The art of Abakanowicz has ruled the catwalk of Paris Fashion Week, and now it’s coming to Warsaw

The show of Alexander McQueen during this year's Paris Fashion Week has caused quite a stir in media all around the world. Sarah Burton, a designer leaving the brand, was so inspired by the works of Magdalena Abakanowicz that she decided to make the artist the main hero of her last collection. The extraordinary art of Abakanowicz is soon to be admired in Warsaw, during the monographic exhibition at DESA Unicum.

Since 2010, Sarah Burton has been managing the fashion house Alexander McQueen, where she started working in the 90s. She became famous for her timeless aesthetics and her remarkable respect for craft of tailoring to which she has paid tribute in her last, final collection spring/summer 2024, presented during the Paris Fashion Week. A significant part of her projects was inspired by the so-called Abakans, textiles of Magdalena Abakanowicz. They were also used to decorate the catwalk. Burton had the opportunity to see the works of the Polish artist during the exhibition at Tate Modern, “Magdalena Abakanowicz: Every Tangle Of Thread And Rope". She has especially observed the extraordinary form and structure of Abakans, which, just like clothes, float as a result of movement and enter into interaction with light and air.

“This collection is inspired by female anatomy, Queen Elizabeth I, the blood red rose and Magdalena Abakanowicz, a transgressive and powerfully creative artist who refused to ever compromise her vision" - 

- says the designer herself.

In November, enthusiasts of fashion and art of Magdalena Abakanowicz will have the opportunity to visit a remarkable monographic exhibition of the artist in Warsaw. DESA Unicum will present more than 30 objects from different periods of Abakanowicz life, including as many as 4 textiles. These are the Abakans which deserve special attention. Tapestries created in the 70s and 80s have long been a source of inspiration for different artists, and the latest McQueen show can serve as a good example. The character of the exhibited textiles refers to the Sarah Burton's collection presented in Paris. The Abakan entitled “Black" especially well relates to the designer's vision: its three-dimensionality and performative character are clearly connected with her fashion concept. What's more, the Abakans, just like clothes, can be also perceived by the sense of smell, due to the specific smell of sisal (a fiber obtained from a special type of agave).

“The Abakans are often called total works, which, like architecture, engage many senses, not only the sight or touch. It is particularly important in the context of very “embodied" and “fibrous" works of Abakanowicz. As she said, humans have a “fibrous structure", and this concept is most visible in textiles. The artist's tapestries are very rarely present at auctions. They can be, however, seen at museums, for instance at the Four Domes Pavilion in Wrocław, Museum of Textiles in Łódź or Tate Modern in London. When these works appear at auction, it always arouses great interest among collectors. The exposition at DESA Unicum is the first such extensive monographic exhibition of Abakanowicz in Warsaw"

- says Wiktor Komorowski, the curator of the exhibition and DESA Unicum expert.

The exhibition of Magdalena Abakanowicz at DESA Unicum starts on November 10 and will last until November 23. The enthusiasts of the artist's works will have the opportunity to admire not only the fabrics, but also some oil paintings, rather rare in her output, as well as drawings and graphics.