Silk scarves have always been an indispensable fashion accessory
for stylish girls. The first Gene Meyer scarf collection was designed in conjunction with
my women's made-to-order collection and sold exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman
and Neiman Marcus. The scarf designs had a spare modernist and
colorful 1960s Palm Beach feeling with big doses of Henri Matisse and YSL.
The artwork was created by cutting hundreds of pieces of brilliantly colored paper and arranging them to create highly abstract patterns a la Matisse (my idol). My men's tie and sock collections are also designed using cut paper collage.
The artwork was created by cutting hundreds of pieces of brilliantly colored paper and arranging them to create highly abstract patterns a la Matisse (my idol). My men's tie and sock collections are also designed using cut paper collage.
Printed on heavy silk twill in 36" and 44" squares
with self fringed edges (a la 1950s Balenciaga scarves) or hand rolled edges, the
scarves fit the early 90s return to 1960s lady-like fashion. I have always loved the many photographs of Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn wearing silk head scarves.
The scarf collections are still some of my career favorites
and I own one of every style we produced. The scarves were worn and promoted by the top fashion editors of
the time - I still catch some of them wearing my scarves!
One devotee, Geoffrey Beene muse, Vanity Fair writer and
keeper of The Best Dressed List - Amy Fine Collins upholstered her dining
room chairs in a chartreuse, pea green, and teal geometric scarf print.
For my own apartment I made slipcovers and curtains out of the
printed wool and cotton scarves - this apartment was written up and
photographed by Wendy Goodman, for HG magazine. Wendy still has
her collection of Gene Meyer scarves and is threatening to have them framed. In 1993 I designed fabric and special scarves for Isaac
Mizrahi's super chic women's collection and runway show.
We also used the silk twill scarves to create a leather hand bag collection. My favorite press was a shoot Elizabeth Saltzman did for Mademoiselle Magazine featuring Nirvana wearing the scarves as skirts. The sweaters are by Todd Oldham. Kurt Cobain is wearing the LOVE scarf, Dave Grohl is wearing the HORSE scarf and Krist Novoselic is wearing the SOLEIL scarf.
The 42" silk scarves made great full skirts. Pictured above are two special projects for Wendy Goodman and Robert Rufino. I've mostly done purely abstract patterns but some of my favorite scarves have floral, paisley and figurative designs.
I received a call last September from Stacey Bendet,
designer and founder of Alice + Olivia, asking if I would be interested in doing
a collaboration to design fabric and scarves for her Spring 2012 collection. We had great fun realizing that we're both mad for color
and color mixing and great friends of Amy Fine Collins (who turned Stacey on to
my scarf and rug designs) We ended up tweaking six of my favorite early
90's designs and of course Stacey used her beautiful Spring 2012 palette to
color them.
For her Spring presentation, Stacey also used a few of the scarves to make flirty and charming dresses. My favorite thing about these new scarves is the label - it reads Alice+Olivia by Stacey Bendet love Gene Meyer in a pretty Shade of Stacey pink!
For her Spring presentation, Stacey also used a few of the scarves to make flirty and charming dresses. My favorite thing about these new scarves is the label - it reads Alice+Olivia by Stacey Bendet love Gene Meyer in a pretty Shade of Stacey pink!
Impact 50 Years of the CFDA by Abrams - feature on Gene Meyer written by Amy Fine Collins
Photography by: Mark Roskams, Mario Testino, Jack Deutsch, Ruven Afanador and Oberto Gilli
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