Smockshop Spruth Magers

Smockshop Spruth Magers

22 September, 2009
by: Katuschka

I have to confess that going in to posh clothing shops can sometimes be traumatic. The gauntlet of bored, Amazonian shop assistants; the false bravado you front to cover the stink of your terminal pleb-ness; and the price tags with numbers that leap out at you like Alien's protagonist in an air duct gnawing at your wallet like John Hurt's stomach lining.  Perhaps it's my fault for being short and hard-up – which is why I choose lovely free galleries any day.  The same clinical reverence of eyeing things you can't afford, but with the added bonus of getting to look like an intellectual even in grubby Primark, because people can't see you're short of change inside your head – or so you'd hope.  Put the two together and you have yourself an altogether more tolerable experience, which is why Spruth Magers new exhibition Smockshop is a quite genius idea.  

Smockshop is a project set up by Andrea Zittel, who drew a pattern for a simple smock dress and sent artists a brief to put the dress together and decorate however they saw fit. The project was originally started as a means for struggling artists to supplement their income by selling the smocks for the, still expensive, but fair, price of £349. It's rather timely, showing up during London Fashion Week, and it's a good chance to not only own, but to become a walking piece of art. Spruth Magers has never looked more inviting, with rows and rows of unique designer gowns all for the touching, and trying on if you're so inclined; and a mind-boggling array of variations from Kate Hillseth's Prada-style cocktail dress to Claire Fong's disco shimmier and Molly Keogh's Ghanan wrap, all from just one little smock.  

The danger of such a project lies in combining mixed results with a fixed price – on the one hand, £349 buys you a structured, tulle holy grail of a smock with elegant detailing and lush customised fabrics; on the other, £349 buys you a green burlap sack with what looks like a dead spider round the neck. You also have to wonder if mixing art with fashion, two industries which are already incestuous bedfellows and replacing the shop floor for the gallery is somewhat pointless when you could just as easily be at an overpriced Topshop sale. Shrieking women grabbing frocks by the handful and running around in the creations seems rather like a high-end slumber party than a show, but therein lies the fun. Smockshop is an interactive art experience which brings out the girly part of even the snobbiest gallerista, proving once again that even the humblest of all dresses is a great leveller.

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Katuschka