Dress

Ronaldus Shamask

spring/summer 1991 · linen · Costume Institute

The work of Ronaldus Shamask reveals an architectural approach to clothing design. His garments, though soft and conforming to the body, can frequently be reduced to an origami-like planarity. Like an architect's blueprint, Shamask's concepts can be read in his patterns. Like a peplos or chiton, the garment does not rely on any fitting darts to take its form. Instead of the pins, buttons, or fibulae used in antiquity, Shamask asked the artist Michele Oka Doner to create a necklace that serves as the counterweight that keeps the dress on. Doner's work is often derived from her interests in natural forms and phenomena, and mystical and esoteric philosophies.

Artist

Ronaldus Shamask

Date

spring/summer 1991

Medium

linen

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Michele Oka Doner, 2001