2006

Deux Hommes, the Greek fashion design duo Dimitris Alexakis & Gregory Triantafyllou received an Op Art duplicate paper dress manufactured by Scott Paper Company. They inserted photographs of female portraits, historical and contemporary, printed onto paper that were then attached to the front part of the paper dress. Historical paintings of women sitters by famous painters, such as Diego Velázquez’s (1599–1660) portrait of ‘Infanta Maria-Theresa of Spain aged 14’ (1652–1653) or Johannes Vermeer’s (1632–1675) ‘Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window’ (1657–1659), are put side by side with contemporary photographic portraits that depict the duo’s own creations. The latter are inspired by the sitters’ poses and fashionable elements depicted in the paintings, such as the Watteau pleat. A unique approach towards the paper fashion phenomenon and the collaboration, Deux Hommes chose to address the historical aspect of the fad, the femininity and paper quality as a canvas for creation and imagination.