Ornament Magazine

VOL37.1 2014

Ornament is the leading magazine celebrating wearable art. Explore jewelry, fashion, beads; contemporary, ancient and ethnographic.

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FALL FLOWER JACKET of hand-embroidered cotton suzani from Uzbekistan, lined with cotton ikat from India, tulle trim with mohair yarn embroidery and beads from Italy, vintage button of mother of pearl from Pakistan. Necklace by Gretchen Schields, hat by Claudia Grau. Photographs by Suzi Click, except where noted. Opposite page: Suzi Click photograph by David B. Lewis. 55 ORNAMENT 37.1.2013 S cratch the surface of Suzi Click's daily penchant for donning delightfully layered and multicultural "hippie chick" attire, and there is a mature artist with an international outlook and a well-honed design perspective. Her approach reveals a joyful focus on an enthusiastic creative dictum that "more is better"— advocating the message that with a confident mixture of elements, every woman can be empowered about expressing herself fashionably through her unique personal selection of attire and adornment. Click aims to design vividly collaged artisan apparel and accessories for those "who want to be noticed for their style and stand out in a crowd, to express their inner selves and to openly acknowledge their innate goddess." Click's home is a spacious 1924 Spanish Revival/ Craftsman style structure in central Los Angeles, with an adjacent converted garage that is now a two-level studio/workspace, which she shares with her artist husband, David B. Lewis. It is an enchanting magic carpet world filled with a lush cornucopia of intertwined patterns and textures, imbued with the richly saturated rainbow of colors that are inspired by her frequent far-flung travels, and by her unabashedly passionate collecting of textiles, objects, images, decorative furniture, and folk art that are curated into altar-like arrangments. Certain spaces within the house are dedicated to a particular suggestive theme, such as iconic retablos depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe (symbolizing the presence of "woman power") alongside of ornate crosses; or multiple images of one of her most venerated style exemplars, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo—who proclaimed that one should "dress every day like it is a fiesta"—a motto that Click heartily endorses. During her journeys she makes keen forays into the bazaars, souks, villages, and artists' workshops whose spirit-infused handicrafts she treasures and gathers. She loves to shop and is always on a dedicated quest for lengths of distinctive fabrics, handwoven panels, intricate borders, and special buttons or tassels which she then deftly incorporates into her own assemblages of wearable, one-of-akind designs. So how does a girl who was raised in various small East Texas towns, (but whose family had moved frequently, shifting to West Texas during her teens),

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