Organized by: Dixon Gallery and Gardens

Ramona Sonin’s artistic practice encompasses a variety of media, from charcoal drawing to digital illustration and beyond, but she is first and foremost a couture designer. Working in her West Memphis studio, she conceives and sketches out one-of-a-kind gowns, then begins bringing them to life piece by piece, using fabrics and embellishments largely sourced in Los Angeles’ fashion district. The resulting garments, often requiring hundreds of hours of solitary labor, are incredible works of art, immaculately constructed gowns that conjure ideas of ethereal femininity. At the same time, however, Sonin’s gowns also have a certain structure to them, either at the collar or torso, that references the notion of armor and how we often use fashion to protect our inner vulnerabilities.

Flowerful: Fashioning the Armored Feminine will bring together a selection of Sonin’s couture gowns, each a product of her passion and tireless work ethic. Alongside the gowns will be the sketches that inspired them and various half-scale models, an essential step in the couture process. Flowerful will also feature Sonin’s charcoal drawings, illustrative renderings of fantastical women who, like her gowns, walk the line between toughness and softness, contemporary and timeless, and edge and grace.