Cody couture

Eight Helen Cody dresses are to share a platform with the art that inspired them, writes Deirdre McQuillan.

Grand collisions are becoming more frequent in the worlds of fashion and art. After the fashion/art Biennale in Florence over a decade ago, which paired big fashion designers with best-selling artists such Prada with Hirst, Alaia with Schnabel and Versace with Lichtenstein, the dialogue between the two has grown stronger. Both have a visual language, both talk about surface, texture, form and colour.

Here at home for the first time, eight couture dresses by Helen Cody are to share a platform at Whyte's Irish Art Sale on November 26th. Following Cody's acclaimed spring/summer show earlier this year, she was asked by Sarah Gates, director of Whyte's, to contribute a small catwalk collection at their auction preview. Instead, Cody suggested that she make a number of dresses influenced by the art and the artists' work she admired. "I've always been a fan of Helen's and I knew she has a keen interest in art," says Gates. "She has a great eye and I think her clothes will appeal to collectors because they are exquisite objects." Eight paintings were selected by Cody for interpretation from Camille Souter, Gerald Dillon, John Shinnors, Louis Le Brocquy, Sean Scully, Helen Comerford, Alice Maher and Felim Egan. The two dresses featured here are abstractions from John Shinnors's Evening Study at Window II (oil on board, 1990 est €12,000-€15,000) and Gerard Dillon's Young Couple (oil on board l960s est €30,000-€40,000).

According to Cody, "the Dillon painting struck me because of its fantastic use of colour and theatrical imagery and those were my starting points. The clown's costume inspired the softly draped folds of the ruched velvet of the dress and the peacock feathers highlighted the fallen leaves on the grass." The beautiful gold metallic lace bodice was made in France and beaded in India.

The minute she saw Shinnors's painting, the idea of the dress took shape. "I used the vanilla felted cashmere like panes of windows with the jet crystal dividing them. To create the sense of shadows falling into the room, I used soft grey and then black ostrich feathers. The dress is quite rigid as I felt the Shinnors paintings are structured in a monotone patchwork and I didn't want the shape of the dress to distract from its textures."

Four of the dresses, estimated at €2,500-€3,000 each, will be offered for auction, and the preview night will also showcase more than a dozen pieces from Cody's current couture collection, including a black taffeta coat with vintage ribbons, crystal and Victorian jet along with silk and grosgrain dresses decorated with crochet lace, tulle rosettes and crystal.

[ www.helencody.com ]