Doral
From litter to luxe: Cuban artist’s wearable art featured in Doral fashion show
Inside a now-defunct Italian restaurant in Doral, Celia Ledón has been hard at work making garments without fabric, needles or thread. The Cuban artist’s materials of choice are more likely to be found at Home Depot or inside a restaurant kitchen. In her makeshift atelier she’s knitted dresses out of used cassette tape and plastic straws and molded Saran wrap into a corseted number.
The works will appear in an 18-piece fashion show at CityPlace Doral on Thursday, June 3, to launch the kickoff of “Doral Fashion Art Design” — a new event to be held twice a year in Doral.
Ledón’s work will be shown alongside dance and live music performances at the Doral plaza. It’s a taste of what will turn into two annual “art weeks” in Doral organized by the Doral Contemporary Art Museum, known as DORCAM, each coming September and February.
“It’s always been our mission to mix industry and the arts,” said Marcelo Llobell, DORCAM co-founder. “We wanted to create an ongoing event that will bring together artists, designers and performers.”
The idea, he said, is to challenge visual, performing and industrial artists to collaborate and riff off each other’s work. Their ensuing creations will be displayed throughout the city’s parks and public spaces for all to see. Thursday’s event will feel more like Cirque du Soleil than Paris Fashion Week, Llobell added.
In Ledón’s work, Llobell saw the perfect artist to exemplify that type of collaboration. The museum commissioned her to craft wearable art pieces inspired by the sculptures of Spanish artist Manolo Valdés. The show Thursday will mark the end of DORCAM’s blockbuster exhibition of work by Valdés, whose towering sculptures have stood guard throughout the city’s parks and outdoor spaces for the last six months.
Like Valdés, Ledón’s work is heavily influenced by the female form. She’s long made headpieces out of recycled materials that evoke the giant metal chapeaus Valdés’ sculptures wear. Trained as an industrial designer in Havana, she’s worked as a costume designer for theater, television and film. Her dramatic designs were previously featured at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., as part of the exhibition “Artes de Cuba: From the Island to the World,” but it’s the first time she’s showing her work in the Miami area.
“Whether they think of it as art or fashion, I hope people see what they want to see in it,” said Ledón. “Most of all I want them to see something out of the ordinary.”
While the outdoor event is free and open to the public, viewers may purchase VIP tickets for $50 at dorcam.org for a seat at the show.
If you go
When: June 3, 2021, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Where: CityPlace Doral, 8300 NW 36th St.
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