French photographer Eugène Atget would be transfixed by the current display in the shop windows at Decades on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood that will remain on view through the end of 2013. Atget, a famous flaneur who shot store windows and street scenes in Paris during the turn-of-the-century, would have immediately trained his lens on the mannequins covered in clothing designed by Swedish artist Bea Szenfeld. She creates sculptural dresses and accessories—all made of thin sheets of white paper—in her Stockholm atelier, and has worked with designers including Stella McCartney and Tommy Hilfiger. Bjork has also worn her three-dimensional works. Szenfeld’s latest collection, called Decimuted, was shown at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Stockholm, and she’s brought the pieces, including a paper lion draped over a mannequin’s back, to Los Angeles for the first time. The artist says the exhibition name is a combination of the words decimate and mute, and she notes that she often finds herself speechless when trying to explain complicated work. The modern-day Instagram-obsessed strollers who pass Decades this holiday season may find themselves in awe and equally unable to form words.

By Elizabeth Varnell

 

Pictured: Bea Szenfeld
Photo by Andreas Branch

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