Akris translates Olga de Amaral’s woven gold into fashion
For Fall 2026, the Swiss house renders the Colombian artist's iconic Lienzo works as a luminous print, threading delicate gold tones and textile structures through knit sweaters, dresses and gowns.
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Olga de Amaral’s woven works capture light the way few artists manage: vertical threads in linen and cotton catch and release luminosity, creating the impression of movement across a static surface. For her 2014 piece Lienzo A, the Colombian artist layered gesso and acrylic over the threads, deepening the interplay between texture and translucence. It is this precise alchemy that Akris has distilled into the Oro Lienzo print for its Fall 2026 collection.
The translation is neither literal nor superficial. Rather than reproduce the artwork wholesale, the Swiss house has absorbed its language of thread structures and golden tonality, then recast it in cloth. A knit sweater arrives with vertical strokes of warm gold against black, the print suggesting the fringed quality of de Amaral’s surfaces without mimicking them exactly. A wool crepe double face dress moves the concept further, its front panel descending in graduated threads that frame the body like a curtain of soft gold, fading to black at the hem.
The gown extends this vocabulary into something more theatrical. Black silk wraps the shoulders and torso while golden fringe cascades from the centre front, the threads moving with the body as if they possess their own momentum. The effect is at once sculptural and fluid, architectural and intimate. Worn against a backdrop of actual woven gold, the dress becomes a dialogue between two forms of textile expression: the centuries old craft of the hand loom and the precision of contemporary fashion design.
What emerges is a collection that respects both the artist and the wearer. De Amaral’s practice speaks to the spiritual and technical possibilities of thread; Akris has honoured that by making thread structure visible in every piece, by choosing materials that catch light as her work does, and by resisting the temptation to simplify. The result is quiet sophistication born from genuine artistic exchange, not mere decoration.
Imagery courtesy of Akris (@akris).
