THANK YOU to everyone who submitted to Wearable Arts exhibit by June 4!
Please note: the submission deadline has been extended to Friday JUNE 17 because… we now have two fabulous co-curators!!
French-born, Catskill resident Michele Saunders’ attitude towards fashion can be summed up as follows: “Once it’s trendy, I’m bored.”
As a representative for the world’s most innovative fashion and art photographers, including Art Kane, Steve Hiett and Uwe Ommer, Saunders had a first-row seat to cutting-edge creators in the fashion industry. She also worked for years in the music industry, creating looks for such talents as Billy Idol, Pink and Diana Ross. Today she writes for the fashion and art magazine Document and is considered a specialist in “street casting” – the art of spotting diverse and urban fashionistas who create their own unique styles, something she started doing for Calvin Klein, Jean Paul Gaultier and other major fashion brands.
Her advice for designers is to remember that what they’re making is not just art. “It needs to be worn. So it has to have a certain feeling of comfort, and like you can also make it your own by wearing it different ways.” Another criteria: “You should always be able to dance in what you wear.”
And for aspiring fashionistas, Saunders has this to say, “Fashion is an expression. It’s not to disguise yourself. It’s not to appear what you’re not. Let go, and feel proud of who you are, but within the parameters of style and elegance and something artful. Also, you wear the outfit. Don’t let the outfit wear you.”
Having worked for a jewelry designer Glen Yank, and then for 17 years as the designer for Patricia Field’s windows (before Sex and The City and The Devil Wears Prada), JoJo Americo went on to create his own clothes, shoes and jewelry. He is the Creative Director of 1919-Jewelry For Happy People, as well as a painter, collector, and singing/songwriting member of dance music group The Ones.
Like his muses Patricia Field and Vivienne Westwood, Americo is attracted to color, fabrics and textures and looks like an eclectic Shakespearean thespian with rich details that put him over the top in a great way. His signature style includes vintage capes loaded up in beaded Afghan jewelry of his own design, and a scarf tied beneath a dramatic hat – sometimes with a few piled on top, too. But it’s his use of pattern on pattern – right down to his handmade tartan socks – that is “Flawless,” like the name of his band’s worldwide hit single. Like his creations, Americo is one of a kind.
“I will do whatever it takes to get it,” Americo says. “Come hell or high water. If Vivienne Westwood wasn’t making the shoes that I wanted, I made them myself.”
JoJo Americo’s designs for 1919-Jewelry for Happy People:
The Wearable Arts show is about expressing art through fashion and design. We want submissions that push the boundaries between art and clothing and that make a serious and unique artistic statement. This show will include a fashion show fundraiser in addition to gallery exhibit. Open to all mediums that are wearable, including fiber, ink (tattoos), glass (jewelry), leather, wood, and so on.
Submission deadline: June 4 NOW June 17
Show dates: July 30- September 17
Reception – July 30, 5-7pm
Please forward all submissions for the Wearable Arts exhibit and fashion show to Niva Dorell at niva.gcca@gmail.com or Niva@greenearts.com.
We look forward to seeing your work!