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SIMPLY titled ''Wearable Art,'' a new exhibition at Greenwich = Library's=20 renovated Flinn Gallery flaunts the imaginative wearable art of 50 = artists at=20 prices from $10 to $10,000, portions of which will benefit the library. =
In anticipation of the preview opening last Friday, Jennifer Dott, = the show's=20 publicist, was asked, ''What if I don't have any wearable art?'' ''Then = wear=20 basic black,'' she suggested, ''so others will stand out.''
''Wearable art pushes the envelope,'' suggested Elizabeth Day = Lawrence, a=20 Stamford artist whose medium is clothing, and who represents = wearable-art makers=20 in the Greenwich boutique-gallery that bears her name. ''They're not = just to=20 wear but to hang on walls as art objects.''
Ms. Dott added, ''People who design wearable art have backgrounds in = painting=20 and sculpture. They view each work as an art creation which can be worn = but also=20 displayed.''
At the outset, the show states two goals: to offer artists exposure, = and to=20 show the general public a way of seeing and thinking beyond the purely=20 functional.
''We want the viewer to step back and see 'wearables' in a way they = may never=20 have before, as sculpture or painting, for the body or the home,'' said = Debra=20 Fram, a graphic designer who is one of the show's five curators.
The gallery, 22 feet by 96 feet, features movable walls and a = cathedral=20 ceiling. Glass shelves showcase art purses, shoes and jewelry, while = pedestals=20 display hats. Dowels, suspended in midair, dangle tunics, vests, jackets = and=20 sweaters, and mannequins show off unique dresses and coats.
High on the list of show-stoppers is the ''Bridal Survival Kit,'' a=20 tongue-in-cheek bridal gown embroidered with pills, fashioned by Alyse = C.=20 Bernstein, a printmaker and sculptor from Philadelphia. Ms. Bernstein = originally=20 intended to construct the piece out of steel, but changed her course. =
''I exchanged the hammer, welding rod and torch for scissors, needle = and=20 thread,'' Ms. Bernstein said. ''The bridal gown represents the first in = a series=20 depicting various aspects of marriage. In this gown, the imagery is = composed of=20 a variety of pharmaceuticals such as aspirin, birth control pills and=20 vitamins.''
Another witty piece, ''Bait,'' made of latex-stained mousetraps, = chains and=20 leather, is by Gregor Busch, a fine artist, and Brownie Lee Rossin, an=20 industrial-interior consultant, who work together in an artistic = partnership=20 called B & B Ltd. in Greenwich.
''Some of the work in the show is painterly and artistic, but = functional or=20 wearable,'' Ms. Fram said. ''Some is not wearable at all and only has = references=20 to clothes, and some, like the mousetrap dress, is wearable but only for = someone=20 willing to make an eccentric statement, and otherwise stands on a dress = form as=20 a piece of art.''
Other jauntiness is exhibited by the artists specializing in = footwear, who=20 often work in mixed media, collages and assemblages. Some, like JoAnne = Bedient=20 of Fort Myers, Fla., produce pure whimsy, as in Ms. Bedient's = ''Upscale,'' a=20 pump covered in fish scales.
Nina Bentley, a Westport sculptor, makes ''shoe sculptures'' as a = form of=20 three-dimensional social commentary. ''Wearable Art'' showcases = ''Corporate=20 Climber,'' an assemblage of push pins and pigment, and ''Stepping Out = With My=20 Babies,'' which combines nipples, plastic babies, chains and paint. ''I = don't=20 see my shoes as craft, I see them as sculpture,'' said Ms. Bentley, who = will=20 have a one-woman show in March at the New Britain Museum of American = Art.
Six years after Charles O. Perry, who lives on the beach in Norwalk,=20 graduated from the Yale School of Architecture, he won the coveted Prix = de Rome=20 and had a sellout sculpture show. It determined his direction as a = worldwide=20 sculptor of large-scale works. Thirteen years later, when he returned = from=20 Europe, he designed bowls and jewelry for Tiffany & Company. For = ''Wearable=20 Art,'' he again reduces his scale to create necklaces, pins, bracelets = and rings=20 that mimic his sculpture.
Wendy Gell of Guilford used to be a songwriter. Casting about for a = creative=20 new way to make a living, she found her destiny while making a friend's = birthday=20 gift by ''gluing rhinestones and plastic objects onto an expandable = bracelet.''=20 That project led to the development of ''Wristy,'' a crystal-encrusted = cuff=20 bracelet, and what she calls ''Gell-astic'' art -- combining = multidimensional=20 objects, faux jewels and glass into bracelets, necklaces and purses. = Notables=20 who have purchased Ms. Gell's pieces include Oprah Winfrey, Elizabeth = Taylor and=20 Elton John.
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