Six Six Sick: The Revolt of The Flesh

I've been semi-following Andrea Crews, the French fashion and art collective founded by Maroussia Rebecq, since Yvan from Facehunter gave me their card and told me to look them up two years ago. The group, which focuses on recycling and remaking vintage clothing into entirely contemporary pieces, has a scope of vision that extends waaaay beyond the boundaries of fashion, questioning the fashion system itself, and the ethics of consumption. Often, their work incorporates aspects of performance, and other mediums such as art, dance, and theater.

It might sound like a lot to wrap your head around, but perhaps the Crews crew explains it best on their website saying, "Beyond a simple craze for the vintage, the concept 'post-vintage' of Andrea Crews is more than ever of current events. More than a simple appropriation, she proposes a reinterpretation. Andrea Crews crystallizes a way of action which originality lies in its process of creation. This second-hand raw material encourages experimentation. Andrea Crews proposes an alternative on the fashionmarket and the ready-to-wear clothing. The force of its clothing resides in their difference, because wearing a piece of ANDREA CREWS, is representing another way of consuming, esthetical and ethical, a contemporary need."

The result is a mindbending array of colors and shapes, more influenced by comics, fliers, scribbles, cartoons, and a load of improvisation, than traditional silhouettes and styles. It's very much in line with our own 66Sick DIY aesthetic, and I could probably spend hours surfing her website. Recently, Andrea Crews updated their Colette blog with pictures from their last project, 2 FRESH 2 DIE- La revolte de la chair, a collaboration with Christophe Haleb and Cyrille Weiner, in which they styled and dressed dancers who performed a series of tableaux. The results are stunning and inspiring, staged with references to classical paintings, yet remade anew through the filter of a contemporary lens. I love how involved Andrea Crews is with other mediums, pushing the boundaries that separate fashion and art, in a way that elevates fashion without compromising art. Now I only fantasize about having them dress an Animal Collective video. That would be amazing...