04 February 2015 // Stefanie Barz //Berlin

//HEAR & SEE

PATTI & ANN

Talking about one's inspiration for whatever creative output is always very personal. When I wrote my diploma thesis about how music inspires artists and designers, I realized the magical complexity of the source of creation in total. There is no need to understand fully which paths a person took and no need to follow them – even impossible – the experience is unique to each individual.

Anyway it is that mysterious spark of enlightenment, or whatever you want to call it, that catches our attention. Sharing inspiration can only mean to enhance appreciation for the beauty around us, may it be natural or man-made, may it nourish inner reflections or rather artistic intentions.

One certain fashion designer was always of great interest to me, first of all because of her admirable collections, and second because of her muse – one we have in common: Patti Smith.

„Patti's work is part of my life. She is so inspiring. But I don't just see her as a woman in rock. She's a poet, an artist, and with that, everything is said“ reveals Ann Demeulemeester to the US Vogue magazine in 2007. She is part of the famous 'Antwerp Six' that presented themselves autarkically in early 80s London as graduates from the now-notable Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Belgian town Antwerp. It aren't just the pictures that she finds inspiring, but also the music she has in mind subconsciously during the design process – with or without listening to it at the same time, Ann explains in the interview with Mark Holgate.

To me there are noticeable parallels; as far as I can interpret only, there are impacts visible in mostly black dresses that seem unfinished, that ambivalently oscillate between fragility and strength, modernity and romance, that attest to the sensual charisma of Patti personally in sound and vision. Pure flowing lines and asymmetric cuts show balancing bodies, rhythmically moving, somewhat nonchalant. Dancing Barefoot.

„I like to watch you when you're walking back and forth on the beach. And the way your, the way your cloth looks. I like I like to see the edges, the bottom of it get all wet when you're walking near the water there. It's real nice to talk to you... Wave thou art pretty / Wave though art high / Wave thou art music /
Wave thou art why“ ('Wave' lyrics, Patti Smith)

 

Ann Demeulenmeester

 

Patti & Robert

 


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