Lange broek van grijs gestreepte zwarte wol, met rechte pijpen zonder omslag, ingeperste pli, drie zakken, knoopsluiting en tailleband met zes knopen Possibly 1939

These trousers by M. Öfner are made of grey striped black wool. Imagine the maker, carefully lining up the stripes as they cut the cloth, and then sewing them together just so. I think of Agnes Martin, and how she’d draw her grids by hand. Each line has a wobble in it, a breath, a vulnerability. Here, the machine makes the perfect, crisp line – but a tailor still had to decide where each one goes, and how it meets the other parts of the pants. You get it, the labour and the time put into them. And then, that moment when they’re done: what do you do with them? Who wears them? Do they feel good when you put them on? All those things that a painting can’t do, but still tries to say. And all those things that clothes do every day, but silently.