ArtClothText

Andi Strand is the founder and editor in chief of Antler Magazine which “…focuses on composing a collection of beautiful, inspiring ideas and designs from all aspects of life.” With contributors from Canada, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, Antler is an online magazine with a fashion focus that casts a broad net encompassing aspects of art design, literature and culture.

Strand is a graduate of the Alberta College of Art + Design in Calgary Alberta and designs bags from recycled materials at HOAKON/HELGA

A student recently contacted me asking who were my ‘heroes’ in art and fashion. I have none in fashion. I know very little about fashion but I seem to be developing a passion for the work of designer Hussein Chalayan. Originally from Cyprus he now works in London and shows his work internationally. And at last I’ve seen his garments and related work in the flesh! ‘From fashion and back’ is currently on show at the Design Museum, London. It features not only the infamous buried silk dress made as a student during the early 90s but also a range of current garments very much informed by his interests including architecture, science and philosophy. Related work covers video installation (not necessarily the catwalk) and videos of Tilda Swinton (considered by artist Derek Jarman to be his favourite actress) shown extracting cells to examine DNA sequences. This is ‘The Absent Presence’ (2005) shown at the Venice Biennale when Hussein Chalayan was invited to represent Turkey. The concept was to ‘map out’ a DNA sequence on to a garment and ‘sensitize’ it so that it reacted to different sounds within the London environment. Although not my original intention in visiting London it was certainly worth the four hour train journey to see this show.

This exhibition is the first comprehensive presentation of Hussein Chalayan’s work in the UK and runs until May 17.

submitted by Lesley Bricknell

Go on… 2008

Hopeless… Romantic: Nancy Price at Stride Gallery
January 9 to February 14, 2009

With these works that traverse the boundaries of art, couture and craft, Price considers what is implied with the notion of “fitting” or its alternative, to not “fit.” Her conjunction of meticulous crafting and attention to varieties of detail are revealed in a work such as “Go On…” (2008). She has incorporated a series of expressionistic phrases or slogans appropriately spelled in the fabric by burning out letters from the dress’s material. The imperatives she proposes (living, loving, dying) are all processes of dispersal, of ways in which a self is fractured, multiplied, lost, or displaced. These are Nancy Price’s alternatives when faced with the constraints of “fitting.” At the same time, she uses processes and techniques that recollect aspects of tradition. Thinking through making and thinking in materiality, Price reshapes the body and its capacities such as movement and gesture, while crossing from moments of comic absurdity to expressions of genuine reverence, between the materials and forms of popular or folk culture and high modernist couture.

(excerpt from catalogue essay by Stephen Horne)

Palace of Illusions, 2008

When a Woman Smiles Her Dress Should Smille with Her, 2008