Bucky skirt. design: Adam Arnold. photo: Christy Klep.
There was a lot more than fall clothing on show last night at Adam Arnold’s Eastside atelier: blend of precision and freedom of thought and action that utopian inventor Buckminster Fuller, whose work Arnold has cited as an influence, would have appreciated. Because that is the very brilliant tension in Adam Arnold’s best work: fresh thought brought to bear on the crisply tailored looks for which Arnold is known.
Bucky dress. design: Adam Arnold. photo: Christy Klep.
The most exciting pieces of Adam Arnold’s Fall , presented informally with two models and explanations by the designer, were geometric wonders, patchworks of hexagons and isometric projections. The best moment came when Arnold was talking about the Bucky skirt, a little a-line miniskirt, a patchwork of hexagons in a brown wool. Arnold said the skirt could be modified in myriad ways, expanded to a bubble, flared at the hem… it could take on endless permutations with the expansion or diminution of the proportions of each hexagon.
Isometric sweater. design: Adam Arnold. photo: Christy Klep.
Customization was a theme of the night (as usual with Arnold making fit a paramount value). He passed around a swatch book of “approved fabrics for fall,” suggested that a dress or skirt shown in a mini length could also work at knee length or even floor-length in one instance. But this moment with the skirt was less about accommodating the client and more about the thinking Arnold has been doing about garment construction, thinking at a level of sophistication that moves from the realm of apparel into that of fine art.
Our first encounter with the Bucky dress was a couple of months ago, the most astounding little black dress we ever expect to see hanging on a rail in Arnold’s studio. Inspired by Fuller, the dress is also a patchwork of the hexagons. The dress has no side or back seams; it is mapped to the individual’s body. None of the pattern pieces is bigger than your hand. The dress lining too was hexagonal patchwork in varying shades of lavender and rose silks. We delighted in trying to comprehend the geometry involved in modifying hexagonal dimensions to substitute for seamlines and darts to fit the female form. At the time, he mentioned it was only the beginning.
This summer, Arnold incorporated the hexagons again in a visual art piece inspired by Suspiria he did for SuperNatural, the Arnold Kemp-curated group show at PNCA, part of PICA’s TBA Festival. A costume for a tiny dancer, the patchwork bodice of patterned fabric over a stiff black tutu.
This is the kind of work and thought process that should win Arnold an invitation for an exhibition of the Fuller-inspired pieces at a place like the Museum of Contemporary Craft. The best piece of the night was an elaborately constructed and perfectly-fit men’s sweater pieced in an isometric grid in brown and black and deep deep plum.
design: Adam Arnold. photo: Christy Klep.
Intellectual deliciousness aside, this is a tremendously contemporary and smart collection that will undoubtedly win Arnold new fans. The collection of perhaps two dozen pieces had eclectic influences that Arnold knit together into a cohesive whole. The statement collars for women (exaggerated long, rounded) and the piped and flapped pants pockets for men had a 70s flare (as did the prints for the men’s dress shirts), but the dominant tones for women were 60s notes like notably shorter skirt lengths for Arnold (which looked very fresh especially in a suit), and 40s influences in natural waist wider leg pants. Women got a few shots of color (a hot pink jacket, a yellow dress) in an otherwise neutral palette of greys, browns, and navy.
design: Adam Arnold. photo: Christy Klep.
The atelier was crammed to the gills with dozens of invited friends, clients, fellow-designers, boutique owners, and the many Arnold singled out throughout the night as having cut fabric, provided feedback, fed him, even, as he prepared this collection.
design: Adam Arnold. photo: Christy Klep.
With just two models, Arnold presented each look with running commentary, sometimes saying, “it just felt right,” and other times detailing a backstory (the perfect 70s Goodwill pants or something about Hazel Cox and milkduds). For the Bucky dress, Arnold talked about the kiwi fruit, unremarkable on the outside, a showy green on the inside. Each of the Bucky pieces is lined in a colorful silk patchwork.
Geodesic coat. design: Adam Arnold. photo: Christy Klep.
If the Bucky dress wasn’t enough to wow for its construction, the fastidious construction of Arnold’s Geodesic coat for women brought oohs and ahhs from the audience. More when the model turned and it became obvious that every seam on this light grey double face wool jacquard with its intricate pattern matched exquisitely, making it a blue-ribbon showpiece of his tailoring.
design: Adam Arnold. photo: Christy Klep.
We loved the first women’s look, a mini shirtdress in black jersey with the exaggerated collar, long and rounded, that we would continue to see throughout the presentation. “It could be knee or floor-length,” Arnold said. He encouraged questions from the audience. One raglan shortsleeved blouse provoked conversation from audience members about the types of materials in which it would work.
design: Adam Arnold. photo: Christy Klep.
Arnold showed a typically dandified yet restrained look for men: his one suit in a restrained hazelnut wool was quite flash in shape with its three buttons playing off a wider peaked collar, stronger shoulders and double vents over thin pants. Men’s pants were in a dark, refined herringbone denim and a lavender twill. And every man in the room should wear Arnold’s hooded wool toggle coat.
“I moved here and found it so individual here. There’s a pioneer spirit that’s nowhere else,” Adam said between looks. “And as the city grows we have to stay true to our own vision, not do what other people in other cities are doing.”
“There is one more thing I want to say,” said Arnold. “I sometimes feel like I’m not doing this, but that something is coming through me.” As Martha Graham would say, keep the channel open, Mr. Arnold. Keep the channel open.
“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is on a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” –Martha Graham
–Lisa Radon
*Dymaxion is a term coined by Buckminster Fuller from “dynamic maximum tension.”
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