Daily Fashion Juice
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Fashion With a Twist | Orly Genger at VPL
When Victoria Bartlett, the designer behind the
Visible Panty Line label, opened her first boutique in New York late last year, she intended it to be more than just a showcase for her clothes — it would also be a gallery, where the artistic collaborations that are a regular feature of her work could be put on display. She put the plan into action for the first time on Monday night, when the Mercer Street shop was the site of an installation by the artist Orly Genger, who’s known for knotting thick nylon climbing rope into massive, room-filling shapes and who has collaborated with Bartlett on installations for her runway shows and also on accessories. “Squat,” as the new piece is called, has an unusual twist: For the duration of the event, it incorporated two live models, both clad in VPL underwear. “The idea was to have it look like something had blown through like a tornado and swept up against the window, engulfing the girls,” Bartlett explained as she surveyed the scene. “It’s this enormous muscle of rope that’s come crashing through the store.”
The models, half-buried under sheets of heavy, white-painted rope, looked surprisingly comfortable. “That’s part of the contradiction of my work,” Genger said. “It’s about masculinity and femininity, hard and soft, entrapment and ease. They look like they’re tacked in, but they’re also reclining. Though I did tell them that if they got uncomfortable or needed the bathroom they should just raise a hand.”
Most of “Squat” has already been disassembled, and the models have gone home, but a portion of it will remain in the boutique’s window for the next month. You can also check out the artist Peter Sutherland’s film of the creation of “Squat,” with a score by Ben Brunnemer — a clip from which you can see here.
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