September 4, 2007

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Fashion designers are often seen as both artists and artisans. In keeping with this trend, Jen Kao brought the best of both worlds to her spring 2008 presentation. A high-concept photo series by Ryan McGinley—who recently shot Kate Moss for W Magazine and whose work has appeared at the Whitney—provided a bright, ethereal background for Kao’s meticulously draped, woven, and tucked dresses in navy and ivory silk. McGinley’s photographs of model Darla Baker wearing the spring line, taken at Camp Lakota amid the Catskills of upstate New York, portray “a young girl who champions all the dreams that young boys have, like becoming a firefighter or an astronaut,” Kao says. The emerging designer, who created a sequined singlet with matching cap and suspendered jersey blouson shorts, certainly has a youthful look in mind, but her eye for sophistication never falters. Slim silhouettes and a palette of muted neutrals balance what Kao calls her signature “collage and kaleidoscope effect” of pieced-together patterns.