Halfway through Artistix’s New York Fashion Week event at The Jane Hotel, founder and designer Greg Polisseni grabbed the mic to declare that “I am a redneck motherf-ing biker who paints in the damn woods” and that he never imagined he would enter the fashion world.
Not exactly a sentiment that you’d reasonably expect to hear at Fashion Week, but definitely part of the growing narrative for the Artistix brand. Polisseni is an abstract painter and seems to put his art first, and his collections are inspired by it; last year Andy Hilfiger joined the brand, and they moved up to the big tent for the previous season. This time out, instead of a true runway show or presentation, they did an event that combined both into one big rock-and-roll party, with models walking and posing briefly on one stage, then winding around the room to stand presentation-style in a group on another stage(the soundtrack, as always, was AC/DC and Metallica style hard rock).
This season’s theme is “Harvest,” most obviously reflected in the color palette that focused on soft browns, oranges and yellows. Not as rigid as last season’s monochromatic looks, this was a far warmer and also more creative collection. The patterns from Polisseni’s abstract paintings are lifted into the clothes, showing up everywhere from blouses to vests. There was also a somewhat incongruous uniform theme, with flight suit inspired designs and military style hats, but realistically, remove a hat here and flight goggles there, and the rest of the outfit is perfectly wearable for everyday life. A men’s orange flight-suit inspired look was made smart with a belt and dark green trench coat, and another men‘s outfit that stood out eschewed the warm tones altogether for shades of green.
The bottom line for Artistix is that the adventure continues and this is hopefully just the beginning, as each season sees the line grow and evolve. All from the mind of a redneck painter. Fashion without pretension.
[slideshow]-Jason Jaskot
Photo Credit: Jason Jaskot
