So where do you draw the line between Art and fashion?? Well… you just don’t! “The cARTel” is a freshly opened “wearable art gallery” where the lines between art and fashion are thinner than a silk threat.. perfectly located in Dubai’s art hub Alserkal Avenue district, The cARTel is surrounded by up-and-coming art galleries. However, if you are planning to look at paintings, you can better move next door…
Attending “The cARTel” grand opening launch event last week, made me discover over 30 designers as they exhibited their avant-garde clothing like pieces of art. So let’s get to the point.. the main reason founders Shub Qureshi and Peter Richweisz opened “The cARTel” is to fill in the gap between high street, and high-end fashion. Uhhhhm… can I please say..; FINALLY!!! The pieces displayed in the gallery are unique, hand crafted and wearable designs. I can truly get happy to see some impressive clothing that will make you realize there is way more to fashion, than just some fabric and a sewing machine. Also extremely impressive was talking to the designer of the brand Shrekanth, who explained me the complication and process behind the patterns and prints for his designs.. The patterns clearly don’t just come to life by its self.. The domino effect starts of with travelling, sketching, dreaming, and day-to-day experiences. Once the main idea for a pattern is on the table, Shrekanth goes in the process of experimenting with all kind of techniques, from which some of them are even so traditional, complicated or time-consuming that they are almost to their extinct. A delicate process like this clearly doesn’t go together with mass market and mass production. That’s why I believe that’s a perfect example where fashion meets art.. And where Dubai meets cARTel.
Below some of my snaps from the theatrical cARTel fashion show, a bit of trend spotting and off course the selectively hand-picked fashion merchandise!
Don’t forget to click the heart button at the bottom of the page, and I would be extremely happy to hear your opinion on missing’s and findings in Dubai’s art and Fashion scene!
Love, Sam!
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The amazing graphic prints from label Shrekanth
