Greek artist Lia Kazakou’s (born 1980) painting focuses on details of the human body, more precisely on the necklines of clothes and their materiality. Through this Lia Kazakou wishes to express personality. In her work she demonstrates the power of fashion as a force of personal expression. The works are inspired by unconventional moments and testify to a high degree of precision.

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The source of inspiration is Lia Kazakou’s mother, who worked as a tailor. The artist describes how she was fascinated by the skill with which her mother created female bodies out of fabrics. She aims to capture this magic in her painting.

Kazakou’s oil paintings focus on the materiality of precious fabrics: the finest details of the embroidery, silk, brocade, and lace of—in some cases historical—garments are reproduced with a meticulousness that give the impression you could feel with your eyes. The detail shown is selected in a fascinating way, showing only fragments of the human body, of the wearer of these elaborate clothes, never the whole body and rarely faces. They are snippets, such as the back of a head or even just a woman’s neck, which additionally add a seductive note that is underlined by the delicate textures.

The background and the fabrics’ folds are mostly captured in dark, shadowy colors so that a nostalgic impression is also conveyed, as if these were oil paintings from a historical period, but without having the character of a representative image.