VERSE WORK/SHOP ANNOUNCES OPENING OF Daryl K: I Am My Muse
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VERSE WORK/SHOP
Cassandra Ruff
914-204-6474
cassandra@verseworkshop.com
VERSE WORK/SHOP ANNOUNCES OPENING OF Daryl K: I Am My Muse
ON VIEW OCT 30 – NOV 23
[RED HOOK, NY, October, 20] – Verse Work/Shop is honored to present Daryl K: I Am My Muse, the first exhibition dedicated to Daryl Kerrigan, the founder and principal designer of the iconic Daryl K fashion brand. The exhibition will open at Verse Gallery in Red Hook, New York on November 1 and remain on view through November 23, 2025.
Between 1996 and 2001, Daryl Kerrigan was the leading female downtown New York clothing designer with stores on East 6th Street and Bond Street in the East Village that were pilgrimage sites in the fashion world. This groundbreaking exhibition comprised of 4 main sections—”I Am My Muse,” “Innovator,” “Woman,” and “New York”—will feature 50 items from Kerrigan’s archive, some of which she continues to make today. The exhibition will reveal how Kerrigan continues to innovate by showing a group of works in progress. It will also include photographs and the drawings that are an integral part of an art practice that complements Kerrigan’s work as a fashion designer. The “I Am My Muse” subtitle of the exhibition derives from Kerrigan’s use of herself—her own body—as the model for her creations and reflects her belief that women can be their own muse rather than being dependent on external forces, especially men, to instill their sense of self assurance and confidence. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the Daryl K clothing line has aspired to a set of core values based on integrity of materials, production, and retailing. Kerrigan began repurposing materials and combining the functionality of clothes long before these ideas were an imperative in the fashion world. Films of the famous Daryl K runway shows, many in locations that evoke the spirit of New York City and the downtown scene of the 1990s (the roof of the Lever Building by Gordon Bunshaft; on top of a flatbed truck in the Gagosian Gallery on 21st Street when it was a parking garage, in an empty swimming pool in the space now known as “Capitale,”) will be a main component of the installation. A new digital archive of the Daryl K collections since the 1990s will be featured on site. Kerrigan is creating the exhibition installation at Verse with Paul Leonard, her husband and long-time collaborator. A pop-up shop for women to experience Daryl K clothing firsthand will be open during the run of the exhibition.
Born in Ireland Daryl Kerrigan immigrated to the United States in the 1980s, arriving in NYC with a dream to enhance and reinforce a woman’s sense of freedom and power by wearing beautiful, sexy, and elegant clothes. She attained fame in the New York fashion world after working as a costume designer on films such as My Cousin Vinny and Mystery Train, receiving critical recognition by leading fashion journalists in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and The New York Times and winning the coveted CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Perry Ellis Award. She was admired as a woman capable of “doing it all,” designing, running a business, being a wife and mother. Kerrigan’s inspiration has always been the streets of downtown Manhattan from the Lower East Side to the Village where she scoped out materials to experiment and innovate with, frequently in the many small family-owned stores that used to line the Bowery. In a 1999 interview in Harper’s Bazaar, she explained wanting to dress women in clothing that evoke intellect, personality, and, through cuts and tailoring, her sexiness. The Daryl K brand is about dressing for everyday life, walking and bike riding in the streets of New York City or taking the subway. While she is immersed in urban life, Kerrigan’s country house designed and built by Paul Leonard is her sanctuary a place where nature informs her work.
Undoubtedly pants are the item that built the popularity of Daryl K in the 1990s but Kerrigan’s talent is endless. She can style to perfection pretty much anything that can be worn including shoes and bags. Designing for women has inspired her to make everything from beautifully tailored suits always with a funky detail in the sleeve, shoulder or zipper, to simple t-shirts another trademark item that are frequently adorned with graphic details images and slogans about resistance, empowerment, and strength. Kerrigan made her mark by creating clothes that as Bridget Foley explained in W Magazine were “wild, raucous and very chic,” she upended the status quo of Seventh Avenue bringing an incomparable vibrancy and magnetism to the fashion world. Daryl K embodied the East Village of by gone days, when Bond Street was an epicenter of creativity across practices, artists, musicians, and fashion designers shared the pavement, working in their studios during the day, rocking all night in clubs that have long disappeared as real estate developers have taken over. Daryl Kerrigan was a favorite of the leading fashion journalists of the 1990s and early 2000’s many who compared her innovative sense of style to Calvin Klein and Donna Karan. They praised her rebellious streak that Kerrigan has described as being critical to creating fashion. In 2000 she explained, “….in any city, Dublin or New York, where you are judged by how you look, you’ve got to rebel. You have to. That is an international rule.”
Nina Stritzler-Levine, curator of the exhibition considers Verse an important venue for the exhibition because it’s a place where hierarchies in the art world that separate creative practices are dispelled. At Verse the different practices of Daryl Kerrigan, a remarkably versatile creator will be shown together, revealing the fascinating intersections of her artistry and thought.
Gallery hours: Thursday–Saturday, 12–5 PM, Sunday 12-4PM and by appointment, always.
For more information, visit www.verseworkshop.com or via Instagram @verse_work_shop
VERSE Work / Shop
35 West Market Street, Red Hook, NY 12571
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