Pillbox van zwart fluweel, versierd met gevouwen grosgrain, met bijpassende hoedenspeld met bol van zwart fluweel after 1953

Max Heymans created this pillbox hat from black velvet, adorned with folded grosgrain, and complete with a matching hatpin and velvet ball, all without a specific date attached to it. Looking at this, I can imagine Heymans, pin in hand, carefully coaxing the velvet, feeling its weight and nap. There's a real material intelligence at play. I see echoes of Cristóbal Balenciaga's sculptural approach to fabric, that same reverence for form and texture. The hatpin itself, piercing the velvet, speaks to a kind of controlled aggression, a tension between creation and destruction. The velvet almost swallows the light, it's so intense. This kind of visual drama reminds me of the dark hues in a Rothko painting, pulling you in. All these artists are in conversation, right? Whether it's paint or fabric, they're exploring ways of seeing, of feeling, of shaping the world around us. It's a lineage of makers, each pushing the boundaries of what their medium can do. It's about the ambiguity and uncertainty that makes things interesting.