Cal Arts

Using clothing as a "medium" for art (in a good way)

April 25, 2007—Two words that ought to set off any discerning gent's B.S. detector: "wearable art." Well, every rule has an exception, and we're making one for L.A.-based Cavern Collection. The brainchild of 25-year-old artist-designers Adam Tullie and Angeline Rivas, the line pairs fashion-forward tailoring with trippy, meticulously hand-sketched illustrations—a single collaborative drawing can take up to a month to complete. "We use clothing as just another medium to get our drawings out there," explains Tullie. "I don't think that someone who's just pulling clip art from library books or magazines and putting it on T-shirts gets the same sense of fulfillment." Or attention: Beck commissioned the duo to create shirts for a recent tour, and Kanye West requested (and received) one of their pieces at last winter's Art Basel Miami. (A collaboration with Devendra Banhart is also being discussed.) In addition to graphic tees, Tullie and Rivas have recently expanded into jackets, hoodies, shirts, and vests. "We make everything for the top," explains Rivas, noting that they'll soon make everything for the bottom, too. Once they're done putting finishing touches on the Spring 2007 collection, that is. Hey, you can't rush art.

Cavern Collection, available at Fred Segal Man, 420 Broadway, Santa Monica, (310) 395-9792; and American Rag, 150 S. La Brea Ave., L.A., (323) 935-3154; www.caverncollection.com.