NEW ORLEANS (press release) – While Mardi Gras parades have been cancelled this year, the Carnival spirit continues to live on throughout New Orleans. One such example is the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue at Canal Place (301 Canal St., New Orleans), which combine the artwork of local artists Tony and Tracey Mose with ready-to-wear fashion to coincide with Mardi Gras 2021.
“Saks is always looking to work with local artists in each market to include in their stores,” says Ryan Stanley, Visual Manager at Saks Fifth Avenue. “And with the grassroots initiative in NOLA to keep artists working during Mardi Gras, this was the perfect opportunity. I met Tracey in the store one day, and I overheard her conversation about being an artist. I approached her and built a relationship. Tony’s art is very true to NOLA, with a modern twist. Tracey’s work has great movement and brings a nice contemporary/modern approach that is fresh.”
Indeed, the Mose’s approach art and fashion much like they do life: with an energetic fervor that shines through. “We are big believers that there is art in everything you do,” Tracey says. “There is art in fashion, food, decor and more. When Tony and I were dating, we would always go shopping together before a big night out. We’ve always seen a relationship between art and fashion. Anyone can lead an artful life.”
Both artists wanted their art to be visible from across Canal Street. For Tracey’s window, she created a mixed-media piece of a woman and black butterflies on a 83×59 mirror with gold frame, flanked by three 36×36 urban-expressionism acrylic paintings accentuated with neon by Nate Schaefar, Maker of All Things, at locally based Big Sexy Neon. For Tony’s window, he created a 72×96 acrylic painting on canvas from his Coronation Series, along with three gold sculptures of heads with Mardi Gras colors covering their eyes.
The fashion accompanying the artwork is just as gorgeous, with Tracey’s window featuring a gold suit by Alexander McQueen and Tony’s window featuring a men’s and women’s look by Versace, ABS and Balmain. “Choosing clothing is always a great challenge when working with art,” Stanley says. “We knew we wanted to approach the fashion differently this year for Mardi Gras. There are no bal masqués this year, so we knew it had to be cool, ready-to-wear and streetwear. With Tracey’s window, the art already had a lot happening, so we wanted to keep the fashion simple. The gold suit ties in the frame beautifully on the mirror. With Tony’s window, we continued with pulling the gold out with the pieces of art with the fashion. The men’s mannequin has the medusa heads that work nicely with the gold heads.”
In addition to the Saks Fifth Avenue window installations, Tony and Tracey Mose opened a second ESOM Art gallery location in December at 811 Royal St. to accompany their first location at 3935 Magazine St. (where they have been since 2009). They also have just launched a new website showcasing all of their art at esomart.com.
