Dress: Spring 2012 Surface Design Journal

April 19, 2012

“Although Patricia Malarcher made her final farewells in the Winter 2012 issue, she had complete editorial control of this exciting issue dedicated to new and innovative wearable art forms. After 17 incredible years at the helm of Surface Design Journal, she leaves some very big shoes to fill. But readers can be assured that I am dedicated to continuing the quality and diversity of coverage that has made Surface Design Journal a rich and invaluable source of textile art inspiration.”

—Marci Rae McDade, incoming editor of SDJ

Find related links to this issue’s profiles and features below:

Tracking the Art-to-Wear Spirit
in the 21^st Century

By JoAnn C. Stabb

Take a trip back in time to the exciting origins of contemporary art-to-wear with insights from experts in the field.

Judith Content

Sally Jones

Akihiko Izukura

Carol Lee Shanks

Iris Apfel Advanced Style video

Debra Rapoport Advanced Style video

Rodarte:
Outsiders Inside the Runway

By Ida Miller

“Their inimitable rise in fashion can be attributed to two things: they are insistent on maintaining their status as outsiders without formal training…and their design ethos is rooted in their joint exploration of an intimate language known only to themselves.”

Rodarte

Video of Rodarte’s Spring 2012 collection

Video of Rodarte’s Fall 2012 collection

The short film The Curve of Forgotten Things by Todd Cole (starring Elle Fanning) showcases Rodarte fashions.

Authentic Hybrids in African Fashion

By A.M. Weaver

“Africa has inspired designers in New York and Paris since the 1960s. The four artists featured in this article [Bayo Adegbe, Anisa Mpungwe, Bisrat Negassi and Duro Olowo] exemplify a hybrid aesthetic in which colors, textures, loose construction, generous materials, and pattern are authentic to their African origin, in all its diversity and complexity.”

Anisa Mpungwe

Bayo Adegbe

Bisrat Negassi

Duro Olowu

Sandra Woodall:
More than Meets the Eye

By Connie Strayer

“As a costume designer in the field of dance, Sandra Woodall searches for a balance between the seen and the unseen.”

Nicole Dextras:
Decomposing Couture

By Leesa Hubbell

“Each new piece begins as a wearable sculpture constructed from local and renewable plant materials. It is then photographed with a model in a landscaped urban setting, emphasizing the impact of humans on the natural environment.”

Nicole Dextras

Erica Spitzer Rasmussen:
Clothes Tell the Tale

By Mason Riddle

“Erica Spitzer Rasmussen‘s sculpture is as much about storytelling as it is about process and materials. Taking the form, primarily, of the female body or the clothes that women wear, her dresses, jackets, vests, kimonos, collars, and corsets are metaphors for ancestral heritage, family illness, pregnancy and motherhood, femininity and masculinity, travel and death.”

Shinique Smith: Fiber into Form

By Sally Hansell

“Each work has multiple influences. The figural sculpture Crone Huntress is a “warrior goddess” inspired by Celtic lore, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and costume drama. A bundle of contradictions, the commanding figure has a tai chi sword strapped to her back above a bustle and long train.”

Shinique Smith

Karen LaMonte:
Clothes Cast in Memory

By Marilyn Millstone

“It’s a haunting piece: a gorgeous yet ghostly garment clothing an absent body, a seemingly fragile work that actually weighs a hefty 360 pounds and is as durable as marble. “Glass is contradictory,” says Karen LaMonte, who created the work. “It is made of nothing but light yet is massive and strong.”