Dress Poetics

September 2–October 4, 2026

  • Bella Kiser, Belle Santos, Cassandra Mayela Allen, Cat Feliciano & Lilac, Cristin Richard, Dessislava Terzieva, Franziska König, Gabriela Gutiérrez, Hanna Klingseisen, Hannah Schmutterer, Hira Khan, Jessica Lim, Jonathan Penca, Katarina Sylvan, Katrina Santa Ana-Jose, Kiwi Phong Nguyen, Madeleine Famurewa, Mariam Ezzat, Megumi Shauna Arai, Sarah Doerfel, and Taylor Childs.

Dress Poetics brings together local and international artists and designers to explore the dress as a powerful artistic and poetic form. Working across diverse materials and approaches, participating artists reimagine the dress as more than something we wear, but as a vessel for stories of identity, memory, labor, and care. 

The Detroit edition of Dress Poetics builds on an ongoing interdisciplinary project by artist Hannah Maria Schmutterer. At its core is a multi-layered engagement with the dress as a bearer of cultural, social, and aesthetic meaning, existing at the intersection of textile art, fashion, literature, and theory. The project has taken the form of exhibitions, artist-led workshops and publications that offer new perspectives on the dress into a medium of poetic storytelling.

Dress Poetics opens on Wednesday, September 2, 6–8pm.