Saturday, January 22, 2011

Das Gift by Ossimori Gallery Event


Design company, Ossimori launched Spring/Summer 2011 collection in the center of Florence on January 20th. This time to the surprise of their guests, they themselves were a part of their installation. The Italian design company made up of two artists, Misty Evans and Jessica Turner, is becoming known for their artistic approach to fashion. “Concept is just as important to us as design. We want clothes that are expressive, individual, limited, luxury, and meaningful. We are artists first, our designs follow our artwork. Our collection is very autobiographical in terms of imagery and theme, however we try to be true to ourselves in a way that is important and meaningful to our customers.

We chose “love” or “amore” for our spring line, because it’s a universal discourse. Of course, we express the emotion in a very Das Gift sort of way, and approach it from less discussed angles like obsession, lust, confusion, vulnerability, and anger. Things we have all experienced while “in love” but things you won’t find in a Disney movie, or on a box of chocolates.”

Being true to their art is an understatement. The two women stood naked inside mesh fabric tubes suspended from the gallery ceiling with a male model as part of their public installation. On the wall space was a two foot wide collage of eyes that the girls had cut out. On the floor around the wall space were hundreds of hand written letters expressing obsessive frustration such as, “Saying I love you has certain consequences, Why did you make me hurt you?”. Audio whispers through the speakers, “I love you, don’t go, I’ll die without you, where are you going, come back, I hate you, stop looking at me” echoed through the gallery space.

Afterwards the artists joined in the event in the ballroom upstairs where 9 models stood like mannequins to display the spring collection. A video of Turner poisoning her dinner date played on the wall, a violinist seduced the crowd, while interns passed out Perseco and sweets. “It was a success, we received great feedback on our work, the installation turned out well (in spite of us freezing to death), we managed to create new accounts, and sell a few pieces. Honestly we were very happy” said Turner.

The spring collection can be found online, or in select boutiques in both the US, and Italy. For more information you can contact them via their website at http://www.houseofossimori.com

2 comments:

  1. Now I feel rotten that I missed it but also relieved that I didn't bring my (12 year old) son along as I had planned/would have had to do. He would have pretended to hate it while staring at the naked girls. Are you going to write about the experience? What does it feel like to be naked in a glass tube, freezing and serving the great God Moda? I wonder.

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  2. It was liberating, and a little bit dirty. I'm honestly still shocked by how shocked Italians are over nudity. You know as well as I do that we're all prudes in the land of the free and the home of the brave, compared to Europe I mean, but still, a pair of boobs really gets people uncomfortable. Which, I of course love. The purpose of the nudity was to display vulnerability and discomfort, the essense of a romantic relationship. Both viewer and viewed become equally uncomfortable. Facinating really. As for your little boy, he might have not even noticed. Lorenzo, "god" bless him, was staring for a few solid minutes before screaming, "MISTY! JESS! ARE YOU GUYS IN THERE!?". Lol. Hilarious. SACI never ceases to make me throw back my head and laugh. All good memories of course.

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