With
parades cancelled, Carnival spirit keeps finding new forms. It's most recent
manifestation? Window displays in Saks Fifth Avenue
at Canal Place. Like Christmas windows, the Mardi Gras window captures the
essence of the season. In this case, that means blending couture with the work
of local artists Tony and Tracey Mose.
During
Carnival, the rules of fashion bend by 180 degrees. Casual clothes take on a
theatrical level of extravagance. Feather boas storm through the streets.
Bomber jackets leave sequined trails. The purple, green, and gold polos that
everyone has—available everywhere from grocery stores to gift shops—look like
they haven't been updated since the '80s. Yet without fail, every single year,
those polos are back in style. Time is different in Carnival. Carnival is its
own era with its own zeitgeist, the calendar year be darned. This is part of
why the cancellation of Mardi Gras parades hits so hard. While we can still
have all of the typical Carnival looks in their full extravagance in a socially
distanced way, something is off. The calendar counts this year. Where we are in
time is inescapable, but we're making the best of it.
It's
the glamorous balls, the cancelled chance to dress to the nines, that Ryan
Stanley hopes to pay homage to with the Saks Mardi Gras windows. As Visual
Manager at Saks, Stanley was in a prime position to bring lavish sartorialism
to this year's Carnival. "We knew we wanted to approach the fashion differently
this year for Mardi Gras," Stanley said. "There are no bal masques this year, so we knew it had to be cool, ready-to-wear,
and streetwear."
Stanley
met his collaborative partners while at work, where he overheard Tracey talking
about being an artist. "I approached her and built a relationship. Tony's art
is very true to NOLA, with a modern twist. Tracey's work has great movement and
brings a nice contemporary/modern approach that is fresh," Stanley said of the
Moses. Indeed, Tracey and Tony are owners of ESOM ART
(their name spelled backward), galleries on Royal and Magazine Streets.
Installations at ESOM include their work in mixed media, acrylic painting, and
plaster sculpture.
"Choosing
clothing is always a great challenge when working with art," Stanley said.
"With Tracey's window, the art already had a lot happening, so we wanted to
keep the fashion simple." To counterbalance Tracey's large-scale gold-framed
mirror (a mixed-media piece which features digital artwork transfers of
butterflies and a woman) and three urban-expressionism paintings with neon
embellishments, Stanley went with a gold-tone Alexander McQueen suit.
Tony's
display features an acrylic painting of a man in a crown (the shirt the king is
wearing looks an awful lot like the aforementioned, inescapable Mardi Gras
polo) and three golden sculptures of heads. For this window, Stanley chose to
continue "pulling the gold out with the pieces of art with the fashion," by
infusing men's and women's styles by Versace, ABS, and Balmain into the mix.
The
idea for a Mardi Gras window came naturally. "Saks is always looking to work
with local artists in each market to include in their stores," Stanley
explained. "And with the grassroots initiative in NOLA to keep artists working
during Mardi Gras, this was the perfect opportunity."
For
the Moses, having their art on display at Saks fit them like a tailored suit.
"We are big believers that there is art in everything you do," Tracey says.
"There is art in fashion, food, decor and more. When Tony and I were dating, we
would always go shopping together before a big night out. We've always seen a
relationship between art and fashion. Anyone can lead an artful life." For
Tracey, the lines between art, life, and commodities are indistinguishable. No
matter where you draw your own lines across those particular divides, the
creativity popping up all over the place this Carnival season is testament to the
importance of art in everyday life.
Saks Fifth Avenue: 301 Canal St.,
(504) 524-2200, saksfifthavenue.com
Esom
Galleries: 811 Royal St. and 3935 Magazine St., (225) 202-6406, esomart.com
