“I am an artist in the air, with overalls on, I fly,” said Marta Minujín. The comment from this histrionic 81-year-old young woman was no coincidence. This Tuesday he presented in his studio in the San Cristóbal neighborhood his first capsule collection that has its fetish garment, the overalls, as the protagonist.
The iconic Argentine pop artist is going through a very fashionable moment: In addition to launching her own line, stars on the latest cover of the Mexican edition of Voguethe Bible of fashion, where of course, she poses with the models that bear her name.
Art and fashion They are coming together more and more and with this proposal that bears the seal of Minujín, the rule is only confirmed. It is already known that museums have long exhibited designer collections that are part of the history of fashion or are the scenery for the most viral fashion shows. Suffice it to mention the revolution that occurs every first Monday in May when the MET in New York opens its annual exhibition dedicated to a fashionable theme.
Gimena Garmendia, from Sudestada. Photo: Courtesy Sudestada.Marta Minujín’s capsule collection, presented before a very select group of friends and some journalists, is made in collaboration with the New York-based multidisciplinary studio, Sudestada, founded in 2020 by Gimena Garmendia,
with experience in marketing, fashion and textile design, who participated in the entire creative process. And, as reported there, the capsule reinterprets three of his striking psychedelic collages
of thin strips of fabric painted on the three exclusive overalls made of silk: the models Soliloquy of found emotions, Metaphysical volcano on a journey of perception and Pandemic. The proposal is also broader: There are giant scarves and scarves with the same prints, a hallmark of the world-famous artist.
Art and fashion capsule
“Soliloquy of mixed emotions” overalls model. Photo: Courtesy Sudestada.
Scarf from the new collection. Photo: Courtesy Sudestada.The three models of overalls that carry the colorful prints by Minujín can now be found in pre-sale and there is one piece of information that is not minor: The models are made following the original designs of the work uniforms that the artist’s grandfather used to produce in the 19th century house, where she was born and where today she has her studio and gallery in Buenos Aires. “I have lived with art since I was ten years old. If I don’t work or I don’t invent or I don’t do anything, I don’t exist,”
is one of the phrases that the creator of The Menesunda.
Installation with the new designs in his studio on Humberto Primo Street. Photo: Courtesy Sudestada.Perhaps the relationship with fashion is not coincidental. And beyond always having had a personal stamp with her clothes, her haircut and her original accessories (she had her line of handbags with the designer Min Agostini), The artist grew up surrounded by threads, tailors and sewing machines. His grandfather, Salvador Minujín, ran Casa Minujín, a prestigious factory of suits and work uniforms, which collaborated with renowned Argentine national institutions such as the Teatro Colón.
Limited edition
With his first golden overalls in “Simultaneidad en Simultaneidad”, in 1966. Photo: Courtesy Sudestada. Almost 60 years ago, in the same place where this limited edition collection was designed,
Marta asked her grandfather’s tailor to design her a jumpsuit with gold satin to wear at the presentation of Simultaneidad en Simultaneidad.
She wanted to modernize her wardrobe and develop clothes in line with her artistic vision, which at the time had gone pop after purchasing her first miniskirt in Milan while attending the Venice Biennale 1964, where Robert Rauschenberg won the Golden Lion, consolidating the international dominance of American pop art.
The artist on the cover of Vogue México.“That year my life changed completely. Through colors I discovered joy, humor, fun and that completely impacted my way of starting to live and dress as well.
I always say that you have to live from art. At first I was like an existentialist, everything was black and horrible. Then I went pop and created a multicolored world in which I am happy and I want everyone to experience it,” he says.
The truth is that that gold satin jumpsuit would be his first interpretation of the garment that is already synonymous with his name, his main uniform and the axis of his first collection. Furthermore, it is the first design image that comes to mind when you think about it.
Minujín, in the ’90s, with one of the 50 models of overalls he has. Photo: Courtesy Sudestada.The data? In her wardrobe she has more than 50 designs in infinite colors and textures. to which today are added those of her collection that invite all her followers to experience the freedom, fun and comfort that she feels when she dresses in overalls.
“My closet has become all overalls; at night, by day, in the morning, in the afternoon. You move in a different way, you feel freer. My proposal is that people dress in art, that they live in art,” summarizes the artist.