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FASHION FASHION FASHION MONS†ER MONS†ER
STORY BY STAFF / PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARLOS VELASCO
ria Simonini has been busy as of late, the aspiring creative from Argentina that first caught the world’s attention over four years ago with her debut number-one album “Rosas” is hardly one to take a break. Over the past four years she has taken on film roles, television roles, a sophomore hit album and a self-penned book about her early childhood. Now, Oria in collaboration with the Galerie Perrotin in Paris is set to make her splash in the world of fine art just in time for Paris Fashion Week. When one is invited inside the plush living room of Oria’s Lower East Side apartment, the chaotic nature of her busy life is totally masked inside a well composed and deliberate arrangement of objets d’art. Antique screens of Coromandel lacquer, octagonally framed mirrors, A chandelier adorned with crystal camellias, stylized stalks of wheat in warm corners, white hydrangeas and books lining glass mirrored tables and lines of statues of Aphrodite, Lions and the Virgin Mary keeping guard over the intimate space are just some of the many inviting, warm figures in the room. Versailles hardwood sheath reflects the natural morning light that shines in from the floor to ceiling French windows. There is an air of refinement in the space that as Oria herself later put on “She hopes to attain someday.”
FASHION MONSTE FASHION & ART
(Top) Oria Simonini wearing ones of the pieces from her FASHION MONS†ER series, set to debut later this month at the Galerie Perrotin in Paris.
(P.131 Top) The collection for the Perrotin, features artwork, such as wearable haute-couture dresses, created using household goods. Normalcy and the mundane nature of a routine and the way that people live their lives was the most essential influential part of the collection.
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“BYTHE I WAS INSPIRED MONSTER THAT LIVES INSIDE OUR NORMAL LIVES.
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“When I was in Morocco, I was especially interested really in going to extended visits at the Majorelle Garden in Marrakech, after personally getting to see some of Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent’s collection in Paris earlier in my life I was excited to see such an inspiring
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very living room, we were just having tea and then I started to contemplate how my life was becoming all a Andy Warholesque factory, it was work work work, producing a million different things at once but I didn’t feel like I loved anything genuinely like I used to.
There is beauty in normalcy, but a terrifying nightmare about it all.
part of their lives in person. It was that sort of inspiration that began for me, a few months after a tour around Japan, that lasted about a month, I felt I needed a reboot at that point in my life. I remember I was talking to him (Marc Jacobs) one day in this
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N TER S
itting down across from us on a whimsical leopard print asymmetrical chair, the light and sounds from the busy Manhattan streets below us raging on, Oria wore a spring patterned floral print Dolce & Gabbana jumpsuit with a black and red pipe trim quarter sleeved Alexander McQueen Blazer, Golden Hermés bangles and necklaces in large strands to add an old bourgeoisie understated elegance to the outfit and a pair of neutral black Gucci pumps that without a doubt added their own surprising touch to the ensemble. Oria smiled at us as she delicately grabbed her Hermes tea cup and began to drink an exotic blend of leaves she had recently picked up in Morocco.
I hated that. I was an artist and up to that point I was mostly very commercial in all my work. It’s not to say that I hated acting or music but I wanted to be free and create a new type of art that would be different. So I started experimenting a lot,
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THE PHOTOS
(First Photo Page) The Centerpiece of the collection became a paper cupcake dress that Oria herself claimed she became “Obsessed� by.
(Center) Dark Lace was heavily used in the style of a full body tattoo in the works. The concept of a full body tattoo came from inspiration after trips to Japan. An artistic style that made its way into the rest of the work.
(Last Photo Page) The prints from the collection are on display alongside the dresses, and a curated collection of art from both Oria Simonini and others including a painting collection and interactive film installation.
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