Designer Shanel Campbell presented her Bed on Water summer 2022 collection during MADE‘s two-day fashion cultural event hosted by designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborn of Public School. Staged at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Bed on Water’s collection was presented along with emerging brands When Smoke Clears and K.ngsley.
A sharp display of feminine silhouettes Campbell’s line established in 2018 was on a hiatus due to the pandemic. Commenting on the presentation, Campbell said, “I had become so frustrated with fashion that I stepped away entirely and started doing random illustrations. I have no idea why I just ran with it, maybe because a sketch is cheaper to make than a garment. What started with black and white cartoon like drawings of cosmic characters transformed into bold colorful paintings of abstract symbols with textured backdrops. I only found meaning in these paintings after stepping back from them when initially I was only painting off feeling. I would work on 6 at one time and adding layer after layer until I felt the piece was complete. I noticed the ways these paintings referenced construction symbols spray painted on the sidewalk, graffiti all over the city, and ancient scripts that I studied back in 2019.
“I knew I would use these paintings for fashion prints once I decided to tap back into fashion, or rather when I could afford to tap back into fashion. I never considered getting into print, but my paintings created a huge shift in my design direction. The silhouettes of this collection are inspired by vintage pieces in my wardrobe picked from different decades and reimagined for the present. I’m excited for the world to see the next iteration of Bed On Water.”
Enjoy a look at the Bed on Water runway collection below, current pieces are available on bedonwater.nyc.
