Visual artist Brent Ray Fraser couldn’t be further removed from the world of haute couture. He lives and paints in a Fort Langley grain tank that’s been converted into a studio. When it comes to personal style, his favourite outfit seems to be a faded T-shirt tucked into an old pair of paint-splattered jeans. And brace yourself—he’s not above wearing white sport socks with brown leather dress shoes. So why is this walking “What Not to Wear” so fascinated by high-end fashion and the label hounds who buy into it?

“The designers that create these things are artists themselves, so the people who are wearing these things are actually wearing artwork,” says Fraser, who chatted with the Straight at a downtown café, where he enjoyed his first-ever cappuccino. (If you can believe it, he prefers drip from Rotten Ronnie’s!)

“But then you start getting into mass production and multiples and people wearing the exact same thing as everyone else,” he continues. “So it’s not an original anymore. It’s widespread. And then you start getting into counterfeits and people wearing counterfeits, and then you start getting into the psychology of why people do that. I just find it really interesting that a simple thing like a brand name like Louis Vuitton can spark such interest.”

These are some of the themes Fraser explores in his latest exhibition, Príªt-A-Porter , which runs September 18 to October 2 at the Eastwood Onley Gallery (2075 Alberta Street). Most of the almost 200 works you’ll find there were created from donated designer suit jackets. For example, the Hugo Boss jacket his friend gave him turned into 10 pieces of art. For the first nine pieces ($799.99 each), Fraser simply applied paint to the jacket, and then pressed it against a canvas. After that, he either painted on the remaining background, worked some papier-mí¢ché structures on top, or shaped collages around the image. But for the final piece in the series, he mounted the jacket—hanger and all—onto the canvas. To finish off the piece, which he calls Hugo Boss Jacket 01 and goes for $1,999.99, Fraser took newspaper clippings from various business sections and glued them around the jacket. He explains that it’s meant as a nod to our sagging economy, with the bad news seemingly taking over the expensive clothing article.

Another major component of the exhibition is status-symbol purses. Again, the modest-living artist had to rely on the kindness of others when it came to amassing enough designer handbags to finish his work.

“I had to get them somehow, so I began asking every single woman I know,” he says. “Ninety-nine percent said, ”˜No, no way, I’d never give you my handbag.’ ”

Still, Fraser was able to convince that all-important one percent by striking a deal.

“When I get donated a bag, I give them artwork in return, so they get their bag back, but in a sculptural form,” he points out.

That’s how he persuaded an ex-girlfriend to part with her Louis Vuitton. With that bag he made several pieces, including 4 Louis Vuitton Purses ($1,500). This piece (proceeds from which will be donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation), consists, as the title suggests, of four images of the same purse stamped on a vividly striped canvas. (Yes, he’s an Andy Warhol fan.)

But if you think he’s pointing a judging finger at label hounds, you couldn’t be more wrong.

“That’s one thing I’ve come across in doing this show,” says Fraser, who has a new appreciation for luxury clothing (and cappuccinos). “People think that I’m coming at it from a negative side. But I’m not—I’m just trying to beautify what you see around you.”