photographer + story / Spencer Kohn
model / Tova Thomas
shot in Marfa, TX
Keep your ear to the ground for Ab[Screenwear]. After their most recent photo shoot in desert town Marfa, TX, Ab Screenwear is ready to take on the jacket market by iridescent storm. Through custom designs, available in three standard sizes, each jacket is a conceptual masterpiece.
Head designer Olya Petrova shipped her career from Moscow to New York after years of experience in PR and marketing. Her fashion design experience includes Ralph Lauren Collection, RRL and Maiyet, but her introduction to fashion was her family’s fur business. The line is both a high-end fashion brand and a conceptual project for ready-to-wear future. These jackets will soon be an innovation in fashion technology- while still retaining a high-end style. The new leather jacket if you will.
When you see Ab[Screenwear] for the first time, you first notice the holographic panels. They metamorphose based on light hitting them and the surrounding landscapes and colors. The futuristic look creates a spectacle in any crowd. The sleeves are made with either cashmere, wool or bonded canvas, which allow for seasonal flexibility. The translucent holograph panels contain body heat better than you would think. The fabric panels breathe. There is a subtle sexiness to the design, a peek at what is underneath.
We traveled to Marfa with model Tova Thomas, of Vision Models LA. Months of planning birthed this shoot, and the product is both an art piece and a lookbook. We started with an idea of opposing forces: the future, the past and a hybrid of the two. Marfa was the perfect location, as it has recently become an art-world hot spot, attracting high profile visitors to its gallery scene and Judd installations. We stayed in the designer hotel, The Thunderbird. It was a desert oasis. Over the course of the shoot, we covered 16 locations and 2688 photos.
Olya believes that a shoot should be a full collaboration. All ideas are welcome, and we were lucky to have Tova join us. We all quickly became friends – there was not a moment of silence on the seven-hour drive into the desert. Conversation was never superficial, and this created a tone for the shoot that proved a real connection outside of a screen.
Screens were a very important reference when scouting our locations. Juxtaposing the natural environment with man-made stark-itecture is a choice made to compliment the jackets. Life happens inside and out of screens nowadays. “Our bodies are our primary interfaces for the world, so is our skin – it is the biggest organ we “own”. I love the idea that our most vulnerable selves can be worn on the surface of our bodies – just like a heart on one’s sleeve, except not as a metaphor anymore.” -Ab
