Fabrics : superfine qualities

Dali

storm with his daring, imagination and talent.

Scabal has a thing about art. We have broken new ground in the field of fabric design with the independent spirit of an artist. In the heydays of "fast fashion", Scabal continued to defend the made-to-measure suit as the highest form of clothes culture. It seemed to be a matter of fighting windmills. And yet time has shown Scabal was right. Scabal's quality fabrics and Scabal suits are appreciated the world over, now more than ever.

Scabal also has a thing about Dali, one of the most talented surreal and self-willed artists of the 20th century. The link with Dali goes beyond a shared philosophy. Dali, the ultimate dandy himself, loved suits and cloths. "Whilst studying Fine Art, I acquired a taste for fashion. I wore the most elegant suits, a cultured pearl necklace, bracelets and silk shirts, which I had designed, with puff sleeves that gave me a feminine look. The age of the dandy had begun, and for me it was never to end."

More than thirty years ago, Scabal commissioned Dali to make 12 paintings about his view of clothes of the then still futuristic 3rd millennium. Dali's proposition was that all styles would co-exist peacefully so that every person would be able to individualise his or her own look, as would have done Dali himself.

The 12 paintings that Dali made for Scabal inspired Scabal's fabric designers to create 12 comparable fabrics. Each of Dali's paintings was abstract in a striking way. What at first glance looks like a classic light fabric turns out on closer inspection to be a play of irregular stripes and daring colour accents. "We went to work more frivolously than we usually do," says Michael Day from Scabal's creative department. We wanted to faithfully reproduce the innovative and groundbreaking character of Dali's style in this collection. The fabric is a Super 120's wool with cashmere and has a weight of 320gram. We deliberately kept it affordable because we think that every loyal Scabal customer should be able to share the enjoyment of this tribute to Dali."

This fabric collection, which has been called simply "Tribute to Dali", has been presented in an international avant-premiere at the Pitti Immagine Uomo in Florence last June 2004.




© 2004 Scabal

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