ARTIST STATEMENT

 

Messengers is an 11-look collection created for Denver Fashion Week, inspired by my mother’s journey through cancer, death, grief, and healing. It explores one of the most disruptive and painful periods of my life—the experience of watching someone I love confront death, losing her, and learning how to find my way through the grief that followed.

 

Throughout that journey, I began noticing moths in moments that felt significant. They became a kind of language—a way the universe seemed to send me messages when I needed them most. The collection begins with an orange oakworm moth I encountered the month my mother died. It includes a pink-spotted hawk moth that I believe carried her spirit back home, and a peach arge moth that appeared to me at a fashion show this year.

 

For me, moths exist somewhere between the physical and spiritual worlds. Their nocturnal nature, their attraction to light, and their transformation have long made them feel otherworldly. I believe they can transcend the veil between worlds, allowing those who have passed to send us small reminders that they are still with us.

 

Messengers is ultimately about that connection—the idea that even after someone is gone, the relationship doesn't necessarily end. Sometimes the messages are subtle. Sometimes they arrive with wings. And sometimes, they simply remind us that we are exactly where we are supposed to be.

 

-GARY ADRIAN

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CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS-

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Brianna Titone

CAM Surrat