Since opening their new store on Newburgh Street last September, Pyrus not only sell their gorgeous collections from the shop but also support an art gallery in their basement and are therefore recognised by fashion and art insiders alike.
The Pyrus design duo Lorraine and Ash Johnson, based in east London, brought about a very feminine SS11 collection with hardly any tights fits. Inspired by the 1977 coming of age film Bilitis by David Hamilton and the retro style of a child of the eighties, the collection includes beautifully layered dresses, loose drapings, short bolero jackets, and more casual elements such as checked, high-waist shorts.
The Indian silks and cottons are easy to wear, all simple in their cuts but with loads of hand made embroidery resulting in subtle variations in detail and texture which give each piece its unique charm. Those delicate fabrics hint at the skin beneath and make you feel like a goddess when worn.
The gallery space, in which manager Agnes shows me around, is quite separate from the store and features a new artist every six to eight weeks. The current exhibition ‚It’s almost Painless – As Real As a Dream 2‚ by Hong Kong-born artist Hin ‚will hopefully bring you the funniest and the most colourful but darkest traumatic experience through Hin’s contradiction drawings, moving images, toys, stuffed animals and many other visual elements to bring you this highly contradictive emotional journey‘.
Each artist is chosen on a democratic basis by everybody involved in Pyrus and should have a significant profile and represent what Pyrus stands for. 29-years-old Hin mentions about his exhibition that : ‚I feel no contradiction towards God, but I do for humans, including myself. Trauma and joy is never far apart, and my attempt is to find harmony within that.‘
