back carrying with confidence. If you can land a thistles in this tri blend I’d really recommend doing so.
Further Reading
Mokosh wraps are released for purchase via Facebook. It’s also worth checking Etsy. This is the Facebook link to Midnight’s release.
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