The skull and the eye are among the most recognizable Libertine tropes. Anglomania is a favored theme, and the Queen frequently appears in Hartig’s designs. The philanthropist Pat Buckly, actress Joan Collins, poets Keats and Shelley, and the existentialist Sartre are also part of the Libertine clan. It’s not just literal likenesses that Hartig uses, but text, too. “I love the idea of poetry in motion; following behind someone that’s wearing a coat or a jacket with a poem on it and catching glimpses of a sentence or a word as they move. I just love the romance of it,” said the designer on a walk-through of his spring 2022 collection.
If Libertine had a patron saint, bets are it would be the impish Spaniard Salvador Dalí. Hartig’s use of lobsters and ruby lips with pearl teeth pay homage to the artist. Surrealists often displaced or juxtaposed incongruous images, which reflected the turmoil of Europe in the aftermath of World War I, and also challenged the viewer to question the meaning (visual, psychological, spiritual) of familiar things seen in unfamiliar ways. The creation of happy surprises through craft is Hartig’s modus operandi. A self-described “realistic joyful person,” the designer chooses to focus on the positive, and in so doing, spreads the love.
Here, in advance of the brand’s “Happy Stupid Holidays 20th Anniversary Party” at Maxfield’s tonight, a celebraton of Libertineisms.
Surrealist Manifesto
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