Archive lot: original postcard invitation, stapled press release / participant sheet, and group of original Polaroid photographs
Jeffrey Deitch Curatorial Projects / Maurice Villency Flagship Store, 200 East 57th Street, New York
17 September 2002
Varying dimensions
Offset print and instant photographs
A rare surviving document set from the moment downtown New York fashion began collapsing fully into performance, art-world mythology, and anti-commercial image culture. Founded by Tara Subkoff, Imitation of Christ emerged alongside the post-Margiela generation of designers treating damage, exhaustion, imperfection, reuse, and collapse itself as aesthetic material. The stained invitation is central to that language: paper made to appear already handled, ruined, circulated, or recovered — the printed faux-water staining is original to the design.
Presented with Jeffrey Deitch Curatorial Projects at the Maurice Villency flagship store, Imitation of Christ: A Retrospective transformed a fashion presentation into a self-conscious institutional gesture. The accompanying press release reads like a hybrid between artist statement, activist document, and downtown social record — referencing guerrilla runway actions, Sotheby’s interventions, Dior disruptions, sweatshop politics, and celebrity casting culture.
The Polaroids function as production residue from inside that ecosystem: informal portraits suspended somewhere between casting material, backstage documentation, social archive, and artwork. Their importance now lies partly in how precisely they forecast the image economy that followed — lo-fi immediacy, damaged glamour, authenticity-as-style, and the collapse of distinctions between documentation and cultural production.
Material from early Imitation of Christ events is exceptionally scarce. Much of it circulated informally through stylists, assistants, PR offices, artists, musicians, and downtown nightlife networks rather than institutional archives. Complete surviving groups combining printed matter and original photographs are uncommon. Value may increase further if individual sitters are firmly identified or if the Polaroids can be tied directly to runway production or specific known participants.
Condition: Good vintage condition. Fold lines, handling wear, staple holes, soft creasing, surface marks, and age toning throughout. The printed faux-water staining on the invitation is original to the design.
Shipping and handling included.
