Hasta La Ideas

One of the more interesting emerging fashion designers currently coming out of Italy, Vivì Ponti uses typically traditional materials and processes for her line of blouses, dresses and jackets. Designed under the moniker Vivetta, the collection emanates a clear reference to French couture with ’80s undertones, but also to more whimsical concepts such as the Venice Carnival and electro-pop.

Ponti, born and raised in central Italy, works out of her studio in Milan but continues to produce the line close to her hometown. Allowing her imagination to take the reigns, the resulting collections indicate her ability to fuse a singularly experimental attitude with a completely wearable approach.

Ponti also recently designed a series of dresses for Peaches Geldorf, of which she included versions “inspired by her choices” in the Fall 2010 collection. “I had to simplify and cool down the peaks of creativity in that project, so to be more in line with the market,” she explained.

Vivetta sells in specialty boutiques around the world with a limited collection online.

Bangkok-born artist Korakrit Arunanondchai originally created his wildly-colorful, limited-edition clothing label Kora-Krit as an extension of his digitally-influenced art. Working chiefly with silkscreen printing, Arunanondchai intended for visitors to his gallery shows to wear the pieces for a fully immersive and visually seamless experience.

The RISD grad (now based in Brooklyn, NY) takes up various themes in his work, but considers them all to have a shared feeling. He sees his layered compositions as a fortunate glimpse of a fleeting moment, like “a bunch of kids playing basketball” who appear to fight and dance as they bump into each other on the court. But in Arunanondchai’s amped-up world, the scene plays out at an even faster tempo and is possibly “happening in the sky.”

The current collection borrows strong graphic shapes found in video games, particularly the letters X and O, as well as triangle and square shapes. Printed on neon fabrics, the choice links the apparel back to his black light art installation on the same subject.

The forthcoming project, dubbed “Thrs” for the typical gallery opening night, takes Arunanondchai back to a simple black, white and gray palette for series of intricate prints that explore computer-generated gallery spaces. (Pictured above.)

A fan of Hieronymus Bosch, the phantasmagorical world Arunanondchai creates has something in common with contemporaries like Ryan McGinness, who similarly makes densely-layered imagery that toes the line between organization and chaos. On the fashion side, the artist’s futuristic prints connect him to those seen in the most recent collections by Proenza Schouler and the late Alexander McQueen (also a fellow Bosch admirer). His passion for creating an unabbreviated universe has led to multi-media installations that transcend physical boundaries, as well as projects as tangible as a laptop for Dell.

Kora-Krit sells online or from La Forêt in Tokyo with prices starting at $29.