The recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 55th International Art Exhibition Marisa Merz is better known as a key figure of postwar Italian art associated with the Arte Povera movement. Her interests also include everyday materials and crafts often associated with femininity, such as weaving and knitting.
Early work feature sinuous, organic forms turned into dynamic sculptures and structures and created from industrial materials such as twisted or knitted sheets of metal or aluminum moulded into spirals that hung from the ceiling like jellifish.
One of her recurring motifs is the depiction of female heads as busts of clay and wax or in paintings and drawings, incorporating a wide range of materials such as copper mesh, gold leaf, cardboard and tape. In some cases such as her work Untitled (2004; first image in this post) the head is created through swirling arabesque motifs.
Thick painted lines and graphic arabesque motifs characterise the womenswear collection created by designer Claudia Simoes and textile designer Alicia Karynn Teixeira, graduates of the School of Fashion at San Francisco's Academy of Art University.
Showcased in May during the school's fashion show, the collection, a combination of Western and Eastern influences with some Abstract Expressionism added in, featured wearable garments characterised by a rhythmic alternation of bold strokes and abstracts and stylised patterns screenprinted on cotton, linen and leather.
Can you introduce yourself to our readers?
Claudia Simoes: I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to Portland, Oregon, at the age of one and was raised there all my life. I grew up outside of Portland in smaller towns such as Tigard, and Lake Oswego, where I attended middle school through high school. I decided on the Academy of Art University because of the reputation the fashion school had in particular plus it was closer to home. My brother and I were raised by a Colombian mother and Brazilian father as first generation Americans. I currently live in Portland.
Alicia Karynn Teixeira: I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. I started taking pre-college classes in fashion design at the Academy of Art when I was 16, and started my Bachelor’s degree in Textile Design right after graduating from high school. For now, I am still based in San Francisco.
What's the most important thing you learnt from your years at AAU?
Claudia Simoes: I think the most important thing I learnt is that with a certain level of confidence, hard work and dedication, success is possible. Since I started at AAU and saw my first fashion show, it became my goal to make it into the show in my final year as well. Each semester I did my best and pushed myself in different ways until I reached my goal!
Alicia Karynn Teixeira: The Academy lets you know right away that you will get what you put in. That's the most important thing I learnt there. The resources exist for you to make your dreams a reality, and at AAU you learn that your career is in your hands.
Who has been the greatest influence on your career choices?
Claudia Simoes: I'm not sure exactly. I had a great art teacher in high school that encouraged me to try all different mediums of art, which I enjoyed, and that led me to pursue art as a career. But, at that point in time, I wasn't sure what direction in art I would pursue. Around the same time, I had a very sweet neighbour who was a seamstress and who agreed to teach me to sew. She had me do some test sewing on scrap fabric and saw that I was quite good at handling the sewing machine which really encouraged me to keep sewing, plus I really enjoyed it. At the same time, my older brother was deciding that his love for footwear could serve as inspiration for a career in footwear design at London College of Fashion, which then inspired me to pursue fashion design. It really is a culmination of the three of them.
Alicia Karynn Teixeira: Rhona MacKenzie, the head of the Textile Design program at AAU has been the greatest influence on my career choices. I have learned so much from her these last four years.
Can you tell us more about your creative process?
Claudia Simoes: It can really be sparked by anything, whether it be an era, a culture, a mood, shape, or a completely abstract idea. At that point in time when I find the right inspiration, I continue researching as many visuals as I can, which can continue on for the duration of the creative process while I begin to sketch out as many ideas that come as I am researching. Some people like to drape first, but for me, since I am much more of a visual person, it is easier for me to resolve it out in sketches and in images then try it in 3D and make it work.
Alicia Karynn Teixeira: I always start a print collection off with research, collecting images and learning about my inspiration. Usually during researching a broad inspiration I get fixated onto something which becomes the core of the project. Once I create a mood and feeling about what I am going to make, I just start drawing and painting in a really sporadic manner. I like experimenting and just trying to make new things. It’s sort of a brainstorming process. Once I have enough images, I start designing the collection with printing in mind. I think about how I want to apply the design, and what kind of repeat I will do if it is a repeat, what size and what colors. Then I make it.
How did you feel at showcasing your collection at the Academy of the Arts fashion show?
Claudia Simoes: It was a pretty unforgettable feeling. When I first saw my name on the screen introducing my collection, my heart was beating fast, my stomach was jittery as if I were the one about to walk down the runway in front of thousands of people. You work so hard on each of those pieces for months and months so they feel as though they were your baby, in a way, but they're only on the runway for a few short minutes. Still, it feels very satisfying knowing all the work I put into it payed off and I'm pleased with the outcome of my collection and the response that I've received.
Alicia Karynn Teixeira: It was the best experience of my life so far. I loved it. I want to create runway collections for the rest of my life!
What inspired your graduate collection?
Claudia Simoes: My collection was initially inspired by the juxtaposition of Western and Eastern cultures and how they inspire one another. In particular I focused on Japanese and American cultures. I was inspired by Japanese Ikat dyed, kasuri fabrics I found from the 1960s. The colors were indigo and white, very simple but very graphic, which is what I wanted. At that point in time I looked at Japanese pattern-making for the silhouette inspiration which became a little too obvious. This is why I looked at Western silhouettes of the 1960s. The kasuri fabrics that I found were taken to new heights when I teamed up with Alicia Teixeira, Textile Designer, who took that inspiration and evolved it with Abstract Expressionism into the prints that were seen in the show.
Alicia Karynn Teixeira: I incorporated Abstract Expressionism with the feeling of classic ikats, and classic woven fabric to create a contradiction between my abstract prints and Claudia’s structured silhouettes.
Some of the textiles seemed inspired by art, can you tell us more about the making of the textiles?
Alicia Karynn Teixeira: For this collection I was inspired by the spirit of Abstract Expressionism. I love painting, and that usually works its way into my textiles especially for this collection.
Did you find any stages of your collaboration difficult or challenging?
Claudia Simoes: The most challenging aspect of my collaboration was time management because Alicia engineered most of the prints specifically for the garments. She used my pattern to draw the print in the scale that made sense for each piece. This takes a lot of time, especially when there are multiple colours in one print, etc. This way of printing is tricky because I had to wait for each pattern piece to be printed individually before I could cut and sew. As opposed to a repeat print which can be printed on yardage of fabric to be cut in any way to fit the patterns. Other than that, our collaboration worked beautifully.
Alicia Karynn Teixeira: I had to engineer nine of the garments, so I had to learn how to assemble patterns and construct a paper form of each garment then draw the design onto the pattern pieces in order to make my transparencies. That was difficult at first and I learned a lot, but collaborating with Claudia was a great experience. We worked really well together.
What kind of materials did you employ for your collection?
Claudia Simoes: We printed on cotton, linen/cotton blend, and leather. All the gold in the collection is gold leather, we didn't print the gold, just the pattern for the skirt and a pair of pants.
Alicia Karynn Teixeira: We used almost all cotton fabrics, they are pretty heavyweight and very convenient to print on. We also used gold leather. I screen printed all the fabrics with pigment.
What are your future plans?
Claudia Simoes: I've been enjoying my time off from school since the fashion show. I have a few more classes to take this summer while I look for a job. I hope to work for a company that can get me established in the industry while I gain experience and one day, eventually, have my own fashion business, hopefully with my brother making shoes also.
Alicia Karynn Teixeira: Right now, I am staying in California and pursuing a career in women’s ready to wear.
Images of Claudia Simoes and Alicia Karynn Teixeira's collection in this post by Randy Brooke/WireImage
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments