October 1st, 2012 
Art, fashion, music and the au’ natural—these are all things that certainly fit well together. But often, they become mutually exclusive to each other. There are artists, designers, musicians and the eco-friendly, but it’s hard to find all of those things in one place. Well here in Nashville, we have a designer who incorporates all of those things into the style and showing of his stunning designs.
Jeff Garner (Photo Credit: ohbythewayblog.blogspot.com)
Jeff Garner lives just south of Nashville in the beautiful countryside of Franklin, Tenn., a landscape and environment to which he attributes a great deal of the inspiration for his line Prophetik. His purely organic, sustainable creations use dyes from the garden, flax, hemp, recycled bottles and green-spun fleece, which sound like they wouldn’t work for high-fashion, but having worn and felt the pieces myself, I can honestly say, they are beautiful, elegant and soft. The organic materials are transformed with careful attention to detail and perfection.
Not only does Garner use his love of nature to create completely organic pieces for both men and women, he is also known for incorporating live music into his runway shows, which is a rare sight to be seen in an arena that is almost always DJ dominated. He’s used drums, guitar, classical piano, violin and live singers in several of his runway shows, giving each one an added element of surprise.
Esperanza Spalding (Photo Credit: vogue.com)
Garner doesn’t just incorporate musicians into his runway shows, he’s even dressed well-known Nashville icons such as The Kings of Leon and Taylor Swift, as well as Miley Cirus and Esperanza Spalding, who was picked as one of the Top 10 Best Dressed of the 2012 Academy Awards wearing Prophetik.
Garner’s art is most definitely a craft in itself, so it’s fitting that his collection, “A Dress to Change the World”, was recently chosen to be a part of the 40 under 40: Craft Futures in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington DC. It was the perfect venue to frame Garner’s eye for entrepreneurship and eco-friendly fashion. The show was a great success on September 22, with all proceeds going to help the museum acquire works from artists featured in the museum’s current exhibition, 40 under 40: Craft Futures.
By now, you’re probably wondering where you could find his designs. Well, fortunately for Nashville locals, you can walk right into Posh Boutique at 1801 21st Avenue South and, if you’re shopping for your husband or boyfriend, The Label at 2222 12th Ave S.
Prophetik can also be found online at jpselects.com.
With all the great accomplishments Garner has under his organic belt in the past eight years of designing, I think we will be seeing a lot more from him very very soon.
