PROJECT

costume triptych

Holographic portraits of three costume designs – each representing states of psychological unrest.

Inspired by Jules Verne’s novel Voyage au Centre de la Terre, the Costume Triptych is one of three interconnected collections – including the Sequence Portrait and Chikyū Hakken – that reimagine the story as a parable for the malignant dimensions of the Industrial Revolution. Each collection explores a central component from this narrative.

While the costumes Inaugural Gown, Blast Suit, and Cooling Brigandine have functional roles in the story, their designs are foremost a reflection of the main character’s psychological unraveling. Possessed by doctrines that imagine humankind alien to and sovereign over nature, the characters endure an ideological autopsy as their delusions are exorcised by the trials of their subterranean descent. Motifs of incarceration, madness, and dissection are featured in each costume – whispering sartorial divinations of a transformative, if not fatal, conclusion to the journey.

Under the direction of Klee Van Schoonhoven, she and fellow couture designer Richard Ruiz managed the production of the entire wardrobe; the intricate hand-made pieces feature their elegant leatherwork, original patterns, embroidering, and ingenious dressing systems. The Inaugural Gown ensemble also includes a bespoke headdress element created by the renowned artist and sculptor Forest Rogers.

Evoking a portrait gallery of spectral artifacts, the triptych is exhibited as a set of 1x1 scale holographic prints, created in one of the last large-format holography studios in the United States.

Edition of 1/3 triptychs

Private commission.

MEDIUM Glass-plate Holographic Prints

Credits

COSTUME DESIGNER: Klee Van Schoonhoven, Richard Ruiz HOLOGRAPHY FABRICATION: Rob Taylor PRODUCTION ASSISTANCE & SPECIAL THANKS: Harri Kallio