Raoul Spring/Summer 2015 Collection

“Kiss Me with your Eyes” - Andy Warhol

Our original launch pad for this collection was Surrealism - not so much the art movement but the juxtaposition of ideas and surprising elements. As time and research progressed we realized that it was “illusion” and the concept that things aren’t exactly as they seem, that really interested us. Ideas, numbers, letters and numerous colors were continuously gathered until we found that Pop Art and its populist nature were more in keeping with our ideas and their application.

Inspired by Warhol’s shoe and celebrity mono-prints; where three-dimensional constructs were reduced to graphic two-dimensional forms in garish colors. Our face print is no longer photographic, as were Warhol’s, but is rather a 3-tone silk-screened image, a poster print of one. Then, to create a new print, we abstracted and reduced the image even further, to its single-color suggested outline.

Warhol was known for his commercial sensibilities, blurring the line between fine art and mainstream aesthetics. In Warhol’s own words: ‘You need to let little things that would ordinarily bore you to suddenly thrill you. Clashing bright colors are so intense that they compete for their place center stage. The 2 - dimensions of a print were challenged, first pictorially, but also as a monochromatic graphic assemblage of letters interlocking to form their own landscape.

Ultimately each outline was filled and colored-in with equal measures of intensity and the naiveté of a child with his coloring-in book. Positives become negatives and negatives become positives as the ratio of color and intensity are varied. They are challenged further by being printed on both smooth and textured surfaces, and then thrown together into an intense play of graphic line, color and form. Metallic Rose gold and Factory silver are used for T-shirts and to form the silk-screened stripes of pleated skirts; both long and short. British artist Richard Hamilton described pop art as “popular, transient, expendable, lost cost, mass-produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamorous, big business”. 

Although description that applies to a movement of the ‘60’s, its realization couldn’t be more current and appropriate.

Key Fabrics
Twill Mikado, Air Mesh, Viscose Crepe, Washed Silk Twill, Printed Silk Twill, Denim, Double Face Stretch Sateen, Double Face Sable Crepe, Textured Crepe, Double Face Techno Net, Metallic Satin Lamé, Textured Jacquard, Triacetate, Textured Lace, Mock Teflone, Geometric Air Mesh, Micro Metallic Mesh, Macro Metallic Mesh, Foil Brushed Ferry, Leather

Colors
Black, Ivory, Eraser, Anthracite, Gouache, Foam, Crayon Pink, Pigment Red, Acrylic, Chalk, Water color Blue, Wax Blue, Pink Enamel, Charcoal Red, Turpentine, Resin, Pastel Pink, Silver, Rose Gold, Muse, Illusion, Puzzle, Rubiks, Audrey, Mini Audrey, Dots, Stripes, Demin, Chambray