magpie & whiskeyjack: Soundsuits

I discovered the other Nick Cave, artist and fashion professor in Chicago, via The Rag & Bone blog. He creates magnificent and fantastical 'sound suits' - items somewhere between sculpture, costume, textile art, haute couture, musical instrument and fetish. He explains their genesis below. Inspired by traditional African costumes, he notes also that the suits conceal, "the identity, race, and gender, of those who wear his suits. Rendering them faceless and anonymous the suits help these individuals transcend the political realm in order to enter the realm of dreams and fantasy." Really, you need to look at them- they cannot be described adequately in words.