Irenebrination: Notes on Architecture, Art, Fashion, Fashion Law & Technology

On Scientific Fashion (and on that elusive underground lab photo shoot...)

One of my dream photo shoots would take place inside the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), located inside the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park, in the Abruzzo region.

My educational background may be in the art field, but I’m absolutely fascinated by the scientific and technological discoveries.

I have a massive respect for researchers and scientists and I often wish younger generations would divert their gaze from the vapid celebrities who rule our world and look at more intelligent and unassuming icons.

One of the main reasons why the LNGS always fascinated me is the fact that this is the largest underground laboratory in the world.

There are over 700 scientists working in the lab, coming from different countries and following a variety of physics and astrophysics experiments.

The laboratory includes three experimental halls and a few service tunnels and covers a surface of 180,000 cubic metres.

So, if you ever got the permission of doing a fashion photo shoot inside the labs, you would basically be able to move around a huge and surreal sci-fi set without having to build it from scratch using yards and yards of aluminium foil (hurray!).

While it is possible to visit the labs, getting the permission to do a fashion shoot or maybe a fashion film inside the experimental halls would be obviously rather tricky, especially due to the nature of the work that is being carried out in the bowels of the Gran Sasso mountains.

Yet what I have in mind wouldn't just be a fashion photo shoot, but a fashion reportage including futuristic designs and images inspired by specific experiments accompanied by interviews with scientists talking about their life and work in the lab and their researches about neutrino physics, dark matter and nuclear reactions.

I do love the fact that the best fashion designs often have some connections with the art world and reference a precise painting or sculpture, but it is undeniable that the best and most memorable fashion designs created in the last few years, or maybe decades, have some strong connections with scientific developments and discoveries.

Collection after collection Hussein Chalayan taught us that it is possible to incorporate in a dress Swarovski crystals and moving lasers or create morphing dresses that can automatically transform in shape and style thanks to a purposefully designed computer system.

I have seen images of past and present experiments carried out in the Gran Sasso laboratory and I can assure you that they could definitely stir the creative juices of many fashion designers and textile printers.

There are specific experiments that could inspire both the structure of a design and the motifs that could be printed on it.

One of my favourite images for example regards the Borexino experiment (pics 2, 3 and 4 in this post).

Located in the "Hall C" of the labs, this experiment focuses on Solar Neutrino Physics.

I do find absolutely fascinating the images relating to the Borexino prototype with its stainless steel photomultiplier sphere and scintillator contained in a nylon balloon.

While I know that many scientists out there may now consider me as totally crazy, I think it would be really amazing to develop a print  from such a futuristic experiment.

I'm sure a design with such prints would probably stir interesting conversations (“Hey,  what’s that on your dress’” “Oh, you know, it’s just a view of the Borexino Stainless Steel Sphere…” “What...?”).

Not convinced yet about the fashion potential hiding in the Gran Sasso labs? Well, let’s try a little scientific experiment in fashion. 

Check the fifth image in this post about the LNGS's Cobra (Cadmium-Telluride O-neutrino double-Beta Research Apparatus) experiment showing an array of Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors.

Now, moving from this image and maybe using also as inspiration Thierry Mugler’s “Anatomique Computer” suit (Autumn/Winter 1990-91 collection) in rayon and cotton velveteen with plastic cord trim, come up with your own scientific design.

Which materials will you be using? Natural or technologically advanced fibres? Any embellishment? Will you try to adapt the squarish shapes of the CZT detectors to the body or will you maybe attempt a body-morphing exercise based on the shapes of the detectors?

Enjoy your little exercise in scientific fashion.

N.B. Message for the LNGS scientists and researchers: I can assure you I'm not crazy and, if you grant me permission to do the photo shoot inside the underground laboratory (please, please, oh please...), I solemnly promise you I won't touch/break anything. 

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When Fashion Waves its Flag: from Emilio Pucci to Tokuko

In the past, garments that featured prints, embroideries or motifs inspired by national flags had somehow negative connotations.

Giacomo Balla’s 1914 anti-neutral suit, based on the Italian tri-coloured flag, urged men to get out of the mediocrity and boredom of their traditional grey suits, but was also meant to be interpreted as an aggressive invitation to join the war.

Between the two World Wars, Elsa Schiaparelli brought some peace when she ironically borrowed the symbols of the Vatican flag in her collection inspired by heaven, embroidering Saint Peter’s keys on an evening suit (1939) and, a year later, launched a collection inspired by the flags of navy regiments.

After the Second World War broke out, clothes, but also accessories such as scarves and shoes, emblazoned with flags of specific nations involved in the war, were used as patriotic, radical, revolutionary or propaganda symbols.

Banned to avoid political tensions, especially when they featured controversial symbols, designs that incorporated flags came back into fashion, becoming very popular in later decades.

Emilio Pucci created an iconic collection for the Spring/Summer 1957 season that featured vivid prints of the Palio flags.

A few years later, in the 60s, the Union Jack was transformed into an iconic symbol also thanks to rock musicians, such as John Entwistle and Pete Townshend often portrayed wearing their infamous Union Jack jackets.

Ripped and desecrated by the punk movement, or mixed with other political logos borrowed from different countries that included also symbols of extremist terrorist groups like the Italian Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades), the Union Jack continued to be a fashionable symbol throughout the '70s.

In more recent years, Viktor & Rolf launched instead a ready-to-wear collection (their first one in fact, entitled "Stars & Stripes" - Autumn/Winter 2000-2001), entirely based on the American flag, with stars and stripe designs dedicated to fashionably modern Wonder Women, inspired by their own desire to become one day a big global brand.

Sportswear obviously contributed to reinforce the flag trend: a while back Nike launched the S.P.L.I.T., a flag jacket with a zipper that ran down the front and back and allowed to split the item in two, exchanging the panels of the jacket.

The trick allowed to create hybrid flags and re-launched in this way the concept of a fashionable brotherhood characterised by no boundaries and a mix of colourful flags à la United Colours of Benetton (circa 1985).

Nowadays there is basically no limit to flag designs and you can even easily find flag underwear and socks, accessories that, only a few years ago, may have been considered as politically incorrect.

Flags from real countries, nations in political turmoil or fantastic and unreal places continue to be popular in fashion as it was also proved by last week’s catwalk show by Tokuko Maeda at Tokyo Fashion Week.

The Japanese designer, founder of the Tokuko 1erVol (Premier Vol – meaning ‘The first mail from Tokuko’) brand, who is currently living and working in France, is famous for creating clothes that, thanks to their vivid clash of prints and colours, bring a positive and happy smile to people’s faces.

At the Ebisu Garden Place, Tokuko sent down the runway, decorated for the occasion with a collage of brightly coloured fictitious flags, a series of designs inspired by flags and by the countries she travelled through.

So, while there were some traditional and almost folk inspirations behind the Pinocchio prints, the crocheted elements, lace inserts, appliquéd flowers and embroideries that seemed to mix Russian doll inspirations with Parisian elegance, the emphasis was definitely on fictitious flags.

Pucci’s Palio collection reappeared in the geometrical quilt-like elements that formed fabric hexagons in black, white, grey, electric blue and aqua and petroleum green on tops and dresses.

Coat of arms were used to decorate bi-coloured tunics and dresses that called to mind the flag-wavers’ costumes, while figures that looked like crossovers between Medieval minstrels carrying flags and flag-wavers populated the prints used for leggings, skirts and tops.

Even the catwalk finale with the models carrying colourful flags seemed to be a vision out of Emilio Pucci’s Palio collection, and reconfirmed that, in contemporary fashion, the joyful colours of flags - especially fictitious ones - are often used to erase differences between nations, spreading an optimistic vision of a radiantly happy and blissfully peaceful world.

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Daniele Gottastia's Italian Bauhaus

Different aspects of the Bauhaus movement inspired in the past, and continue to inspire nowadays, many fashion and costume designers.

Previous posts in this blog focused on costumes inspired by the Triadische Ballet, competitions based on the Bauhaus’ ideas, theories and designs, and fashion collections including knitwear inspired by the movement’s textile workshop and designs from the recent A/W 10 collections based on the Bauhaus' colours, lines and silhouettes. 

For his final year collection, young Italian designer Daniele Gottastia, a student from Rome’s Accademia di Costume e di Moda (Costume and Fashion Academy), created five designs moving from two main inspirations, the colours used in the posters – a mix of white, red, black and orange with just a touch of blue – and the wickerwork employed in the baskets and chairs created by the movement.

You can discover further about Gottastia's collection in my interview with him on Dazed Digital.

Photographs in this post by Marco Mancini.


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A Stylish Past or a Neo-Tribal Future?

If you like fashion history and use the Internet as a helpful archive to explore and learn more about old fashion trends, you may have stumbled, during your researches, onto a video entitled Aristocrats of Fashion. 

The 10 minute-long film features the latest examples for what regards sport and evening wear from the 40s. The video was originally shot to promote Bemberg’s rayon, so all the looks featured were made in this light fabric.

All the designs included in the video, especially the casual and afternoon ensembles, are characterised by vivid prints - from floral to striped and abstract - and accessorised with matching bags, hats and parasols.

There were some echoes, especially in the prints and colours, from the Aristocrats of Fashion video in Theatre Products’ Autumn/Winter 2010 collection, presented last week at Tokyo Fashion Week.

Birds were one of the main themes of the collection, as proved by the delicate ornithological illustrations printed on silk dresses, trousers and skirts.

Yet a halter neck dress in light aqua green and gaudy floral print dresses and tops matched with veiled hats or headdresses and parasols, definitely belonged to another era.

Indeed, the designers behind this womenswear label founded in 2001, Akira Takeuchi and Tayuka Nakanishi, took a step back into the 40s, then mixed this inspiration with more recent fashion trends from the 60s.

At times this shift between different decades proved fatal, since it caused the collection a certain lack of coherence, yet it was interesting to see how past designs could be given a new and more contemporary twist. 

But while Theatre Productions stepped into the past, keeping firmly in mind the universe of theatre musicals that somehow always ends up influencing their designs, Somarta’s Tamae Hirokawa delved into a mythical time and tribally futuristic atmospheres.

The Princess Leia-meets-a ram hairstyle was maybe slightly too distracting, but, if you avoided looking at that and concentrated on the clothes, you would have discovered quite beautiful details when it came to materials, cut and surface elaboration.

This was only natural since Hirokawa belongs to the Issey Miyake school and retains a conceptual approach to fashion, while employing the most advanced textile technologies in Somarta's collections.

Each design could have therefore been analysed from two different points of view: according to a specific tailoring technique used to make it, from draping to folding, ruffling and quilting, and exploring the materials employed (fur and feather trims, lace inserts, brocade and silk to mention a few).

All the creations were matched with shoes with elaborate Rococo heels from which thick furry tails protruded and at times the models carried white leather memento mori skull-shaped handbags covered with leather flowers (slightly reminiscent of Aitor Throup's skull-shaped bags for men).

The final blood red dresses and tribal Amazon-like looks maybe called to mind more Alexander McQueen than Miyake.

It's somehow refreshing to see a young designer integrating so many ideas and elements into one collection, but it will be even more interesting to follow Hirokawa's further experiments with more advanced fabrics and techniques and see what she will come up with in her future collections.  

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Olive Oyl Style

Many people think that the first designer to pay homage in Italy to cartoon character Olive Oyl, created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1919, and turn her into a fashion icon was Moschino. 

Yet, in the early 80s, Elio Fiorucci had already used images of Olive and other cartoon characters for his Pop Art inspired clothes and accessories for women and children.

When I was a child I had a pair of pink gloves and a matching scarf with a print of Olive Oyl by Fiorucci that I used to love.

In fact I liked them so much that, while I had to depart from my gloves when they didn't fit anymore, I decided to keep the scarf as a memento of a happy childhood and of my early Fiorucci obsession. 

Soon after that Moschino designed silk scarves with images of Olive Oyl, based his collections on the cartoon’s look and on the main colours – black and red with just a touch of white, that characterise her extra long skirt and top, often accessorised in the comic strip with a little hat decorated with one or two flowers - and, in 1995, launched a flowery fragrance perfume (Cheap and Chic) shaped like Olive Oyl’s body.

What fascinated quite a few designers about Olive Oyl was the fact that she looked like the opposite of a stereotyped fashion icon: tall, skinny, with no sensual curves but with extremely big feet, Olive looked rather awkward, often stumbled into her own feet and was also prone to bursts of anger.

A perpetual damsel in distress, Olive - constantly kidnapped by Bluto (Brutus) and constantly rescued by spinach eating Popeye, whose sailor look contrasts with Olive's but also complements it - reappeared a lot in fashion in the last few years, especially after the copyright for Segar's characters expired in the EU. 

For many designers and brands it was irresistible not to use Olive's image and celebrate her even when the copyright laws of their countries differed from the European rules and regulations.

It was for example the case of Japanese clothing brand As Know As that released last year an entire collection of dresses, shirts and tops inspired by Segar's character to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the brand and the 80th anniversary of Olive.

So here's a simple idea for an Olive Oyl necklace in imitation of Fiorucci and Moschino’s designs.

For my necklace I used an Olive Oyl bendable rubber figurine that my brother scavenged for me in a toy shop, two extra long black plastic pearl necklaces (you can either buy them in a department store or make your own ones after buying enough pearls) and a short piece of satin ribbon.

I doubled up the necklaces and rolled the ribbon around the pearls creating in this way a sort of swing seat for Olive (see image 3 in this post).

Tip: Remember to use some strong glue to make sure the ribbon doesn't unroll from the pearls.

After the satin "swing seat" dried, I proceeded to glue my Olive figurine on the rolled ribbon and let her rest her hands on the pearls as if they were the ropes of the swing.

Yes, you're definitely right, this is a rather eccentric necklace compared to my recent experiments, but I guess a little touch of eccentricity is exactly what we need to save ourselves from the boredom, bleakness and mediocrity that pervade our modern lives.

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Journey through The Transatlantic Tunnel

If you are lying, like me, in a state of elation since from today we will have an extra hour of light (oh joy!), but are at the same time feeling slightly comatose and confused at the time change, well, take it easy, sit back and relax maybe watching a stylish movie.

My suggestion for today (though maybe not highly recommended if you experienced getting stuck in Channel Tunnel...) is The Transatlantic Tunnel (1935) by Maurice Elvey (embedded at the end of this post, or download it here to watch it offline) taken from Bernhard Kellermann’s novel Der Tunnel (among the previous versions of the novel there is German Der Sibertunnel, shot in 1915, and a French version directed by Curtis Bernhardt in 1933, entitled Le Tunnel).

This is one of the first films I often torture people with while lecturing about fashion and film in the 1930s.

The plot may not have much to do with fashion since it revolves around an engineer, Richard McAllan, who launches an ambitious plan, building an undersea tunnel between the United States and the UK. As the years pass, though, the project turns into an obsession that ends up destroying McAllan's family life and killing thousands of workers.

Though the film should probably be listed in the utopian melodramatic sci-fi fantasy category, there are quite a few reasons why this movie should be featured in a fashion and film course. 

Fans of futuristic Art Deco architectures will enjoy details such as the broadcasting station (reporting good and bad news about the tunnel in Big Brother style); the ziggurat shapes (scattered here and there) and the lines and curves of the technologically advanced tunnel; the modern trains that run through the tunnel (based on the aerodynamic 1930s car Tatra T77 with its Art Deco streamlined silhouette - try to spot the Tatra cars in the film!) and the televisors (hilariously futuristic means of communications, especially in their home versions with a TV screen that seems to anticipate live chats). 

The spaceman-like suits (check out the anti-gas masks worn towards the end of the film), uniforms and aviator suits hint at the dynamic work being carried out undersea, though the uniforms make you think also about the typical regimented looks connected with spaceship crews and contrast with the elegantly chic dresses worn by the female characters.

The costumes of this film are credited to Elsa Schiaparelli and Joe Strassner.

In fact, even if Schiap weren't credited you would still be able to recognise her designs.

The evening gowns you see at the beginning of the film worn by Varlia (Helen Vinson) and Ruth (Madge Evans) (say around 3:41 and 2:38) are very similar to Schiaparelli’s early 30s designs, such as her gowns inspired by the Directoire (1931) and her gowns with glycerinised ostrich feathers (1932). Besides, the first dress Ruth wears in the film was shocking pink - so Schipa's trademark colour - according to the film advert (third image in this post).

The dark dress with white outlines (1:07:00 – also note Varlia’s suit in the same scene - it looks rather modern, definitely not for the cut, but for its distressed fabric) Ruth wears towards the end of the film recalls in some ways Schiaparelli’s iconic looks such as her trompe l’oeil ribbon sweater matched with a black trumpet skirt.

My favourite designs (I swear I would be happy to go around dressed like that everyday…) remains Ruth’s striking sailor suit (17:34 complete with hat and 20:00), a crossover between Schiaparelli’s trompe l'oeil sailor jumper and her boating outfits from 1934. I think this suit was probably the starting point for many designs created in more recent years by Jean Paul Gaultier.

Enjoy your journey through The Transatlantic Tunnel then, and don't forget to spot more futuristic/style references in it.

 

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Mulholland Drive Inspirations: G.V.G.V. A/W 10

As seen (yes, ad nauseam, I know…) in previous posts, a film can often inspire fashion designers in many different ways.

Sometimes a charismatic actor or actress can turn into an iconic hero or muse for a collection or the costume and sets seen in a film can somehow influence the direction for an entire collection.

Further inspirations and reference points can be found in the atmospheres evoked by a director or the lights used by a cinematographer.

Mug, the designer behind the G.V.G.V. brand (and a graduate of Kuwasawa Design School), focused on colours and atmospheres but also on some of the metaphors and meanings behind David Lynch's 2001 surreal psychological thriller Mulholland Drive.

Undoubtedly, the vivid red colour employed in the first garments of the brand's Autumn/Winter 2010 collection - that is the leather skirts and trousers, trench coats and accessories (mainly shoes and gloves) - was a clear reference to Laura Elena Harring’s wardrobe.

A see-through white shirt dress decorated with fringes looked more like a sleeping gown and was a clear reference to the beds and bedrooms in Lynch’s film, but also to the influence dreams have in Mulholland Drive.

Lynch’s movie was also characterised by a sort of confusing narrative order that often didn’t make sense and Mug tried to recreate it in the non-linear story that unravelled on the runway. 

After the first part in which red designs prevailed, there was a mish-mash of colourful prints, body-con dresses with geometric details that traced the contours of the body and were probably conceived with strong and powerful women in mind, and rather casual, almost grungy looks, including, shirts, skirts and cardigans emblazoned with circumscribed anarchist-like symbols.

A mix of femininity and masculinity was detectable in this part of the show, but soon a dark grey T-shirt with the legendary “Hollywood” sign on a crumbling light grey background, reminded of the main theme, reintroducing it with another quick change of style through Rita Hayworth-like gowns matched with fur jackets and rather elegant skirt suits and fur coats that also called to mind the style of iconic actresses à la Ann Miller.

Mulholland Drive risked of turning into Sunset Boulevard towards the end of the show, but, after all, both films have got something in common, since both of them see Hollywood as a cynical and manipulative place covered up in a cloak of dreams, illusions and obsessions.

So, while Lynch’s film could be read through different multiple meanings, G.V.G.V.'s new collection could be analysed through the different women - sensual and erotic femmes fatales, anarchists, and dark and decadent Hollywood stars - that walked down the runway. 

Nothing is as it seems in David Lynch's film and probably Mug was right in choosing it as the main inspiration for this collection. After all, in fashion, things are seldom what they seem.  

  
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Grisaille Exercise

As highlighted in a previous post, the Autumn/Winter 2010 designs by the late Alexander McQueen showed a clear derivation from the art world.

The collection also included a few evening gowns with prints of grisailles and, if you are a fashion design student or like experimenting a bit with clothes and fabrics, I think this technique would be worth rediscovering.

A popular technique between the 14th and 15th century, especially in the Netherlands, grisaille painting was mainly executed by applying different shades of one colour such as grey or neutral tones.

In this way the artist was able to play with different shadings and stark dark/light contrasts.

Grisailles were often made as preparations for paintings or as models for engravers.

But there were quite a few artists such as Robert Campin, Hugo van der Goes or Jan van Eyck who created grisailles for their own sake.

The most beautiful thing about this technique is the  final effect, that sort of optical illusion that gives you the impression you are looking at a sculpture.

The most interesting examples of such illusion are The Virgin of the Annunciation  from Hugo van der Goes's Portinari Triptych and the Annunciation Diptych by Jan van Eyck.

So here’s an exercise for fashion design students reading this blog: moving from a grisaille and studying also McQueen’s last designs, try to recreate optical illusions in a dress only using different shades of grey and neutral tones and maybe adding further contrasts, depth and movement by juxtaposing fabrics with different weights (remember:  no embellishments likes beads, crystals, etc.).

This exercise should be intended as a way to play with different degrees of reality. For further information about the grisaille technique, check out the following video about a previous exhibition on Jan van Eyck and grisailles that was organised at the Madrid-based Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

The video perfectly summarises the main themes of the exhibition, shows examples of this technique and explores the artistic and social implications behind this technique (check also the silk mitre with black and white drawings at the end of the video, could that maybe provide you with further inspirations?)

A very final note: the grisaille was often employed to show that painting was a superior art compared to sculpture. Will you manage to show through your creation that fashion is superior to painting and sculpture?

    

JAN VAN EYCK: GRISALLAS from museothyssen on Vimeo.

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Japanese Renaissance: Araisara A/W 10

Art undoubtedly provided some of the most interesting inspirations for many fashion designers.

In a previous post I highlighted for example the connections between Renaissance paintings and early Italian fashion.

Throughout the decades, Renaissance was indeed used as an excellent point of reference for many people involved in the fashion industry, from designers to stylists and photographers.

During the Renaissance artists chronicled the changes costumes and accessories, and therefore fashion trends and styles, went through in their work.

In Italy, for example, there was a major shift for what regarded silhouettes.

The bizarre and at times almost grotesque Medieval shapes were abandoned in favour of elegant lines and quality fabrics that included luxurious damask or satin and brocades woven with silvery and gold threads.

White shirts, worn under the main garments, became also very important especially to create contrasts with such elaborate or vividly coloured fabrics.

The paintings of Domenico Bigordi, nicknamed Ghirlandaio, perfectly allow you to spot specific references to Renaissance fashion, especially in the silhouettes of the sleeves, the rich colours and the elaborate details of the garments worn by some of the characters portrayed in his most famous paintings such as La Visitazione (Visitation), La nascita di Maria (Birth of St Mary) and Nascita di San Giovanni Battista (Birth of St John the Baptist).

It was interesting to note how some Renaissance hints were included in Araisara’s Autumn/Winter 2010 collection.

The Japanese inspirations in Sara Arai’s new designs – that was clear in the immaculate white deconstructed padded kimono jackets and classic fur muffs turned into a minimalist padded satin accessory – were indeed mixed with some details that seemed to be directly borrowed from the Renaissance.

The collection included for example long evening dresses in black, burgundy and purple that recalled in their silhouette the smooth and elegant forms of Renaissance costumes.

But there were Renaissance hints also in the golden yellow shirts that evoked the nuances of Ghirlandaio’s Visitation and in the trouser suits and one shoulder dresses in a petroleum green shade that was a crossover between the colour of the dress in Titian’s La Bella and in Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (Domenico’s son)’s portrait of Lucrezia Sommaria.

Besides, oversized capes wouldn’t have looked out of place in one of the many Renaissance representations of the Virgin Mary and the same could be said about the neat hairstyles decorated with padded fabric braids. 

While the lace elements incorporated in jackets and coats allowed the designer to experiment a bit with surface elaboration, the most interesting effects were provided by the thick dark paint brush strokes on sleeveless shifts and coats.

They may not have looked strictly Renaissance-like, but they certainly looked striking. 

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Making Architectures: Mint Designs Vs Nicole Brundage

I have neglected for a while posts about architecture and fashion, so I’ll reopen the thread today, inspired by Mint Designs’s Autumn/Winter 2010-11 collection presented a few days ago at Tokyo Fashion Week.

The designers behind this brand, Hokuto Katsui and Nao Yagi, are famous for their colourful and clashing prints, though for the next Autumnal season they seem to have opted for a more muted palette and a rather controlled geometric pattern.

Indeed the latter - reproduced on shirts, light trench coats, ample and long skirts or fitted dresses in black on white or orange background - borrowed a lot from architecture.

In the garments incorporating blown up prints, the black graphic lines seemed to represent a series of frames and beams.

The garments with zoomed out images of the same print allowed instead to discover minimalist images of little houses that were sort of crossovers between the architecture of Elizabethan buildings and cute little houses from fairy tale stories.

The fairy element of the collection was also integrated in other designs, in particular in the long dresses on with prints that spelt the words “Fairy Tale” all over the garment.

It was interesting to note how the same images provided clever ideas for surface treatment: in one dress the bold graphic lines of the prints literally spilled out of the contours and hems of the garment, surrealistically turning into ribbons that were left hanging.

In this way the print was turned into a sort of optical illusion that contributed to distort the reality.

The same architectural distortion of the reality was applied to the headgear that featured piles of beams precarious piled up on the models’ heads.

Quite a few fashion designers are driven by the will of "making architecture" through their work, finding new solutions in contemporary techniques and creating pieces that somehow reflect or contrast with the environment that surrounds us.

This is not only a prerogative of people making clothes, though: there are many accessory designers focusing on creating pieces inspired by architecture, among them also Nicole Brundage.

While for her main line the Texas-born and Milan-based footwear designer opted for a retro edge, for her Acrobats of God’s A/W 2010 collection Brundage explored the possibilities offered by flexibility and movement, wrapping the foot in wool, velvet and lame elastic strips and creating in this way through the intrecciato technique a sort of architectural stratification.

You can read more about Brundage’s new collections and work in my interview with her for Dazed Digital.

In the meantime, for today, why not pondering a little bit on the role that architectural techniques play in fashion design and on how they can be considered a mean to achieve new fashion purposes and create innovative results?

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