Stella McCartney revisits her 2001 debut while Jeff Koons lends his most famous dogs to a capsule that screams collector’s item.
Summary
- The Provocation: Stella McCartney and Jeff Koons slap “Doggy Style” onto luxury organic cotton. They also revived the “Slippery When Wet” slogan from her 2001 debut for a double dose of irony.
- The Archive: McCartney pulled imagery directly from Koons’ controversial 1991 series. She specifically chose illustrations of his Yorkshire Terriers and Poodle sculptures to front the tanks and tees.
- The Rarities: A reissue of the 2005 platinum Rabbit pendant is available by appointment only in SoHo. The NY flagship also stocks crystal-customized pieces signed by both McCartney and Koons.
The phrase “Doggy Style” doesn’t usually appear on organic cotton in the luxury sector, but Stella McCartney and Jeff Koons have never been much for subtlety. The slogan appears as a tongue-in-cheek update in their latest joint effort, stamped alongside illustrations of Koons’ Yorkshire Terriers and Poodle sculptures. These specific canine images aren’t new commissions; McCartney pulled them directly from the artist’s Made in Heaven series, a controversial body of work from 1991 that still manages to raise eyebrows.
That specific era of art history spills over into McCartney’s own timeline, specifically the archives of her 2001 debut. The designer retrieved her “Slippery When Wet” slogan from that first collection and paired it with Koons’ Untitled (Girl with Dolphin and Monkey). It creates a sort of double-vision nostalgia, where the early aughts of fashion crash into the early nineties of the art world.
The attitude of those graphics carries over to the physical construction of the garments, which include two tanks, a classic tee, a hoodie, and a chunky turtleneck spun from RWS-certified wool. This knitwear serves as a canvas for a friendship that stretches back decades, well before this current winter season. Longtime industry watchers will recall the Summer 2006 runway, where McCartney turned Koons’ Lips, Stream, and Pink Bow paintings into kaleidoscopic gowns.
While those dresses are largely museum-grade now, a smaller piece of that shared history is actually attainable again. The duo has reissued the platinum Rabbit bracelet pendant, originally released in 2005 as a scaled-down version of Koons’ iconic sculpture.
Getting your hands on that metal rabbit requires an appointment at McCartney’s SoHo boutique, as the stock is tightly limited. If you want something even harder to find, the brand’s New York store stocks a selection of pieces signed by both heavyweights, uniquely customized with lead-free crystals and fringing. For those who can’t make it uptown or downtown, a separate edit of t-shirts hand-signed solely by Koons hits the web on January 26.