Check In, Check Out Fashion
Ingenuity may be the takeaway from the pandemic for many creatives and businesses, and Virgin Hotels Dallas appears to be part of that group.
With the help of fashion consultant Kristen Cole, the property will unveil “Together Again: Reconnecting Through Fashion and Art” on Friday. The installation will feature designs by Christopher John Rogers, Rosie Assoulin, Marina Moscone, and milliner Gigi Burris, among others. Cole also turned to Archive Vintage for a few finds, like an Adolfo silk skirt and blouse.
There will be 12 mannequins styled in vignettes in public spaces throughout the hotel. The mannequins will be showcased six feet apart to adhere to social distancing rules.
Located in the Dallas Design District, the Virgin Hotel’s initiative is meant to merge fashion and art, according to Cole. She selected the designers, Archive Vintage and the artists based on relationships and appreciation for their work. There is no current plan for a retail tie-in, a spokeswoman said.
As of now, the Dallas hotel is the only one of the Virgin Hotels properties that is planning this, a spokeswoman said. There will also be new works of art such as surreal fashion photographs by Manolo Campion, a graphic vinyl installation by Andrew Kuo and a multimedia sculpture by Katie Stout.
Last week bars, cafés and restaurants in Vilnius, Lithuania, started positioning fashion-clad mannequins at empty tables to support local designers in these days of social distancing. That project was not on the radar of Virgin Hotels’ vice president of design Teddy Mayer when the idea for the Dallas installation came to him, according to the spokeswoman. Art and fashion are his go-to world’s for inspiration, and “given the intimate relationship that the hotel already has with fashion and design, due to its location in the design district, it set off a spark that led to the idea of mannequins,” she said.
As for the Vilnius concept, that was created by fashion designer Julija Janus and Bernie Ter Braak, the owner of the restaurant Cosy, according to a spokeswoman for the project. IDW, one of Europe’s mannequin manufacturers, agreed to loan them the mannequins they needed, according to a spokeswoman for the project. The final edit came down to 60 looks from 19 local boutiques. — ROSEMARY FEITELBERG