(1) A Return to True Artistry
The last thing on my mind was clothing.
As an artist who spent every day in the studio barefoot, covered in gesso, paint, turpentine, most of my own clothing was cheap, since it often quickly resembled the paint rags I use. For me, art was on a canvas, and fashion was a world of pomp, consumerism, and flash-in-the-pan trends that were as far removed from something truly artistic as anything could be. Clothing was meant to be practical and utilitarian, like food. (As a true American would think.)
An coincidence between art and clothing
Fast forward to 2017, when I met Daniele, an Italian who’s passion for poetry, and artwork (and accent) captured my attention. I knew he worked in menswear, but that didn’t mean much to me at the time. We sat together in countless cathedrals and olive groves writing, sketching, and dreaming. It was in one of these cathedrals, as I sketched the intricate frescoed patterning, Daniele suggested that the patterns on the ceiling would be great inspiration for a menswear brand.
I had dabbled in textile design in the past, mainly for interiors, but left it behind as an unnecessarily difficult field to break into, and always returned to my paints. But this suggestion caught my attention in a new way and led me to ask myself the question: Is it possible to combine art and clothing?
Kate & Daniele
“What is worth marking”?
I didn’t know much about the clothing industry in general, and even less about this whole other world of sartorial menswear. As we brainstormed what we could make together, Daniele suggested starting with pocket squares and scarves. I didn’t even know what a pocket square was, much less what went into designing one, or what people would look for if we made one. This began my introduction to this world, but it would take a few more years for me to embrace my own place in the equation, not just as a paint-covered designer, but as someone who could and should wear the very things I was making.
There are a million brands out there. You can literally find anything your heart desires. But what is worth making? What are the benchmarks for determining what, how, if, when, and how much of something should be produced? Even in the slower world of sartorial enthusiasm, where appreciation for the artisanal is stronger than in the Fashion Nova reins of the TikTok queens, still often things are made because they simply can be, and without much consideration for those larger questions.. Appearance of care is not the same thing as actual thoughtful consideration.
Ade to Napoli pocket square, designed and hand-drawn by Kate
Patterns of meaningful notes
Musical notes, when randomly flung together make a terrible noise. It is the intentionality of purpose, arranging notes into patterns that creates the potential for something beautiful. In the same way, a jumble of letters on a page convey no meaning, but patterned, arranged letters tell some of the greatest stories. Pattern, I believe, is the thing that separates chaos from order, man from beast, and points us towards a greater purpose. When we see a clear pattern, whether in a musical quote, arrangement of letters on a page, or brush-strokes on a canvas, we can clearly see the creator behind it, and without even thinking, we know there was thought behind that creation.
We knew we didn’t want to add to the noise, and further a cacophony of meaningless notes, with no clear directive. We wanted to tell a story that had meaning, and with those stories, make it possible for others to tell their own. Most of the best tales come from lived experiences, and take inspiration from personal surroundings, and ours is no different. We decided to tell the story of love - love of artwork, poetry, history, and pattern - all which point to the greater story of our existence and purpose. Ultimately, we decided we wanted to accomplish three things:
Create unique pieces of art, specifically designed for clothing - made to be worn
Create pieces that would visually tell a story
Inspire others to look deeper and build connections to their own pursuit of meaning in their lives, reconnecting to places already visited, but perhaps forgotten.
Blur the line between artwork and clothing
I still didn’t see clothing itself as an potential art form yet though, not truly. It wasn’t until we actually began designing and I saw how people were creating with our pieces that something clicked. It became clear that for many, the pieces of clothing are like notes in a song, or paint colors, and the human form the canvas to create upon. And perhaps not everyone sees things this way, but in practice, many do.
The designs we create combine geometrical patterns along with imagery, both natural and architectural, drawn by hand on paper and then transferred to a digital format to be colored. The first few of our designs focused on some of our personally-favorite places - cities in Italy such as Rome, Florence, Assisi, and Orvieto - and drew inspiration from the motifs and colors found in these locations. Many following designs have been taken inspiration from poetry, old paintings, and even jewelry.
Many wonderful accessory companies make beautiful products, but few, if any, currently are creating bespoke artwork for the pieces they are making, and this is the gap we wanted to step into. Archives are heavily relied upon, and motifs rearranged, or old paintings printed on silk, but we are looking to do something different.
It is my deep belief, as a painter, art - that was designed for a wall - is best viewed in that way, and not stuffed in a pocket. A sculpture - that was created for a church - is most accurately appreciated in that place, not in a museum. As a painter, I want my work to be viewed in the way I intended it, not repurposed and printed on umbrellas or t-shirts. Walk into any museum and you’ll find notebooks and baseball caps covered with Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” or Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with A Pearl Earring”. I believe that, in some way, doing this devalues the original artwork, and alters the reverence we may have for it. It doesn’t matter if instead of a t-shirt, the art is put on a pocket square instead - it still was not made to be viewed that way. Just because something can be done, doesn’t mean it should be.
Beauty for the sake of beauty
In contrast, taking inspiration from artisans, architects, and poets of the past and present is what every artist - from the initial cave painters to the sculptors of the Renaissance - to the abstract painters of contemporary expressionism, has done; built upon the past to create something new. When we design our pieces at Antoniella, we are informed by the past, by our surroundings, by study and research, by awe and wonder of the work of those that have come before, as well as the natural world. The art in the pieces we design is created to be worn, not hung on a wall, and is thus best seen, experienced, and appreciated when worn. This is where intentionality and purpose come in. Each thing we do in our lives, if done with depth of purpose, and love, creates a deep meaning that carries onto every other area. Through stepping into this world with Daniele, I learned that the world of artistry is much bigger than paintings hanging on a wall - true artistry is a vision, not a practice. Can pocket squares and scarves, seemingly useless items, carry us towards long-forgotten wonder? I would posture that any true artwork can do so. It is not a guarantee, it is always up to the observer of art to look for and carry the meaning, or not. All the artist can do is lay the path, it is up to everyone else to walk it, and then create paths of their own.
Of course, there are still many days where I still stay barefoot and paint-covered in my studio, and some days I walk the streets of Florence wearing a beautifully paired scarf with an elegant outfit. Each has their place, and each has their purpose.
So what is the main reason we are doing what we are doing? What is the end goal? I have always been an advocate for ‘beauty for the sake of beauty’, both before and after stepping into this sartorial world, so I could tentatively conclude that the purpose of our designs is to bring unique beauty into the world, and that is a worthy end in itself.
