All Photos By Gail
This black, heavily embellished dress from House of Balmain, designed by Olivier Rousteing for the Fall/Winter 2012–13 collection, feels less like a garment and more like a moment preserved in time. An unapologetic show-stopper, it reads as both armor and ornament —structured, deliberate, and unapologetically intricate. Continue reading Eye On Design: Balmain’s Beaded Time Capsule
Photo By Gail
Cui Jie’s Salam Tower, Doha (2020) was acquired by MoMA in 2021 and in currently in its debut presentation at the museum. The Salam Tower is a waterfront skyscraper that was built as power of Qatar’s redevelopment efforts after the oil crisis of 1979. In Cui’s otherworldly depiction, the building is interwoven with symbols from socialist monuments in China and Europe. It soars above, but also seems to dissolve into the artificially saturated water beneath it. A leading member of the post 1980s generation of Chinese artist, Cui lives and works in Shanghai and focuses on painting, design, and the global histories of modernism, capitalism, and communism.
Photographed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
All Photos By Gail
Danielle Elsener (b, 1991) designs zero-waste fashion. She engineers her sewing pattern layouts to eliminate textile waste. Elsener designed her Zero-Waste Scrubs in the UK in the spring of 2020. Continue reading Eye On Design: Zero-Waste Scrub Set By Danielle Elsener
All Photos By Gail
Designer Claudia Li’s autumn/winter 2020 collection, entitled 3.16.19, is a tribute to her grandfather, who passed away in 2019. The designs in the collection reflect Li’s memories of him, the imprint of their experiences together in China, and the creative ability passed through generations.
Continue reading Eye On Design: Gingham Ensemble By Claudia Li
Photos By Gail
Kelly Akashi’s Triple Helix (2020) evokes relationships among bodies across time, history, and memory. Akashi imagines the biomorphic glass sculptures — inspired by the simple contours of figural, pre-Hispanic ceramics — as ancestral female bodies tethered by a snaking coil of rope.
When the quartz bell suspended overhead is chimed, it emits a low-pitched tone that Akashi intends “to be felt in the deepest part of your body.” The combinatin of sound, vibrations, and blown glass encourages a moment of reverent self-awareness.
Photographed in The Brooklyn Museum.
