Addressing the forgotten with fashion

Turns out obituaries inspire readers -- and budding fashion designers.

Avalon Hester, a 17-year-old art student in Napa, Calif., was so intrigued by the women featured in "Overlooked," The New York Times' new series on groundbreaking women who did not receive Times obituaries when they died, that she painted portraits of them. Hester then transformed seven of those portraits into a dress:

These are some pictures of my Final Project - a 12 lbs dress made of 7 full scale portraits on canvas. The portraits are both oil and acrylic, and they’re of women from the New York Times Overlooked Obituary Project. Over the 167 year printing history of the New York Times, only 15% of their obituaries have been of women. This piece used that project to talk about our culture of dismissing women, and how the vulnerability of sharing experiences can abolish it. I’m really proud of this project and the way that Oxbow shaped my art throughout the semester. Thank you to everyone who came to Final Show, and helped make this whole semester possible. Photo cred: the amazing @zaelanewcomb @nytimes @nytimesfashion #nyt #newyorktimes #overlooked #art #oxbow #fashion #dress

A post shared by Avalon Hester (@avalon.hester) on May 15, 2018 at 9:19pm PDT