Adelle Lutz

Adelle Lutz (born November 14, 1948) is an American artist, designer and actress, most known for work using unconventional materials and strategies to explore clothing as a communicative medium.

[28] As a teenager, Lutz moved with her family to Tokyo, where she attended International Christian University and with her sister, jewelry designer Tina Chow, modeled for the cosmetics company Shiseido, among other firms, between 1967 and 1972.

[2] Writers generally note her affinities to the unexpected juxtapositions and deadpan humor of Dada and Surrealism, a Pop-like appreciation of everyday, consumerist objects and culture, and a consistent engagement with concepts and materials related to the body and dress.

Between 1983 and 1986, she designed costumes for the Talking Heads videos "Burning Down the House", "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)", "Road to Nowhere", and "Love For Sale",[10] before attracting widespread attention for the "Urban Camouflage" clothing featured in the fashion show segment of David Byrne's True Stories (1986).

[30][4][6][35] The surreal garments (e.g., Astroturf Family or Fir Coat) mimicked conventional, often low-brow materials (wood paneling, brick, plastic greenery) and explored the idea of camouflage as a metaphor for conformity to manicured, middle-class suburban life.

[40][41] In 1997, Lutz created Muscle Suit (1997) for David Byrne's "Feelings" concert tour, a costume whose entire surface displayed an anatomical illustration of human musculature.

[9] In the late 1990s, Lutz turned to garment and furniture-related artworks that critics suggest use simple perceptual changes to create unexpected, sometimes disquieting readings and associations regarding identity, gender and culture.

[10][1] That work led to a series exhibited at Färgfabriken [sv] in Stockholm,[14] Centraal Museum in Utrecht,[50] and New York,[51] which used human hair as the expressive element in clothing and furnishings that explore ideas around the body, concealment, propriety, desire and disgust.

[13][1][52] Corporate Adam and Eve (2001) featured male and female mannequins wearing a flesh-toned suit and dress, both with gender appropriate body hair on the outside of the clothing; New York Times critic Ken Johnson described two related works—an elegant beige chair whose upholstered seat featured a triangle of soft wavy hair and a prim, short-sleeved sweater with long tresses added to the armpits—as capturing "a high-low tension" that "is demure yet oddly sexy.

[55][56][57] Critic Roberta Smith noted its discreetly subversive aesthetic matching "the street's tacky visual style" and playful safe-sex messaging; New York Newsday called it "deadpan preaching so outrageously glitzy it looks as if it was always there.

[58][59] It took place on March 21, 2003 (the first day of spring and the Persian New Year), with the participants walking while engaged in Buddhist metta ("well-wishing") meditation from the Staten Island Ferry war memorial, past the Stock Exchange, into Grand Central Station and Rockefeller Center, and, finally, to Times Square.

[68][69][70] The video mixed TV news images, critique and safe-sex messages, but was censored by the network (aired with cuts), which cited concerns about the "balance" of its criticisms of the health care system and Reagan and Bush administrations; The Hollywood Reporter nonetheless called it one of the program's "strongest moments".