Art + Art = More Art..and that’s a good thing.
I’ve always had a love affair with all things art. Since I travel a lot for my work, I’m often captivated by street graffiti I pass while headed from point A to B, both inspired and envious of the seemingly effortless creativity these artists possess.
It’s easy to see how it bleeds on to the pages of the runways, editorial spreads and of course, social media. Flat painted walls around the world have inspired three dimensional wearable art. From towering buildings to handbags and from long tunnels to designer shirts.
The marriage between street art and fashion has been a back and forth tango where inspiration drives passion. Take the Luis Vuitton 2001 graffiti inspired collection. Beautiful monogramed bags with brightly colored graffiti in bright colors. Or, more recently Alice and Olivia’s 2017 Basquiat collection (Basquiat Forever!) which I personally fell in love with the moment I saw that first ad featuring the long ball skirt adorned with Basquiat imagry.
In the age of influencer driven fashion and social media marketing, it’s exciting to see how street art also drives street fashion. I live in Dallas, and Deep Ellum (a neighborhood downtown) has walls and walls of bright wild swirls, funky portraits, twisted fonts and optical illusions that drives many a fashion blogger or designer there in the hopes of creating more art…from art.
The Wynwood Walls in Miami are a spectacular sight as well. Canvases of inspiration ranging from bright hues in geometric shapes to political and social messages. There too, you will see crowds of admirers ranging from burgeoning artists, creative directors and future influencers gazing, admiring, and of course taking selfies.
Then there’s the Leake Street in London, where Banksy was the first person to use the walls under Waterloo Station as his canvas. Today hundreds of other artists have followed behind him, creating a wonderful gallery of street art.
In fact, while traveling for business this summer, I couldn’t help myself from stopping short on my way to a meeting to admire amazing walls in a small alley in New Haven (Mixing..Business With Pleasure)
It’s all inspired and that stimulates further creativity and incentive to create - which to me is beyond exciting. Knowing that this contagious passion will continue its flow into the hearts of young people and spur more art, more fashion, and discussion to our ever growing world gives me hope.
If you can’t get to these places just yet, just check out the hash tags on Instagram for #Wynwood Walls, #Deep Ellum Art Park or #Leake Street Tunnel. Or check out the ever popular instagram for liketoknow.it and see the vast amount of street art adorning photographs from influencers everywhere.
for more background and historical information on these locations you can also visit the following websites:
