2024-gabrielle-szwarcenberg-fashion
technical description

Short sleeveless dress fastened at the neck with a magnet, inspired by the cover of New York Magazine, April 29, 1968. Folded following the “Buzz” paper aeroplane model. Military cap, shoes in folded foam and rubber with paper plane motif on the front. Vogue Eyewear by EssilorLuxottica, in Top White / Opal Milk, adjustable temple, bio-based nylon fiber.

concept

To designer Gabrielle Szwarcenberg, paper is a daily accomplice. The ultimate prototyping medium, it captures ideas in notes, it hides secrets in envelopes, offers future guidance, and prompts reflection through dog-eared corners of books. Her collection delves into childhood pursuits as rites of passage, celebrating how we transform boredom into ingenious creativity, from cat’s cradles and marble games to paper aeroplanes. Inspired by renowned 1960s beatnik Harry Smith, who collected over 250 paper planes now hidden in museum archives, she revived these artefacts through the coupé technique and by working on fabric as if paper. Embracing an art-for-art’s-sake ethos, the ephemeral looks provide an inadvertent retrospective of 20th-century graphic anthropology.

year
2025
category
Fashion
object type
Dress, Shoes, Hat, Eyewear
historical summary

ITS Contest Application year: 2024
Application area: Fashion
Collection shortlisted as a Finalist
Winner of Award

techniques
PU Spray Coating, Sublimation Printing, Transfer Printing
colors
Cream, Light Blue, Mint Green, Off-White, Purple
materials
Clay, Foam, Magnets, Polarised Lens, Stainless Steel, Tyvek, Upcycled Leather, Vegan PU Leather
note: this digital archive is a new project - work in progress. If you notice any inaccuracies please write to collection@itsweb.org.