Contributed by Annie Vazquez – The Fashion Poet
In keeping with the Art Basel mania that has been enveloping Miami these past few weeks, photographer Mayleen Gonzalez and myself decided to stay in the heart of Wynwood (where much of the festival will take place) for this week’s street fashion post. We found the perfect wall to highlight my HOSS Intropia gown and at the same time pay tribute to one of her favorite L.A. based graffiti artist – RETNA.
In fact, he’s the very same artist who was commissioned by Louis Vuitton to decorate the brand’s store front in their recently opened boutique in Miami’s Design District. I think that’s a pretty remarkable fusion of street art and high-end luxury if you ask me especially for a dude who commenced his career painting freeway overpasses and bridges. RETNA whose name comes from a rap song by the Wu-Tang Clan is 33-years-old. He is famous for formulating his own artistic alphabet which draws inspiration from a slew of languages and writings like hieroglyphics, ink calligraphy, Hebrew, Arabic and Asian and so on. At the moment RETNA who defines himself as a graffiti writer and a fine artist has a total of 6 murals in Miami all in the Wynwood & Design District areas. If you’re looking for someone to check out during Art Basel this year, RETNA is your man.
