For its A/W 2016 pre-collection, Jigsaw takes its inspiration from the iconic American artist, Georgia O’Keeffe.
Almost coinciding with the launch of the pre-collection is the opening of Tate Modern’s retrospective of this modernist artist in July.
The Jigsaw in-house design team has created an entire pre-collection inspired by O’Keeffe’s stunning paintings, but more crucially they have been inspired by O’Keeffe’s powerful sense of personal style.
“Georgia O’Keeffe used colour in a really poetic way in her paintings. But in contrast, she had a very definitive way of dressing that was quite strong,” explains Sally Graveling, Jigsaw’s head of woven design.
“She dressed mainly in monochrome black-and-white, creating a striking contrast to the beautifully graded colour palette of her paintings.
“The design team was completely taken with the purity of her taste in clothes; how she put things together with precise layering and poignant details such as a single button.
“Her look feels fresh and modern even today,” adds Sally.
“One of the greatest discoveries in our research journey was the stunning collection of black-and-white photographs taken by her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, the renowned American photographer and modern art promoter.
“His imagery obsessively captured her underlying sensuality, intelligent gaze and precise style. But what also struck a powerful chord for us was the repeated images of her hands, posed in beautiful compositions – hence the naming of our collection ‘The Hands of Georgia’.
“These beautiful photographs offered us a real insight into their relationship and a charming representation of the skill contained within an artist’s hand,” Sally continued.
The pre-collection mixes water-stripe prints in tonal shades of soft sky- and storm-blue and lilac, with silk chiffon and pure cotton, alongside monochromatic elements for key shapes inspired by O’Keeffe’s own style of dressing, such as a kimono wrap jacket (£179); easy, loose wide-leg pants (£89) and crisp cotton Artisan shirting (£98).
“The concept of being influenced and inspired from outside of the traditional ‘fashion’ environment continues this season, explains Sally.
She adds: “With a strong focus of the forthcoming Tate Modern exhibition being about Georgia’s influence on future generations, we approached two artists – fashion illustrator and image maker Rob Philips and graphic artist and illustrator Sam Kerr. Jigsaw asked them to create works inspired by Georgia but with their own personal take.”
Rob has a distinctive style as a fashion illustrator, specialising in figurative works. He has created a beautiful artwork which has been used on four limited-edition silk pieces: a column maxi-dress (£279); a kimono top (£120), an oversized silk square (£98) and a tailored wool jacket. The hero piece here is the Portofino jacket with the illustrative silk lining (£198).
The artwork will also feature on a building wrap to go around Jigsaw’s Argyll Street store.
Sam Kerr specialises in the art of tessellation. He has worked with Alfred Steiglitz’s photographs of Georgia O’Keefe’s hands to create a clever graphic print featuring her hands interlinked with geometric precision.
The designers used Sam’s artwork to create a stunning oversized silk-square (£98), a silk front tee (£89), and embossed leather pochettes in ivory, nude and storm blue (£49).
Georgia O’Keefe from Jigsaw on Vimeo.
Georgia O’Keeffe at Tate Modern; it is the first UK exhibition of her work in more than 20 years and opens on 6th July. It runs until 30th October. Further information at tate.org.uk.
‘Hands of Georgia’ collection is online and in-store now. Further information from jigsaw-clothing.com.
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