Hard to believe that this will be the sixth year of Content at the Ace Hotel. Back before she won Project Runway in 2010, moved to New York, moved back from New York, designed for Pendleton, and quit Pendleton, Gretchen Jones help cook up a scheme that became a model for the annual event.
Originally conceived to spotlight Portland's emerging designers of apparel and accessory brands, Content is a curated series of live art/fashion installations that transform an entire floor of rooms in the downtown hotel. It's a night of revelry and multimedia inspiration from more than 20 of the city's young creative brands (some of their work is pictured here). Over the years, it's taken on a life of its own under the Ace's custodianship, growing in scope to include pattern and floral designers, ceramicists, perfumers, and more. The Ace opened up participation with an public call for proposals this year, bringing in unexpected twists, like a room featuring a recently arrived hair sculptor from New York City (Joanne Petit-Frere) whose work is like nothing you've seen before at this event. Or, how about a collaboration between artist Damien Gilley and the cannabis-infused ice cream company Drip Ice Cream?
- JOANNE PETIT-FRERE
