EXPOSURE – THE DEVIL IS IN THE ACCESSORIES
Welcome to the section dedicated to accessories.
A dress without jewelry, a suit without shoes, or a gown without a clutch often feels unfinished. Accessories tell stories, they express mood, personality, and intention, turning outfits into statements and people into characters.
Throughout fashion history, accessories have elevated ordinary looks into iconic ones. Choosing to wear or omit an accessory is a statement in itself, like punctuation in the language of style. On red carpets, a single piece - like Elizabeth Taylor’s legendary diamonds or Rihanna’s 2018 Met Gala Pope-inspired mitre - can steal the spotlight, becoming iconic in its own right.
For designers and stylists accessories are essential. A headpiece or cuff can completely change how a garment is perceived in editorials or runway shows, since they highlight themes and guide the eye.
This section displays some iconic accessories that will certainly already have caught your eye. Let’s dive deeper into a couple of them.
BEYONCE – THOMASINE BARNEKOW
During the 2021 Grammy Awards Ceremony, artist Beyoncé made a surprise appearance fully dressed in Schiaparelli couture. The look was completed with these long leather gloves with golden nails by glovemaker Thomasine Barnekow, ITS Contest 2007 finalist. The gloves paired perfectly with the couture look, blurring performance, couture and statement jewellery and amplifying the hand as stage and symbol.
Thomasine Barnekow is known for blending jewellery and gloves. Her ITS Contest collection for example, which has already been on display at ITS Arcademy, featured leather embossed bangles that were fused inside the gloves. Beyoncé’s surprise appearance mixed with the powerful look complemented by these gloves created a huge buzz in the media, turning it into an iconic fashion moment.
The nail gloves were also a way for Barnekow to pay tribute to designer Elsa Schiaparelli herself, who had already created, back in 1936, a pair of iconic black and white suede gloves featuring python skin “nails”.
Now let’s turn to a piece that is impossible to miss, the shell umbrella on your right!
LADY GAGA – LUKE BROOKS
Now let’s turn to a piece that is impossible to miss, the shell umbrella on your right!
Exiting a London hotel in 2013, Lady Gaga carried a sculptural custom umbrella by experimental designer Luke Brooks, selected for ITS Contest in 2012. That year Brooks received the award for most creative project by legendary performance artist Marina Abramovic, who sat on the ITS Contest jury.
Crafted from layered, iridescent shell-like forms - and appropriately renamed “shellbrella” by Brooks - the piece transforms a functional object into wearable fantasy, echoing the designer’s fascination with organic architecture and surreal, oceanic motifs.
The umbrella complemented a Geisha-like ensemble that Gaga wore to attend a shoot session with legendary artist Robert Wilson for his iconic “Video Portraits” series. It was a clear example of Gaga’s own commitment to “performance as fashion”, even on the stairs of a hotel entrance, with the “shellbrella” acting as both accessory and art object.
We can now turn to the next section, dedicated to sculpting the body.