Still Life
with SS21

Centuries ago, still life painting gained popularity for the technical learnings it afforded its practitioners. One could paint a bouquet of chrysanthemums for days from the same vantage point, rather than having to erect and dismantle a plein air studio day after day. These compositions became temporal artifacts, in addition to their decorative qualities. Think of Caravaggio’s Basket of Fruit, its piles of glossy-dusty grapes. Think of David LaChapelle’s Earth Laughs in Flowers, a series of still life works evocative of the old Netherlandish masters, yet ripe with markers of the 21st century: contemporary plastic paraphernalia, packaged snacks, flip phones. We’ve evolved out of a pragmatic need to document our objects—today, these compositions tell us about ourselves. Still life metamorphosed from solely material to spiritual.

The criteria for what constitutes still life now has more to do with the imperviousness of intimacy than it does with composition. It’s a rendering of a present moment—crystallized in the frame of a film, on a canvas, in pixels on our screen. Segregation from action allows the viewer to marvel at and reflect on details that otherwise go unnoticed. A scorpion entombed in a pink lozenge. Leather marked by abrasions. The jarring incandescence of glass next to a gauzy, knitted tote, catching the light like spiderwebs. Objects, used or ignored, are ciphers for decoding the lives we lead, a reflection of our pastimes, our values, who we are to ourselves, how we indulge.

We commissioned five photographers to document highlights from SS21 collections, each approaching still life with their own signature style. For some, this entailed a traditional, instinctual process. For others, this meant implementing stillness through collage, digital enhancement, or pause. Maisie Cousins’ lustrous macro photography bolsters heritage favorites like Prada and Miu Miu, while giving sparkle to newcomers like Area; Atiba Jefferson’s skate inclinations showcase Total Luxury Spa and Thom Browne; Nick Sethi’s bound textiles and homemade altars compliment Molly Goddard’s smocking, cult-favorite Online Ceramics’ tie dye, and the highly anticipated return of Hood By Air; Farah Al Qasimi’s floral appliques emphasize the tactility of Danish knitwear brand a. roege hove’s knits, stretching into Kiko Kostadinov’s structure and give; Phyllis Ma’s expertly considered staging highlights STORY mfg.’s sustainable offerings, Lemaire’s classic leather staples, Peter Do’s suiting. Each series meditating on the materiality of garments, their construction, their interpretive powers. As long as there is still life, creatively, we will still evolve, and continue to evade easy categorization.