225BatonRouge.com

Though it’s hard to tell in Baton Rouge, art has become fashionable, and in the most literal sense of the word, too. Manhattan art museums play host to runway parties where models sub for Monets. Prada regularly throws art shows in Milan where nary an art snob bats an eye. And in case you haven’t heard, Karl Lagerfeld’s designer tech-art belts now broadcast music videos from the hip.

This blurring of boundaries between art and fashion has been a long time coming, but there is just one movement that has people entering galleries and asking owners if a particularly stunning piece on display comes in her size.

“Wearable art is something that came up in the ’80s,” LSU art professor Susan Ryan says. “Though a little work was done on it in the ’50s and ’60s, it never made it to the mainstream.”

It is still an underground phenomenon, but Baton Rouge gets its first glimpse of the genre Oct. 12 with Uncommon Thread: A Wearable Art Show. Ryan will be judging the competition with former Vera Wang designer and LSU alum Suzanne Perron.

It has been some time since the city hosted an ambitious event with such a fresh idea, so how does wearable art fit into Baton Rouge’s creative landscape?

“It doesn’t,” Ryan says. “But it is important that more people do independent events like this to demonstrate that there are people off the grid out there with good ideas, and that mainstream institutions need to catch up. [Uncommon Thread] should be being done by LSUMOA. That’s who should be doing it, but they have a board of trustees.”

The brainchild of Erin Rolfs, the 25-year-old events coordinator at Baton Rouge Gallery, Uncommon Thread is attracting an underground swell of young artists, each eager to try something new. Entries have come from New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago and even South Korea. “The more I looked into it, the more I began to see a means in which artists of all mediums could be challenged, and I recognized the accessibility it held for a general audience,” Rolfs says. “The fact that at its base is the live human form signifies something very important. It provides a creative opportunity for artists that people can enjoy regardless of how abstract the piece might be.”

Among the entries are Loren Schwerd’s Cover, a birdlike armor sewn together from neckties, and Holly Maynard’s Lifeless, a mélange of found twigs, toule and broken pottery.

Then there is Classified Bride, a papier-mache wedding dress LSU sculpting major Ariadne Doyle constructed out of newsprint and modeled after a backless Vera Wang number. If she has time, she may make a bridesmaid’s dress, too. Even though she’s working with classified ads and not fabric, she still faces typical wedding gown issues. “I’m not worried about it coming off because it’s tailored for [the model’s] body,” Doyle says. “I’m just afraid of people stepping on the train.”

Doyle’s model, Lauren Young, is entering a dress of her own. Of all things, hers is made out of squeezable Capri Sun juice pouches. Turns out her mother used to make Capri Sun purses, and they were a huge hit among Young’s friends in high school.

Doyle and Young were drawn to Uncommon Thread because they expect it to be more lively and interactive than the typical art exhibit. To wit, the Cangelosi Dance Project will choreograph the models displaying wearable art into a performance. D.J. Otto will spin music, and Chelsea’s Café will provide complimentary food and drinks. According to Rolfs, the response so far has been overwhelmingly good.

“Those who would find it kitchy or low-brow will hopefully just feel out-numbered,” she says. “I honestly am not concerned with that opinion on this, I just want like-minded people to feel empowered and appreciated.”

Uncommon Thread: A Wearable Art Show starts at 8 p.m. Oct. 12, 521 N. 19th St. uncommonthreadbr.com