The Akris show has become something like an art history lesson. Designer Albert Kriemler is a collector and a scholar; each season he selects an artist whose work he adapts as prints and/or fabrics for the clothing he makes. This season, Kriemler gave us a primer on Alexander Girard, the American architect and interior, furniture, and textile designer who turned to folk art late in life. Reproductions of Girard’s wooden dolls stood at the end of the runway and appeared on the show’s first series of looks.
Will women want to wear colorful depictions of dolls on their otherwise streamlined, slim pantsuits and silk crepe gowns? The jury is out. Among the seven Girard works that Kriemler used, the ballpoint sketch of staring faces that appeared on a kimono silk coat and matching V-neck dress is similarly debatable. When art is reproduced on clothing, abstraction tends to work best, which is why the graphic stripe Kriemler lifted from a print Girard designed for Herman Miller and used on a clean shift was one highlight, and the drawstring-waist shirtdress printed with a colorful geometric sketch Girard did for a mural in his Santa Fe home was another. Kriemler treats his garments almost like canvases: Most of them have a clean spareness to them. The pieces on which he transformed the cutouts of Girard’s iconic plywood sculpture into 3-D flower embellishments were a touch heavy going. Minimalism suits Kriemler, as evidenced by the collection’s neatly tailored, zip-front navy jacket and pants.
