Art to Wear, Mascha Mioni

Art to Wear 1, first published in 1996 by Greina Verlag, introduces Mascha Mioni at the vanguard of the European wearable art movement. More than fashion, this book positions garments as living sculptures—expressive, tactile canvases that unfold through colour, texture and performance. Photographed by Asy Asendorf, each piece—whether dramatic silk shibori or sculptural drape—bridges the boundary between wearable identity and wall-bound art, affirming that these “art to wear” creations resonate equally on the body or in the gallery.

This volume captures Mioni’s early experiments with politicised dress—such as the striking Dress with Burquah, emblematic of dialogue between Islam and Christianity—and her embrace of shibori dyeing, painting and sculptural form. With its lush imagery and succinct manifesto by Dorine Wyss, Art to Wear 1 preserves Mioni’s vision: garments as narrative gestures, unfrozen through movement and memory.

About the Author
Mascha Mioni (née Marianne Bissig, b. 1941, Zürich) is a Swiss textile and wearable‑art pioneer whose career spans painting, sculptural dress, and large‑scale installations. Trained as a dressmaker and painting in Europe, she co‑founded the European Art to Wear movement in 1989 and became renowned for her bold shibori-dyed garments, political costume‑works and performance pieces—including Rooibos‑tea dresses and linen statues cited by the China National Silk Museum and Musée du Quai Branly.

Publication date: 1996
Publisher: Greina-Verlag, M. Mittelholzer
Pages: 68
ISBN: 3952094331