With her chiseled features and long black hair pulled into a ponytail, Cecilia Dean looked simultaneously high-fashion and farm-ready when we met her at her office in Soho today to talk about her new collection of VISIONAIRE X GAP T-SHIRTS. These limited-edition shirts feature artwork by artists including Richard Phillips, Alex Katz, and Peter Lindbergh. And the thread and ink is UV-sensitive, so the images change color in the sunlight. In other words, they will make you believe in magic again.
If you thought that magazines could only publish on paper, think again. VISIONAIRE, founded in 1991 by Cecilia Dean, Stephen Gan, and James Kaliardos, has been known to sometimes publish issues in highly unconventional formats. One issue was rendered entirely on metal, while another was solar-themed and UV-sensitive (and served as inspiration for the T-shirts).
Cecilia herself is equal parts city and country. A fixture in the fashion world, she lives in Red Hook, bikes to work, and takes care of chickens and bees alongside her boyfriend David Selig, owner of the much-loved Rockaway Taco. In reference to one of the Visionaire T-shirts designed by MARIO SORRENTI with an image of an iceberg on it, Cecilia turns and says, “When you’re in sweltering NYC, you wish to be here. But also it makes you think about the state of our environment.”
I chatted with Cecilia about her new shirt collection, check out our conversation below:
Shop all Visionaire x Gap HERE
AUSTEN ROSENFELD: Can you tell me about how you came up with idea to combine UV-sensitive ink and thread with clothing? Was it difficult to make on a technical level?
CECILIA DEAN: Well, when Gap asked us to do a T-shirt collection for them, we immediately thought of referencing issues of Visionaire and working with artists that have been published in Visionaire. Visionaire, so often, is about research and development, and we actually don’t do anything with the knowledge we’ve acquired except for the issue. So for the first five T-shirts we did with Gap, we were experimenting with metal foil on fabric. When they asked us to do the next set of T-shirts to come out in May, we immediately thought, "Oh, that would be the beginning of summer." We were so over winter at that point.
This winter in particular?
This has been a particularly long and arduous winter that I don’t feel like we have fully come out of yet. So when we were thinking about May, we thought, "Oh, it's going to be summer, the beginning of warmth and sunshine and going to Rockaway Taco.” So we immediately thought of our solar issue. We could hand over all that knowledge to do something that would have a larger audience and reach more people.
Eyes seem to be a theme on the shirts—was that intentional?
We didn’t plan or realize it but I guess it makes sense because we’re dealing so much with the visual— black and white turning to color, [and] sunshine.
Do you think there’s more room to explore fashion and technology? How do you see technology influ
If you thought that magazines could only publish on paper, think again. VISIONAIRE, founded in 1991 by Cecilia Dean, Stephen Gan, and James Kaliardos, has been known to sometimes publish issues in highly unconventional formats. One issue was rendered entirely on metal, while another was solar-themed and UV-sensitive (and served as inspiration for the T-shirts).
Cecilia herself is equal parts city and country. A fixture in the fashion world, she lives in Red Hook, bikes to work, and takes care of chickens and bees alongside her boyfriend David Selig, owner of the much-loved Rockaway Taco. In reference to one of the Visionaire T-shirts designed by MARIO SORRENTI with an image of an iceberg on it, Cecilia turns and says, “When you’re in sweltering NYC, you wish to be here. But also it makes you think about the state of our environment.”
I chatted with Cecilia about her new shirt collection, check out our conversation below:
Shop all Visionaire x Gap HERE
AUSTEN ROSENFELD: Can you tell me about how you came up with idea to combine UV-sensitive ink and thread with clothing? Was it difficult to make on a technical level?
CECILIA DEAN: Well, when Gap asked us to do a T-shirt collection for them, we immediately thought of referencing issues of Visionaire and working with artists that have been published in Visionaire. Visionaire, so often, is about research and development, and we actually don’t do anything with the knowledge we’ve acquired except for the issue. So for the first five T-shirts we did with Gap, we were experimenting with metal foil on fabric. When they asked us to do the next set of T-shirts to come out in May, we immediately thought, "Oh, that would be the beginning of summer." We were so over winter at that point.
This winter in particular?
This has been a particularly long and arduous winter that I don’t feel like we have fully come out of yet. So when we were thinking about May, we thought, "Oh, it's going to be summer, the beginning of warmth and sunshine and going to Rockaway Taco.” So we immediately thought of our solar issue. We could hand over all that knowledge to do something that would have a larger audience and reach more people.
Eyes seem to be a theme on the shirts—was that intentional?
We didn’t plan or realize it but I guess it makes sense because we’re dealing so much with the visual— black and white turning to color, [and] sunshine.
Do you think there’s more room to explore fashion and technology? How do you see technology influ