Maser x Brown Thomas: Art Is On

If you are a frequent Brown Thomas Dublin shopper, then you’ll have noticed that their signature beige & white bags have turned into limited edition sky blue & white bags branded with the Maser-in-heart logo, for the Dublin graffiti artist’s collaboration with the Irish high fashion department store for their MASER Loves Brown Thomas fashion & art collaboration. What’s more, the windows at Brown Thomas have transformed into an art pop style display, with vibrant colourful graphics surrounding the top designer clothing that include fashionable art-inspired pieces.

Brown Thomas’ Ruth Griffin also interviewed the Dublin artist to give us an insight into “The Man Behind MASER”:

As part of our spectacular ART IS ON campaign- a celebration of fashion and art, our windows are becoming fashion-art installations for the next month. We have collaborated with Ireland’s best known urban artist MASER to create our new season windows. Backstage had a chat with the artist in our creative studios at the top of our Dublin store about his work, the fusion of art and fashion, his love of Dublin and what the colourful MASER and Brown Thomas message is all about…

Brown Thomas: Tell us how the collaboration with us evolved?

MASER: I worked closely with your [Brown Thomas’] creative team and we put together ideas which were directly inspired by the Spring summer 2014 shows. Its been an interesting project for me as I am working in a very different way from my street art and these installations will include other elements into the mix from clothing, 3-D pieces and mannequins. There is a synergy between all of these items and its very interesting how everything complements each other. Its going to be fun to see it all develop.

BT: What is the inspiration for these window designs?

MASER: Its really a celebration of art and fashion. For me, I have grown up looking at the Brown Thomas windows and this collaboration is a a great landmark achievement. It shows different communities coming together to create great art. Its a very respectful collaboration. I love seeing my art form in a different media and to work with Brown Thomas and get such artist freedom in the windows is amazing. Its great to see something which is a 2-D thing turn into a 3-D thing within such a high profile retail space. Artists love people to see their work on display and this really is an iconic space to see it. I see the windows as gallery pods for little installations which has a wide audience, the people walking down Grafton Street will see it and draw something different from it everyday.

Click to continue reading the full interview

‘Art-Is-On’ celebrates the trend that has taken the catwalks by storm this season “Art Pop”. Fashion designers have given their collections a pop-art spin with bold paint and brushstroke prints as well as spray can and graffiti motifs. World renowned brands including Prada and Céline champion this trend and are one of the many inspirations for the window design. Over the next month there will be a series of Artisan events in the stores and our beauty teams will celebrate Art-Is-On with visiting make up artists and new colourful launches.

The photoshoot that also is part of the ArtIsOn celebration, is as colourful as the aforementioned window displays. Designer piece included in this fashion shoot are Alaia, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Céline, Dries Van Noten, Isabel Marant, JW Anderson, Kenzo, Lanvin, Marni, Prada, Proenza Schouler, Sacai, Valentino, Victoria Beckham and Yves Saint Laurent.