The quest for more money, more riches, more power, and more gold has been around as long as human history. There are countless myths and legends about power-hungry individuals who let their greed get the best of them. One of these stories was the Greek myth of King Midas--the man who asked a god to grant him the power to turn everything he touched to gold.  

The myth featured the transformation of an everyday object to gold--and this piece is transformative.

With the myth and ancient Greek armor as inspiration, the piece is intended to reflect the truth that in our current system, the more wealth you possess, the more you are protected.

The work includes a capelet covered in the black armor plates. When the wearer chooses, they will pull the tie at each shoulder and the black patina side of the plate will fall and flip like dominoes and transform into a piece of armor that is entirely golden. 

 The rest of the costume was styled by myself with Classical armor in mind to modernize an antiquity-inspired silhouette. 

The piece was exhibited at the 2019 Society of North American Goldsmiths 50th conference, Aurum, during the Exhibition in Motion. Modeled by Parker Everett