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Sheila Hicks Creates an Accessory Collection for Stella McCartney

The fashion designer's fall collection included wearable works by the textile artist

By Jill Sieracki
Three models showcase modern fashion outfits on a runway, each wearing colorful and uniquely designed ensembles.
Looks from Stella McCartney’s Fall 2019 Ready-to-Wear Show featuring textural pieces by Sheila Hicks. Photo: Courtesy of Stella McCartney

Artist Sheila Hicks’s groundbreaking textile works have beguiled many with their inventive techniques and unique patterns. Recent compelling exhibitions at the Nasher Sculpture Center and Dallas Museum of Art have continued to raise her status in the art world six decades into her career. This past spring, she enchanted a new audience during Paris Fashion Week, when the artist re-conceived her work on a more wearable scale for designer Stella McCartney’s fall line.

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Presented in colorways similar to the clothing’s palette of earth tones and jewel colors, Hicks’s textural necklaces, belts, and earrings—which the artist calls “adornments”—complemented McCartney’s ready-to-wear collection in shapes akin to some of her most outstanding artworks, including Menhir (1998–2004), Questioning Column (2016), and Strophes (2014–15).

Model wearing a green outfit with a colorful necklace walks down a fashion runway surrounded by seated audience.
A model wearing one of Sheila Hicks’s pieces during Stella McCartney’s fall 2019 ready-to-wear show at Paris Fashion Week. Courtesy of Stella McCartney

Model walking down a fashion runway in a pink outfit with orange accents, surrounded by an audience.
A model wearing one of Sheila Hicks’s pieces during Stella McCartney’s fall 2019 ready-to-wear show at Paris Fashion Week. Courtesy of Stella McCartney

Model walking runway in long tan trench coat and holding a rope-adorned staff, surrounded by seated audience.
A model wearing one of Sheila Hicks’s pieces during Stella McCartney’s fall 2019 ready-to-wear show at Paris Fashion Week. Courtesy of Stella McCartney

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2019 Fall Issue under the headline “Canvas to Couture.” Subscribe to the magazine.