“So the co-founder of Ksubi, a graffiti artist and a curator walk into a bar…”
“And?”
“Oh, that wasn’t a joke – that actually happened.”
Damn right it did. The worlds of fashion and art have merged together to dream up Cocurata, an all-new fashion label that exceeds the traditional art gallery format and establishes an interchange between the art realm and the fashion house.
Cocurata is the brainchild of George Gorrow, co-founder of Ksubi, and George Benias, a respected New York curator. During shop talk over drinks, “the conversation moved to fashion and how the existing link between art and fashion is tired, and how we could do it differently,” Gorrow stated.
The collaborators expressed disdain towards the way art is meshed with fashion in the modern world. Benias claims it feels like “brands are slapping an artwork on a t-shirt to get a bump in between seasons, and there’s nothing creative about that.” There have been some incredible art-meets-fashion collaborations in the past, such as Yves Saint Laurent and Piet Mondrian, or Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama, but overall the partners feel the outlook is rather bleak.
Gorrow and Benias aim to create pieces equally at home in a gallery as a fashion boutique. Their SS15 collection was launched in October of last year, with an exhibition that December. Instead of appropriating artwork for garments, the pair seek out pieces that are dynamic enough to stand on their own in a gallery, whilst retaining their boutique appeal.
The brand will also endeavour to feature a new group of artists for each collection. Their first round of collaborators included Paul Insect, filmmaker Rostarr and Bäst, the aforementioned graffiti artist who attended the bar at the birth of Cocurata.
Cocurata is available at Assembly New York, Celestine Eleven, Le Bon Marché, David Jones, Lane Crawford, and Beams. For more information, feel free to visit cocurata.com.
