Cindy Sherman has long built a reputation for turning herself into a chameleon of cultural archetypes. After five decades of picture-generation work, she arrives in October with a fresh body of photographs that fuse the excess of Hamptons summer catalogues with the storied archives of Chanel. The series, titled Fabric Matrons will open at Hauser & Wirth’s Savile Row space during Frieze week.
The seed of the project grew from an unexpected cue: an upscale jewelry boutique in East Hampton, owned by London Jewelers, displayed a glossy summer magazine piled beside Citarella. The issue featured a model—believed to be Christie Brinkley or a younger relative—draped in airbrushed perfection, every finger sparkling with oversized rings. Sherman recalled the spread as “ridiculously over the top,” and decided to transpose that gaudy sensibility onto women of her own generation, and older.
From Hamptons catalogue to Chanel archives
Initially, Sherman sourced cheap rhinestone trinkets and kitschy fabrics to recreate the glossy poses herself, a process she described as “I really didn’t know what the fuck I was doing.” The attempt faltered until a timely invitation from Chanel arrived. The fashion house offered unrestricted access to its patrimonial textiles, allowing the artist to cut, perforate, and re-assemble swatches at will. After receiving modest samples, the brand escalated the gift to “reams of fabric—12 yards, then 15 yards”—giving Sherman the material abundance she needed to imagine full-bodied, opulent figures.
The making of Fabric Matrons
Each tableau begins with a mountain of cloth, often a muted tweed or shimmering sequined weave, layered beneath a custom wig and finished with the artist’s own meticulous makeup. Sherman works without a predefined script; the fabric first, wig second, makeup last methodology lets the garments dictate the narrative. The resulting images portray matriarchal figures wrapped in lavish Chanel ensembles, their bodies accentuated by exaggerated jewelry that borders on parody. In an unpublished journal entry, Sherman wrote, “Who the fuck wants to look at pictures of old ladies anyway?” yet the final works turn that provocation into a celebration of aging confidence.
Frieze London exhibition
From 13 October to 23 December, Hauser & Wirth will showcase the new portraits in a series of oversized chromogenic prints. Visitors will encounter scenes such as a red-draped muse reclining against a gold-threaded backdrop, and a tweed-clad matron posed against bright yellow drapery. The show aligns with the broader Frieze London schedule, positioning Sherman’s work alongside installations by Julio Le Parc, Amar Kanwar, and Gülsün Karamustafa. Critics anticipate that the “Hamptons meets haute couture” aesthetic will spark conversations about the intersection of luxury, gender, and the visual politics of age.
Fashion houses as contemporary art patrons
Sherman’s collaboration reflects a growing trend of luxury brands funding ambitious art projects. Since the 1980s, Chanel has commissioned artists—from Metro Pictures shows to the 2010 “Ominous Landscapes” series—leveraging its extensive archives to blur the line between fashion and fine art. Under the direction of Yana Peel, who became Chanel’s global president of arts and culture in 2020, the house launched a high-end, ad-free magazine (“Arts & Culture Vol. 2”) that will feature Sherman’s Fabric Matrons on its cover. The publication, produced without commercial interruption, underscores Chanel’s strategy of cultivating cultural capital rather than traditional retail promotion.
In the wider context, the Wertheimer brothers, owners of Chanel, command a fortune approaching nearly $100 billion and channel considerable resources into grants, residencies, and exhibition funding worldwide. Their approach mirrors that of other luxury dynasties—Bernard Arnault’s LVMH and François Pinault’s collection—who view contemporary art as a conduit for brand storytelling. Sherman’s latest series therefore operates at the nexus of personal artistic inquiry and the expansive cultural machinery of a historic fashion house.
