Following the architectural thread I started earlier on today in another post, I’d like to ponder a little bit further on the importance of surfaces, both in architecture and fashion.
Indeed, when we think about the surface of a building we automatically imagine in our minds a sort of stone layered mask, a skin that protects a hidden and invisible structure.
Yet, while in the past facing was mainly used to conceal the way a building was created and supported or to clarify its functional and constructive truth, nowadays specific surfaces are often used to "deceive" the viewer with experimental silhouettes and shapes, while innovative materials are employed to create spectacular architectural elements.
The facade of a building assumes a vital importance in contemporary architecture, it is indeed the outermost layer that implies the use of different formal and technological features that help masking or revealing a structure behind a building.
Current trends in facing design prefer "masking" a building as architects pursue in their projects lightness, dematerialisation and transparency.
Surface textures are also very important: the most unusual and original results are achieved by using not only wood, metal or stone, but specific materials borrowed from other fields or areas of the building or even the transport sector, such as the automotive, air or space industry.
Such materials allow to create suspended, hung, ventilated or aerated facades that reflect the needs of today’s society, or example safety, comfort, functionality and sustainability.
At the 1999 Venice Biennale, Slovenian artist Matej Andraz Vogrinčič literally dressed up a house with clothes (the project was called "La Casa Vestita", The Dressed House), using garments that usually cover the human body to radically transform a house and conceal its nature.
This dichotomy between different aims - "facing to clarify" the purpose and structure of a building and "facing to mask" - is a rather fascinating ambivalence that also exists in the world of fashion.
Embroideries, appliquéd motifs, crystals, beads, fringes and other types of decorations are often used to modify the body shape and silhouette and to add further movement to a garment.
The Rodarte sisters are masters in surface manipulation with the aim of masking the body, building armours around it through different materials and techniques.
Another designer who offered good examples of the "facing to mask" technique is Erdem.
In his Spring/Summer 2010 collection printed, appliquéd and embroidered multi-coloured flowers were mixed in the same shift dress or tiered skirt, while black lace inserts were employed to create interesting effects, both on a visual and tactile level, on brightly coloured dresses and skirts.
Going beyond the mere decorative purpose, Moralioglu used flowers and lace as little ethereal and fragile structures applied to his designs to make them look elaborately elegant.
Surface manipulation emerged as a trend also in the pre-Fall 2010 collections.
While many designs in Chanel’s recent Paris-to-Shangai trip displayed the usual craftsmanship that the French house can still boast about especially in its beaded and embroidered details, others showed more researched effects such as a red window pane shoji screen that looked almost over-imposed on a grey jacket, while the straight silhouette of tight black leather trousers was altered by carving camellia flowers into the soft material.
Vera Wang’s mixed instead in one of her pre-Fall 2010 designs, tulle, jersey, sequins and beads using multiple materials to achieve a unique effect.
This reconfirms that the trend towards the "masking" or "facing to mask" is strong not only for what regards architecture but also fashion.
Using different materials or techniques in a building or a dress can indeed modify their basic structure and help an architect or designer experimenting further with shapes, forms and silhouettes.
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