Drummers at the Vancouver Folk Festival faded from hearing as I strolled near the strand into the scent / sight rich bazaar atmosphere: Katmandu-ish dust, incense and coconut lotion mixed with the inimitable ocean air, where mostly ethnic clothes were strewn under tents in dizzily paisley, floral and geometric arrays. Apart, under a tree, one rack of clothing caught my eye. Clothing not merely clothes. Unique revelations that were pleated, draped, wrapped, circuit wired, recycled, hole-y / holy.
Gretchen Elsner is an American conceptual / performance artist and designer. She specializes in the engineering of electronically active components made from conductive textiles to create soft hard ware, or soft-ware. Her work also incorporates illustrations, embroidery, secret pockets, multi-directional reversible clothing, innovative closures and unconventional materials, combined with whimsy and superb craftsmanship.
About EGRET DESIGNS Elsner says, “Our clothing is an intimate language, and the clothing work is meant to engender enjoyment of the perfection of the nakedness of the body inside. We need one another, our bodies and our minds do, but there is also a part of ourselves that needs solitude, and our arts in many cases allow us to interact with our sensual, ephemeral selves so personally as to show us the way into such alone-ness as we cannot find when we are isolated. Through nakedness the perfect human body is visible evidence of the being's potential grandeur, of the Ideal Self, pure spirit clothed like shadows in this realm of the seen and seemingly imperfect.”
Images of Gretchen Elsner's Experimental Prototypes 8 & 9 by ELISA GONZALEZ