In a previous post we wondered if digital clothes may be a viable option to reduce consumption and develop a more sustainable behaviour. Yet, digital clothes may be a fun idea if you want to dress up differently everyday in a picture posted on Instagram. In real life we will still have to get dressed with real clothes. So what could we do to reduce consumption (apart from buying less)? The solution may come from the past and from an architect, Stefan Wewerka.
In the late '70s the architect and interior designer started creating clothes. Wewerka didn't develop any trendy designs, and his experiments were to be considered more as prototypes, ideas for a wardrobe that offered the wearer the chance to go beyond fashionable trends, and search for timeless and functional pieces that could have been worn in a more personal way.
Moving from three elements – the nature of the body, movement and fabric – Wewerka created pieces that could be transformed, such as an asymmetrical crêpe de chine dress with a single seam but no buttons or zips that could have been worn in five different ways. The dress was also conveniently packed in a wallet-sized fabric pouch easy to store in a handbag or a briefcase.
He also designed a unisex multi-purpose jacket, in leather or raw silk, with various pockets that could accomodate all sorts of objects that was based on Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's "Less is more" motto.
Some of his asymmetric pieces found correspondences in his architectural studies (one etching from the 1972 "The Seven Wonders of the World" series with a pink distorted building is evoked in an object created from a children's pink shirt in 1982 View this photo), others in his interior designs such as his iconic chairs created in the '60s to create subversive images of familiar objects.
The cut of most of his designs was dictated by the necessity to move and, while Wewerka followed the "form follows function" mantra, quite often it was not possible to determine the exact function of a piece (it was indeed possible to wear one of his skirts as a cape).
Wewerka favoured monochrome pieces, but at times he opted for clear lines and stripes, like the ones in the dress on the July/August 1982 cover of architecture and interior design magazine Domus, yet none of his patterns cried out for attention.
Where is the lesson for a more sustainable fashion industry that may come Wewerka? In the possibility of creating versatile pieces for the body: in 1978 Wewerka designed furniture for Tecta, such as an asymmetric chair that catered to seven different sitting positions and still preserved a playful and innovative form.
Wewerka's constant research to develop versatile interior design pieces and then clothes with high utility value could lead to more sustainable fashion collections with fewer designs, but all of them multi-functional, transformative and timeless, that may represent a tangible and radical change in our wardrobes.
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