Couturier, industrial designer, artist and Pulchri board member, is how the journalist Vera de Jonckheere describes Peter George d’Angelino Tap in 2014. The creations of this versatile designer cannot easily be put in a box. The starting point is the needle art and the unique approach to the pattern. From sketch to robe: his work is characterized by a perfectionist craftsmanship.
D’Angelino Tap moves on new artistic paths with visionary swirl. The designs transcend fashion and textile, they touch on design and other arts such as literature and music. In the past thirty years he has given colorful shape to numerous projects, shows, international opera productions and exhibitions.
The creations are often inspired by a special reason. Peter George d ‘Angelino Tap is known for, among other things, the assignment he received from the National Committee on the 200 Years of Kingdom: Panta Rhei, which included the project “Crowns as collars and collars as crowns”. The premiere took place in the presence of Z.M. de Koning. It is a great challenge to discover all the symbolism that d’Angelino Tap uses in his designs.
Peter George d ‘Angelino Tap was born in The Hague and has been working in this city for many years. Pulchri Studio, the stately building that Hendrik Willem Mesdag once purchased for the Hague artists’ association, is one of his favorite exhibition spaces. Panorama Mesdag was his first important museum experience.
Collection
Overview of works by Peter George d’Angelino Tap
Peter George d’Angelino Tap
Peter George d’Angelino Tap Body & Soul d’Angelino Tap’s career spans a period of twenty five years. In these years he has surpassed the boundaries usually known to fashion designers. His designs found their way to the world of theater, opera and ballet. His source of inspiration is the arts- be it poetry, music or the figurative arts. His inquisitive mind gave him an edge: he successfully integrated these disciplines into his designs and vice versa. His career started in Paris where he worked for Bruno Gainville and for the then upcoming label Kitty Cendress. After returning to The Netherlands d’Angelino Tap designed scarves and handbagd for the famous Dutch designer Frank Govers and started his own fashion label PGXXX. d’Angelino Tap not only created countless ladies’ and gentlemen’s couture and ready to wear collections that were shown on international catwalks in Paris, Antwerp, Düsseldorf and Berlin. He was also able to simultaneously design costumes for commercials, opera and theater- and ballet productions. His affection for the arts in general, made it possible to participate actively in numerous projects and exhibitions in museums like the KunstHal in Rotterdam and the Gemeente Museum in The Hague. This ability to shift between the different art disciplines has everything to do with his design philosophy. His starting point is the basic ‘straight piece of cloth’ which he approaches multi-dimensionally. It looks like an origami technique: simply by folding and cutting the fabric d’Angelino Tap is able to create new form solutions. By doing so the material is barely compromised and remnants are left to a minimum. Most of d’Angelino Tap’s designs are derived from his fascination for the sheer endless possibilities offered by non western patterns, which he is able to transport into a western cut. His aim is to create his own ‘design language’. His work tries to escape trend and time. He only shows collections that display renewal in itself: an essential contribution to fashion. With this philosophy in mind: “I am trying to create something timeless”. d’ Angelino Tap’s work shows not only thought but also pure craftsmanship. His designs stand out for their unique use of intricate patterns and elaborate employment of fabric. His aspiration is to design clothes that have a feeling of limitlessness. The owners should feel themselves ‘rich and secure’ in his designs. His main objective in his couture collection is that his creations ‘embrace & reveal. ‘To embrace’ since the creation was specifically made for the owner and ‘to reveal’ because it shows something specific about the owner. This has nothing to do with nudity, but everything with what is inherent to the wearer: body & soul fused together.
Clemente Brakel
