"Room 412", 2007If Pierre Bergé is trying to recast YSL as an artist first, a fashion designer second, artist Amanda Church is going one better. Instead of borrowing a painting - say a Piet Mondrian - and putting it on the silhouette of the day, Church takes her own psychedelic and free-flowing work and applies it to her favorite garb....
to make "Mandy Pants!"
One of the first things you may notice about this very stylish lady is her sassy short hemline which has earned her the nickname "Mandy Pants." From this apt moniker sprang the inspiration behind her new line of shorts.
"Last summer I was really into board shorts but never found a pair with a really cool design. So somehow I came up with using my own paintings as the design, and when I lost my job in January, I decided to start the Mandy Pants business."
Amanda's first foray into the fashion fray was customizing the Fendi Chef bag for the New Museum a few years ago.
"I really like the art-meets-fashion idea -- it was interesting to morph my own work to mesh with something else, since art generally stands on its own."
"I wear my Mandy Pants lounging around the house, out and about in the neighborhood, to the gym, biking, and at the beach -- they are super-comfortable! Mandy Pants are made of a kind of polyester that feels like a faux-suede. They are very durable and can be worn in the ocean or pool and also put in the washer and dryer.
"These shorts use the painting as their design, and future products (men's board shorts, bikinis, beach towels) will use different paintings, but I won't be making work specifically for Mandy Pants products. I want everything I make to have the same groovy, trippy, happy, sexy vibe as my paintings!"
A lavish 18 silkscreens are used to reproduce the pattern. As befits a work of art, they are a limited edition of 200. Available in xs, s, m, and large, with a generous fit, they retail for $80. Mandy Pants are currently available exclusively through A Little of What You Fancy, East Hampton's oldest boutique and one of the only non-chain stores to remain on Newtown Lane.
Owner (and friend) Kelly Smith has the most incredible style radar, from Kerry Cassill linens to Carthusia perfumes from Capri to my mother's special Hamptons line (if I do say so myself).
Don't be surprised to see other famous style setters and shop owners sniffing around to see her latest finds.
To reserve your pair:
A Little of What You Fancy
19 Newtown Lane
East Hampton, NY
tel: 631.324.3113
4 comments:
Love them. These old legs have passed the point of Mandy Pants. Maybe around the house.
Patricia, I need to do a few squats myself although Amanda sometimes wears black tights under hers which could be very forgiving.... EEE
A few squats for me too- in fact I will need an extremely kind and very forgiving pair of black tights to wear too. They are so much fun and just follow perfectly along with the snowboard art-there is a post here. No- but a pair of uggish like boots I would so do- or even a pair of fab-more concealed panty pants- and if they don't do anything for me, they could always go in a frame for some spot where color is needed. Love this post, fashion is in the air today.la
After winning a Miss Legs contest in college, my legs have been on downhill slide. At least she is controlling the silk screen process. I remember reading in Adversting Age in 1976 that an Asian company wanting to cash in on bicentennial fever made women's underwear printed with the message, "Happy Birthday, Uncle Tom." Became a collector's item and overnight mixed metaphor sensation.
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