Chic Absurdity. Puppets & Puppets AW23

February 13, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Puppets & Puppets is one of these New York brands you can’t easily describe. Calling it “surreal” would feel somewhat flat. Elusive, weird, strange, dramatic? Carly Mark‘s universe doesn’t really need a label. One thing’s certain: she loves a cultural reference. Accessorizing a collection inspired by the Dead Ringers film with bags that have phone receivers as handles – that’s Puppets & Puppets behaviour. Then there’s a blow-up print of a 1783 painting, The Operation by Gaspare Traversi, which depicts the wild-eyed face of a screaming man being operated on seemingly without anesthesia. The gory details weren’t immediately apparent when the material was made into garments, even when large swaths of it were used on a sculptural dress that related back to one from last season. The designer also revisited the egg motif (on bras and shoes) introduced in her American Psycho-inspired debut for spring 2020. Despite a few macabre touches, the mood of the autumn collection was sunny-side up: playfully optimistic and sizzling. “I am designing with my body in mind,” said Mark. “The roses on the boobs or the egg bra, where nipples would be – it’s very suggestive. It’s very feminine, it’s very sexual, and it’s a conversation that I’m having with myself in an alpha role in a predominantly male business and world.” Two of the strongest looks were a dress and suit with sheer inset corseting, revealing the midriff; those tailored pieces succeeding in bringing masculine and feminine together, which was one of Mark’s goals. Besides the pannier-like dresses there were also sequin sheaths, a few frocks made in a retro paisley and some party-ready mini dresses. Not every idea from the collection felt refined enough, and there were some low points, like the python-printed jumpsuits and beaded head-wear. Mark tends to overwork her runway looks. Sometimes, madness needs some method.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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The New York Woman. Puppets And Puppets SS23

September 12, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

In just four years Puppets and Puppets has evolved from a fashion project by an artist to a bona fide fashion brand. Carly Mark’s Eyes Wide Shut-inspired spring 2023 collection was arguably her most wearable. What seems to be happening is that the designs are becoming more aligned with Mark herself, concurrent with her development as an entrepreneur. The designer made the switch to fashion because she was feeling isolated in the art world. “I like interacting with humans,” she explained at a preview. “So I knew I wanted to do something creative, but it needed to be in a way where I was interacting with other bodies and having conversations.” The name she gave the brand is a reference to a cyberpunk anime called Ghost in the Shell; over time her inspirations have become ever more cinematic. And there is a shift from a more illustrative take on clothing to a more photographic one, both in a metaphorical and literal sense. The “demon” print in the spring line-up, which looks anatomical, is actually a manipulated still from the movie Scrooge. If that seems random, you might recall that Eyes Wide Shut is set at Christmas time. This print shares space in the collection with a jacquard based on Gustave Doré’s engravings of Dante’s Inferno and a sweater with an abstract orgy theme (another reference to Stanley Kubrick’s film). The final look features moonbows that call attention to the bust at the same time that volume emphasizes the hips. One of the reasons the designer took Eyes Wide Shut as her inspiration was because Nicole Kidman was such a powerful presence. In one of the scenes in which the actress revealed her strength she was physically vulnerable, wearing only high-cut panties and a camisole. “I’ve been thinking about Nicole Kidman specifically this season because I just turned 34 and I’m growing a business and I’m growing my confidence; I have to in order to run a business,” Mark said. “So I think about being a woman who is sexual, and business minded, and living in a city, and trying to hold my own, and trying to be intelligent, and trying to connect with other people. It’s hard, and it’s funny, and it’s fun, and it’s difficult – and it’s all the things.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Subverted Reality. Puppets & Puppets SS22

September 13, 2021 | Design & Culture by Ed

Carly Mark‘s spring-summer 2022 collection for Puppets & Puppets indulged in a surreal spookiness – to a level-headed extent. Why were there saucers on the butt of a toile skirt? Why was a gymnastics leotard layered with a button-down? And why did that model have cheese on her head? But things aren’t as madly subverted as in the past collections of the label. Part of this season’s success has to do with Mark’s growing business awareness. She hired a production team and every piece on the runway was production ready; no more one-offs or art projects. Fruit printed denim, trompe l’oeil nude knits, and printed midi-skirts felt like her most salable items ever – even the hoop skirts had a new wearability. Then there were Mark’s kooky accessories. Her first to-market collection of chocolate chip cookie bags and Ferrero Rocher heels sold out on Ssense in few days. This season she’s offering shoppers a choice of Swiss cheese wedges, black-and-white cookie bags, and a cruller purse.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Lockdown-Era Avant-garde. Puppets & Puppets AW21

March 19, 2021 | Design & Culture by Ed

It’s great to see some of the most exciting New York-based labels gradually returning with their new collections. How about some lockdown-era avant-garde? There was a time not so long ago when Carly Mark’s Puppets & Puppets might have seemed more like an art project than a fashion brand. Mark is, after all, one of New York’s most well-known mixed-media artists. But over the course of this pandemic year, she has recalibrated her fashion work, turning it into a true business ( new production manager was brought on and factories in Italy were contracted, as were knitting artisans in Bolivia and Peru). Mark is charting a course in which Puppets & Puppets is just as much a clothing company as a creative expression. Her historically minded bustles, panniers, and corsetry remain as the label’s signature, only now there is boning interfaced into the garments to make them easier to put on and wear. Denim in a medium wash straight-leg style is new, and there is an expansive knitwear program that brings together artists in New York and South America over pomegranate sweaters, logo intarsias, and azure maxi-dresses. In the brand’s look book, cast by Anita Bitton, there’s Jane Moseley posing in a crinoline skirt made of sunny florals, and the stylist Patti Wilson, a longtime supporter of the label, taking a turn in card-print suiting and a patchwork dress. That’s the ultimate goal of Mark’s expansion project: to ensure that her community and collaborators can continue to be a part of her world.

“Live” collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Fabergé, Tsardom and Patrick Bateman. Puppets & Puppets SS20

September 10, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

Small and independent brands in New York are unconventional, eclectic and intriguingly chaotic. And they catch your attention right away. Meet Puppets and Puppets, an indie label launched earlier this year by contemporary artist Carly Mark and garment construction student, Ayla Argentina. Their spring-summer 2020 collection is, as the designers sum up, an intersection point of tsar’s vestments and archetypal American capitalist uniform, a place where fantasy still exists. Basically speaking, the collection is a surprising remix of inspirations like Fabergé eggs, the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia and… American Psycho. There were some cheeky intepretations of the imperial egg – shoes fashioned from egg cartons and little bralette nipple coverings made to look like fried eggs (very Sarah Lucas) – but there were also some very literal nods, like the garments constructed with bulbous, protruding crinolines at the hips. Meanwhile the hand-knitted floral tunic-dress or the green velvet top styled with a red, full-skirt embroidered with forest animals motifs sparked affiliations of tsarist opulence and love for intricate craftsmanship (my first throught once seeing those looks: Ulyana Sergeenko’s brand, but not this strictly elegant and done in a funky, New York way). Speaking of American Psycho, this part felt a bit forced and unneeded, but somehow worked with the rest of the collection. White shirts with red ties and Wall Street tailoring were here, but went through complete exaggeration of volumes and lenghts. Puppets and Puppets spring-summer 2020 is fun and theatrical, but when you put the clothes apart, they seem to be approachable and wearable. I wonder what direction the brand takes next.