Armani Opens Its Fashion Archives at NOMAD Hamptons
By Rena Gross
NOMAD has arrived in Water Mill, New York for its debut American outing, which also marks the second chapter of “Giorgio Armani/Unveiled,” a traveling exhibition that links fashion, art, and design. Curated by Abby Bangser, former artistic director of Frieze Art Fairs and founder of itinerant design fair Object & Thing, “Giorgio Armani/Unveiled” features artwork by basket maker Jonathan Kline and Galerie Creative Mind floral designer Ariel Dearie within a beautifully Armani / Casa–furnished interior. Thirteen reissued looks from Armani / Archivio are displayed in the Watermill Center space, extending the excitement around the hotly anticipated Armani / Archivio reissues during Milan Design Week this past spring. The showcase also marks Armani’s entrée as an official partner of NOMAD Hamptons.
The Armani Casa tabletop and interior furnishings are sumptuously understated, complementing the artwork. The installation feels like a lived-in domestic environment demonstrating shared visual language between fashion, interiors, art, and architecture. The sculptural Trocadero table, the hexagonal Esanago stool, and the chaise-like Pretty dormeuse are among the furnishings selected for the presentation, accompanied by Murano glass and Limoges porcelain.
“Giorgio Armani / Unveiled” continues a fruitful multi-decade creative partnership with Watermill Center founder Robert Wilson. Armini and Wilson’s kismet has always been a case of two artists with naturally congruent sensibilities around light, space, and restraint coming together to compose a moment. Some highlights have been their theatrical collaborations in the ’90s, but especially Armani’s landmark 2000 retrospective at the Guggenheim.
Water Mill joins the likes of St. Moritz, Monaco, Capri, and Abu Dhabi in hosting NOMAD, with the distinction of being its first appearance in the United States. NOMAD founder and director Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte expressed the boutique fair’s excitement at this milestone, explaining, “The Watermill Center is one of those rare places where architecture, landscape, and artistic experimentation come together with extraordinary coherence. For NOMAD, it offers an opportunity to present art and design in direct dialogue with a site whose identity is inseparable from creativity, research, and exchange.”.
Armani’s first chapter with NOMAD was a collaboration in St. Moritz this past spring. In the Hamptons entry, Dearie’s textural floral creations offer an organic counterpoint to Armani Casa’s substantial materials. Kline’s woven forms, meanwhile, embody basketmaking as contemporary art, which resonates with Armani’s well-established appreciation for craftsmanship.
The thirteen Armani / Archivio looks originate from the same capsule collection introduced in Milan, the ensemble ranging from 1979 to 1994. The NOMAD / Armani convergence extends outdoors onto the South Lawn with an artistic commission by Rachel Hayes, who created a large-scale interactive exhibition with textiles for the visitor to relax with while experiencing the bucolic environs.
“Giorgio Armani/Unveiled” is currently on view at the Watermill Center through June 28.
This article was originally published by Galerie Magazine.