Divergence/Convergence

Standing as harmonious halves of a whole, ÅngeI Sånchez and Ågatha Ruiz de la Prada are two contemporary designers who have synthesized the cultural movements of their home countries—Venezuela and Spain, respectively—along with their interdisciplinary backgrounds into decades of innovative design. Driven by the material immediacy of fashion, the designers have elevated the discipline of fashion design to the height of fine art in their countries.

Without the structure of formal education in fashion design, Sånchez and Ruiz de la Prada each developed their practices organically, drawing inspiration from Modern and Postmodern artists as well as their predecessors in design Crist6baI Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent.

Through an exploration of Sånchez’s and Ruiz de la Prada’s pivotal careers from the 1980s to the present, Divergence/Convergence offers insight into their contrasting design philosophies: Sånchez as a couture artisan and Ruiz de la Prada as a conceptual artist.
Divergence/Convergence is curated by Ångel Sånchez and Francisca Parodi.

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