Type phosphorizing fabric into Google and you get exactly zero results. Yet Albert Kriemler’s new Akris collection opens with a series of phosphor fluorescent looks in techno cotton, linen silk, and sequins, photographed in low light to show off their glow-in-the-dark properties. They’re conversation starters, for sure. Kriemler is a fabric obsessive, so it makes a certain sense that this kind of pushing at ready-to-wear’s boundaries is happening at Akris. The question is why such experimentation isn’t happening more frequently. Now would seem to be the time for innovation, mid-pandemic, when shoppers are thinking harder about big purchases, and expecting more from their clothes.
The phosphor fluorescent pieces sprung from Kriemler’s collaboration with the eminent German artist Imi Knoebel, who maintains a color workshop that the Akris press notes describe as “a studio draped with an infinite array of 700 color swatches where he creates unique hues.” Kriemler works with a new artist nearly every season; it’s a deeply pleasing exercise for him personally as an art lover, and a successful formula on the sales front. But this was one of his more inspired match-ups to date. To start, there is their mutual interest in geometric shapes. Knoebel’s Kinderstern polygon was rendered as a repeat print on a sleeveless jumpsuit with a coordinating jacket. And Kriemler also used it as a starting point for pieced and banded cocktail sheaths that count as the most body-conscious and sexy pieces he’s yet done. Then there is the fact of what the press release rightly calls Knoebel’s “unique hues.” Prints of his large abstract acrylic and aluminum works enliven tunic dresses, tops and pants sets, and a caftan-as-canvas that is sure to be popular with Akris fans.
