Pioneering prints: An avantgarde fashion designer between the wars
Where art is, fashion is not far – a commonplace, but as I discovered once again last weekend, absolutely true. Visiting Louisiana’s Women of the Avantgarde exhibition on Sunday, the works of Sonia Delaunay instantly caught my eye: The wife of abstract artist Robert Delaunay was not only a painter in the Orphism movement, but also a stage, costume and fashion designer. The bold colours and abstract shapes of her work translate easily into beautiful prints which she used for various stage costumes, textile designs and garments.
If you have the chance, definitely go see her work and that of the other seven of the most prominent women avant-garde artists of the inter-war years, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Claude Cahun, Sonia Delaunay, Germaine Dulac, Florence Henri, Hannah Höch, Katarzyna Kobro and Dora Maar – I found it very interesting to see the roots of great textile design like Louise Boye Andersen‘s or Mary Katrantzou’s!
