Color, Patterns & Collage

Whether you’re a fan of bold brights, muted tones, photography or flat design, all of these styles have been combined in the imagery above to create beautiful succinct collages.

The fabric swatch pile-up represents the latest of the season, citing a menagerie of reds, oranges and salmons. The Soho House graphic by Craig and Karl emits an entirely different vibe, while using a similar plaid palette. While the saturation is certainly turned up on the converse illustration, it’s easy to make comparisons between the two worlds – and see how slight variations can translate across fashion and marketing platforms. Which do you gravitate towards?

December 15, 2015 | By: Shayna Kulik

Color, Memory + Culture

Everyone from the 80’s can remember this design and it’s symbolism. It represented a momentary pause in programming – one that accompanied a noise I don’t think I’ll ever forget. As with all things nostalgic these days, both the art and media worlds have harnessed this iconography to convey new messaging.

Francis Alÿs’s painting is part of a 40 work show in London titled, The Gap: Selected Abstract Art from Belgium. Curated by Luc Tuymans, the pieces focus on geometric abstraction and constructivism from the 20th century. The works touch upon cross-generational ties as well as distinct color fields.

In other more commercial realms, this Apple TV ad is a clever and simple throw back to a recognizable image associated with TV culture. Brilliantly, they’ve reclaimed the irony of the meaning. I wonder what millennials think when they see it.

December 7, 2015 | By: Shayna Kulik

Trend: Expressive Body Script

There’s been a lot of talk about graffiti finding it’s way into high fashion. Miuccia Prada ushered in the conversation last summer with her About Face runway presentation. The latest examples have similarities in their raw essence, but take a bold, expressive typographic turn. We have Evisu, Die Antwood, Comme des Garcons and Dior Homme all using the body or page as a canvas for expressive thought.

All of these pieces feel connected in some way to the style and vibe of Shantell Martin’s illustrations. Her stream-of-contiousness drawings have been an influential style for a while now, and a stark contrast to the crisp colorful characters and collage work from Fall.

May 20, 2015 | By: Shayna Kulik

Max Mara's Texture Blocking

A set designer, a pattern maker and a photographer walk into a bar together…

Just kidding….but in all seriousness, this Max Mara’s Spring ’15 ad campaign kinda goes there. It’s hard not to love the balance of complex simplicity in the collage work. Between the pattern contrasts and varied scales, we get lost in the chaos- the only thing that saves us from a maze of black and white shapes is the color red and the focal point of a face. Using shape, flow and a beautiful model, the art direction guides us to the floral flow of the red jumper…the perfect step forward for the pattern on pattern look, wouldn’t you say?

February 16, 2015 | By: Shayna Kulik

Morag Myerscough for J.Crew

J.Crew recently teamed up with the talented Morag Myerscough to design their London storefront on Marylebone High Street. Here are a few images from their blog, shot by the talented Kasia Bobula, where Myerscough’s creative process is documented. As you can see, the colors bounce around with a vibrant fluidity. This piece is a playful exercise in color theory – one that has beautiful movement. Artistic brand partnerships are quite common these days – and a stellar one plays up to both strengths. We think this one falls under that category, what do you think?

February 12, 2015 | By: Shayna Kulik

Colors and Artistic Commercialism

Art, is literally in this Spring. I started noticing all of the bright, retro accessories at the Hong Kong Airport last month. The common thread throughout links abstraction and art to fashion and commerce.

Here, we have Marni and their Spring Summer ’15 bags. I subscribe to their blog, and upon opening their newsletter this morning, I came across this Mondrian inspired marketing mashup. The 2D meets 3D blend is a creative stab at a classic work, one which mixes color-blocked geometry with product overlays.

Then there’s Celine. Their infamous trapeze bag carries a multi-colored stripe, signifying a season and an art era. There’s a simple elegance to this accessory that feels independent from it’s leather, color-blocked counterparts.

If you’re connecting the dots to Gene Davis and his famous color exploratories, I am as well. Davis, an American painter, has continually influenced the art and commerce worlds with his large scale post-painterly abstractions and color stripes.

Moving into a playful category that feels more Katy Perry than Joan Didion, Valentino has applied rainbow chevron stripes to it’s Spring ’15 accessories. The move is bold, if not juvenile, in a lavish, cartoonish kind-of-way.

Bringing it back to the art, it wasn’t hard to connect this palette to another Davis painting. The vibrance is infectious, and the historical reference gives the collection weight. Curious, which one is your favorite?

February 4, 2015 | By: Shayna Kulik