Bidtime Stories — Alice + Olivia x Domingo Zapata CFDA Capsule Collection Hits The Auction Block

As part of a three-year partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), Alice + Olivia just debuted three one-of-a-kind pieces hand-painted by Spanish-American visual artist Domingo Zapata, who specializes in neo-Expressionist paintings, often incorporating mixed media elements, graffiti motifs, and collage techniques. Every year throughout the course of the collaboration, Alice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet will collaborate with a new artist to create an exciting capsule collection, with each unique piece therein being auctioned off and 100% of the proceeds benefiting the CFDA.  To appease customers coveting the custom-made pieces put up for auction, the brand will then produce a capsule collection inspired by these hand-painted pieces.

The inaugural collection, then, consists of a sleeveless, floor-length gown with a cinched waist and a scooped neckline; a high-waisted, flared, A-line ball gown skirt; and a set consisting of a high-waisted, floor-length skirt with leather trim and a matching leather bustier with piping along the back featuring a fabric strip hand-painted by Zapata. All three pieces are currently being auctioned off at Paddle8.com and will remain online for two weeks until the auction closes ends May 12th at 5 p.m. EST.

Now, chances are these are the types of pieces that you’d likely want to display in a glass case rather than wear and subject to any potential wear and tear. Also, all of the pieces up for auction are a Size 2 so, unless you’re sample size, they won’t do much to enhance your workable wardrobe. From an art perspective, the pieces are rather interesting, exploring themes of love, sexuality, freedom of expression, religion, decadence through the juxtaposition of provocative illustrations (some possibly salacious even, since they suggest coital and post-coital interactions, and others presenting nudity as the epitome of nature in the Biblical sense), splashes of vivid color, religious motifs (one skirt features an illustration of a fish with the phrase “Milagro de Dios” or “God’s Miracle” written across its length), the incorporation of populist themes and imagery, and the usage of phrases like “Te Espero” (“I’ll wait for you”) and “Kiss Me” in deliberately primordial, scrawl-like writing, or in hectic, brush-like paint strokes.

Take a look at the three pieces above!