Recently I have participated in Gathering of the Guilds show in Portland, Oregon and received an interesting comment. A couple was looking at my Bridges and Rivers II necklace drawing circles in the air and mentioning Italian Style exhibition that was currently on in Portland Art Museum. Apparently they found a resemblance in this necklace and a dress they saw at the exhibition.
Needless to say, I had to attend this exhibition to find out!
Vacationing in Italy in the past made me curious how the Italian Style will be presented to the rest of the world? What did I create to connect my roots, art and a country I only visited twice?
I did not find the X dress as fast as I expected. The collection presented was rather impressive and people needed time to move from one garment to another, but I immediately recognized round motives and identified the mysterious dress when I reached it!
Mila Schon dress named Ornella had bead embroidered pattern consisting of large circles. I was very surprised to see rather Russian shapes in the pattern, but when I read about the dress I found out that it definitely was created as “kaftan” dress. Kaftan has been worn by several cultures around the world for thousands of years including Russian.
“The caftan moves with the air and with the body, so it goes from hiding the silhouette to emphasizing it based on the movement of the wearer.”
Besides circular shapes in the design of my necklace I suddenly thought of the movement I created and the name I gave to this necklace: Rivers and Bridges. It reflects the my vision of the world as running water and the connections we make to overcome time obstacles. First piece in this series is a necklace in white and gold colors. I decided not to present it at the show. However, the similarity with the dress was still visible even in gray version.
Ornella dress was worn by Marella Agnelli to the Black and White Ball in 1966. Rivers and Bridges II necklace is certainly suitable for the ball event. Observing the tendencies to wear contemporary dresses in bright colors I created this necklace to stand out layering over orange, pink, red or even white color outfit. Despite the gray palette of beads I used for it, the image of this jewelry piece is light, bright and fluid.
