A recent trip to the Mingei International Museum at Balboa Park, San Diego, enlivened me from a color and texture perspective.

The Zandra Rhodes Exhibit: A Lifelong Love Affair with Textiles inspires us to explore different color combinations and tactile experiences.

Rhodes’ designs were once considered too controversial. Now, they create a sense of freshness and if we transfer these ideas to interior or exterior spaces as either accessories or main elements of the design, our environment takes on a new vitality.

Rhodes was the “Princess of Punk” in the 70′s showcasing beaded safety pin and hole-speckled garments still in museums today including the New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution. In 2003 she was awarded the San Diego Living Legacy Award.

The Zandra Rhodes event runs through April 3, 2011. Rhodes has designed for personalities like Paris Hilton, Diana Ross, Jacqueline Onassis and even Freddy Mercury of the rock group Queen!  Her set design and costumes will be featured in Aida at the San Francisco Opera.

Get Inspired!