Matchesfashion Deepens Partnership With Contemporary Art Fair Frieze
Matchesfashion, the biggest global destination for online luxury for women and men, continues to champion art and culture with the launch of Art Matches Fashion, a monthly program to bring together the worlds of art and fashion, and show the company’s commitment to supporting emerging artists and celebrating more established names.
Focusing on the conversations between art and fashion, as well as looking at how artists and designers collaborate and inspire, these stories will be woven through many of the retailer’s digital and physical touch points, including podcasts, fashion shoots, events and partnerships.
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Once again, Matchesfashion will partner with international contemporary art fair Frieze. Launching in time for Frieze New York this month, Matchesfashion has developed an audio guide highlighting artists within the fair and institutions to visit across New York City. The audio guide will be available to download at the fair and digitally on Matchesfashion.com and Frieze.com.
Titled “Voices From Frieze New York brought to you by Matchesfashion, everything you need to know in and around the Shed and New York,” the guide will feature conversations with Antwaun Sargent, Gagosian director and curator; Kimberly Drew, Institutions art curator; Dana Lok, artist, and Jenny Schlenzka, executive artistic director at Performance Space. Topics include things to look out for at the fair, tips for spending an afternoon enjoying art in New York and up-and-coming artists to look out for at Frieze New York 2021.
Sargent will also be the subject of Matchesfashion’s latest Curated By feature and be featured in a walking tour of New York where he will provide his personal insight into New York’s cultural world.
Matchesfashion will also be the exclusive partners for the launch of Frieze 91, part of their first membership program disclosed earlier this year.
Designed for new collectors, Frieze 91 will give members an opportunity to enjoy early entry to all Frieze events, private access to participating galleries, tours of artist studios and museums and access to a year-round program of exclusive global events, digital and physical. Members will have the opportunity for priority booking and out-of-hours access to a global list of private artist foundations and historic residences.
“Part of our heritage at Matchesfashion is working with cultural game changers, which is why we are excited about deepening our partnership with Frieze and launching Art Matches Fashion,” said Jess Christie, chief brand and content officer at Matchesfashion.
“Our customer comes to Matchesfashion to discover the most inspiring fashion point of view and over the pandemic we have seen a shift in behavior where customers want more than ever to be part of a community that is collaborative and celebrates creativity. Art Matches Fashion will be a global showcase, both digitally and physically, for our customer to discover more about our incredible fashion brands and their connection to art and innovation,” she said.
According to Christie, Matchesfashion is working with Frieze for the third year and will be participating in all three fairs — New York in May, July in Los Angeles and London in October. She has found that art resonates with the Matchesfashion customer. “They are interested in the intersection between art and fashion,” Christie said. Further, she noted that the Frieze 91 membership program enables the Matchesfashion customer to be involved in art and cultural events year-round, beyond the three fairs.
As part of the activation, Matchesfashion styled a shoot where many of their fashion designers’ clothing will be promoted throughout the fair on screens, walls and floor vinyls, and linked to a QR code.
Frieze New York, which takes place May 5 to 9, brings together more than 60 select galleries from New York, the U.S. and around the world.
The U.S. market is an important growth opportunity for Matchesfashion.com. Some 20 percent of Matchesfashion’s business is done in the U.S., according to Christie.
Christie noted that 95 percent of Matchesfashion’s business is done online, and they have definitely found business starting to open up in the U.S. as the weather gets better, people are getting vaccinated and are beginning to go out again. During the pandemic, they pivoted deeply into loungewear, and in the last month, they’re finding dresses being back as bestsellers, as well as occasion wear and things that are bit more fun.
As part of Matchesfashion’s art program, Matchesfashion and Helium London will present “Pressing Matters” at 5 Carlos Place, Matchesfashion’s event space and broadcasting hub in London, in May, curated and created by Pavement Licker.
This exclusive exhibition and one-off auction will feature some of the world’s rarest vinyls from modern music icons like Coldplay, The Rolling Stones and the Pet Shop Boys, visualized into one of a kind artworks by leading contemporary artists including David Shirley, Shepard Fairey and Pure Evil. It launches May 4 and all money raised from the auction will go to Music Support, a grassroots charity offering help and support for those in the U.K. music industry affected by mental illness and/or addiction.
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