Discovering Purevile is like stumbling upon a contemporary cabinet of curiosities flush with treasures for the flesh. Grand Guignol glamour and unknown pleasures pulse within each string of pearls offset with bone, each towering horn above ruffled lace, each memento mori lovingly upcycled from refuse to resplendency. No piece is like another. Instead of jewelry, think wearable objets d’art.
Resisting singular definition, Purevile pieces are at home equally in a smoke-filled downtown dive and a manicured garden at a country estate. Designer Wren Britton deftly brings every ring, necklace, headpiece, mask, brooch and undergarment to life with Baroque flourishes, glam rock gilding, savage tribalism, doomed Hollywood romance, Victorian decay, and dark eroticism. Britton’s Purevile is a true contemporary anachronism, easily invoking Bosie, Bara, Bowie and Bowery in the same breath.
In a world of reproductions, Purevile is an original. You will never wonder if someone else is wearing what you’ve got on. And you will know you can never find the piece you see before you elsewhere. Within the disparate parts brought together to forge each creation reside forgotten moments of lives once lived, heavy with secret histories. Once worn, Purevile designs become forever under your skin, soaking in your story, whatever it may be...