The Cocoon and Winter Rose Collection

 

​Since launching the Cocoon collection in March 1993, Myrvold has regarded clothing as a site of exploration. Cocoon was immediately bought by Charivari, once regarded as the most avant-garde fashion boutique in New York. Barbara Weiser, the boutique’s owner, was drawn to the collection’s billowing shapes and intricately structured fabrics, and displayed the garments in a center gallery in the Madison Avenue flagship store. The collection alluded to a more intense interpretation of clothing than is found within the narrow constraints of mainstream fashion and introduced something fresh to the New York scene. ‘She’s in her own world, said Manhattan- based fashion designer Yeohlee of Myrvold’s work, ‘and once you get into her world, you understand how profound her work really is.’  Myrvold took another brave step when she launched her next collection, Winter Rose, which she presented in Paris in October 1993. Myrvold made the collection from only one material, the inexpensive toile fabric traditionally used by couture designers to create garment prototypes. The collection echoed the sophisticated silhouettes of the              Art Nouveau, symbolically combining a historical fashion style with an Arte Povera approach to materials.  Myrvold incorporated deconstructivist elements – at a time when the style was virtually unheard of in Paris – by sewing shredded layers of toile into what she described as a ‘mille feuille’ structure. Once finished, the garments were washed to make the selvedge threads fray and mesh into web-like textures on the surface. Myrvold embroidered the garments with strings of ripped fabric that evoked the delicate blossoms and trailing vines of a climbing rose.  ​ Rather than present an autumn/winter collection made from warm fabrics such as velvet and wool, Myrvold had decided to break away from the seasonal cycle that the fashion system follows. Producing designs that could be worn at any time of the year was a radical departure from the fashion cycle, and fellow designers warned her that such a bold move could deprive her of the opportunity to present her collections on the official Chambre Syndicale schedule. Others urged her to take a less artistic stance, pointing out that conceptual designers rarely get their moment in the fashion limelight, but Myrvold refused to change tactics. Years later, when the late Richard Martin described the ‘Fifth Season’ that climate control environments appear to create, Myrvold’s method of layering fashion separates all year round was remembered as visionary.