My friend (and neighbor here in the Hudson Valley!) Marianna Leung has been inviting me to participate in NYFW’s Stylepointe (which she co-produces with Sangeeta Yesley from Creative Performances at Dixon Place) for years, but I’m usually not around or in town at this time! This year, I had the joy of participating- and got teamed up with a really stunning designer Auguste Dubois. Dubois’ line, Silicon Lung spoke to me, and felt so connected to alot of the work I’ve been chewing on in the last few years. So I phoned some friends. Glenna Yu (Pillow Fort Arts Center), Dakota Kuharich Stevenson (University of Tampa), Katie Messina (Rogue Wave) and Grace Leedy - and I even phoned a former student who’s currently studying at Skidmore (but has fabulous choreographic chops - stay tuned - Karina Mehta. Kathy Kearns of third.law hooked us up with some tunes that I knew used samples of Irish female factory working chants - once more - totally connected. The fact that the line was knitwear had me thinking of aerial rope - a giant thread, so to speak, so I phoned also my dear friend Nicki Miller (Sticks & Stone).
At the end it was a dance work, sure - and we were in fabulously thoughtful and skillfully crafted garments. But putting dancers out for a catwalk was this other level of poise.
The description for the line is:
In Silicon Lung, the garments represent humanity's fossil, illustrating its love, sorrow, history, and the way it cannibalizes these characteristics. They stand against the phasing out of traditional craft techniques by the swift industrialization of fashion. By merging atomic age futurist aesthetics with the craft of knitting, the ‘doomed machine’ marries the human.