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Must see: Haute paper fashion designs at Decades boutique

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Los Angeles Times Fashion Critic

If you’re doing any last-minute holiday shopping on Melrose this weekend, be sure to stop into Decades and check out the extraordinary wearable paper-art creations of Swedish designer Bea Szenfeld.

With intricately folded and cut shapes, they are a treat for the eyes, especially the starry-looking “Snow Twins” cocoon coat for two, and the fantastic, fur-free “Lion Stola.”

Cameron Silver, fashion tastemaker, author and co-owner of the Decades vintage boutique, discovered Szenfeld’s work earlier this year while he was on his book tour in Stockholm. And he just had to bring her to L.A. The idea for a holiday window display was hatched, the paper works were shipped in crates from Stockholm to L.A., and voila!

“Swedish style is synonymous with fast fashion like H&M, but Bea’s work is purely artistic and incredibly arduous to execute,” says Silver. “It’s the opposite of fast. However, Sweden is also socialist, so there’s something very egalitarian in her use of paper in lieu of fabric, so I particularly love the irony.”

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“I want to make fashion fun,” says Szenfeld, who shows her innovative art-meets-fashion collection on the runway at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Stockholm. “The theme for my latest fashion show was ‘Make Love, Not Fashion.’ Fashion does not have to be more complicated. For the work itself, everything is made by hand, out of paper, and is one-of-a-kind.”

Talk about a truly special gift. If I were lucky enough to receive one of these haute paper works, I would display it on a mannequin in my living room!

Bea Szenfeld pieces, $7,500 to $15,000 at Decades, 8214 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 655-1960 or at https://www.shopdecadesinc.com/beaszenfeld. They will be on display until Jan. 5.

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booth.moore@latimes.com

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