There has been simply so much going on during the 12th International Architecture Exhibition press preview that there was not much time to sit down and write.
Yet, in between talking, taking notes, going to lectures, meeting people and seeing projects, there was definitely enough time to ponder a bit about the importance of contemporary architecture, art, culture and, well, fashion.
The best thing about this edition of the exhibition, directed by Kazuyo Sejima, is that there are many amazing projects to see, all of them representing a different take on the Biennale main theme, “People Meet in Architecture”.
Why should you go there if you are “just” into fashion? If you are a fashion designer there’s no doubt you will find more inspirations there in terms of design, ideas for silhouettes and shapes, prints and even accessories and jewels than at any fashion weeks or fashion-related events.
If you are an impenitent fashionista, don’t worry, there is something very special you will learn there.
First of all you will get the chance to meet people from different countries and backgrounds with slightly smaller egos than the people usually working in the fashion business and it can only be refreshing to be in a place that is not infested by people with very few things to say but with too many clothes in their wardrobes.
The financial crisis that hit us all in the last few years, delivered a very bad blow to the fashion industry: some fashion houses and brands went bankrupt, magazines closed and, to prove fashion renewed itself and opened its doors to consumers, bloggers were not only admitted to catwalk shows but invited to sit in the first rows.
Yet, amazingly enough, when you compare fashion to other fields like architecture, you realise you are standing in front of an egomaniac corpse hiding its decomposing whiff behind a floral fragrance.
The main theme for this year’s Architecture Biennale hints at architecture talking to people, communicating ideas, reaching out and linking different disciplines together, from science and technology to craftsmanship, politics and social matters.
At this year’s Biennale there are architectural firms carrying out scientific experiments, directors and technologically advanced graphic studios presenting moving, disturbing or intriguing projects, artists and architects introducing social commentaries about their home countries or studies about the impact of specific buildings and structures on human beings.
Some projects go straight to the point, others are slightly more complicated and convoluted, yet they all communicate something. Now, fashion is a vital means of communication: whenever we get dressed we indirectly send out messages about ourselves and about our state of mind to the people who surround us.
Yet, while there are highly innovative and experimental designers out there, in its attempts at rejuvenating and re-launch itself, the greatest discovery of the fashion industry in the last few years hasn’t been a fabric that can cure cancer, a jewellery piece that reconfigures itself through solar power or a life-enhancing garment, but a bunch of young and hip bloggers, promptly reintegrated into the system and swallowed into the mainstream.
Consumers are currently being encouraged to "Shop!" during the next edition of "Fashion's Night Out", the event that should supposedly save jobs in the fashion industry (as pointed out in a previous post, will the main fashion industry players ever go on strike for other categories in crisis? I doubt we will ever see Armani or D&G chained to the gates of a FIAT factory...) and in a few days’ time we will all start raving about New York Fashion Week where a new bar code system for catwalk invitation seems to be the most technologically thrilling discovery.
Well, believe it or not also my press invitation at the Architecture Biennale had a bar code system, but they never boasted about it. The Biennale also sold thousands of iBiennale iPad applications in just a couple of days and, believe it or not, far from being a formal experience, the awarding ceremony that took place yesterday at the Spazio Esedra inside the Biennale Gardens was a thrilling event with people enthusiastically clapping at the winners as if they were rock stars and photographers convincing with friendly shouts a reluctant and shy Rem Koolhaas to hold the Golden Lion high above his head and pose for a few more pictures.
Maybe there are a few things the fashion industry can learn from architecture, before it implodes forever, like boasting less, working more and focusing on the research aspects, mixing different fields and disciplines together, asking artists, architects, scientists and engineers to get on board on life-enhancing projects, rather than just creating the umpteenth pair of denims or sneakers.
Yes, this may be rather utopian, over-ambitious and naïve, but, if it ever happens, fashion will finally break free from its schemes like the birds flying in and out of the metal containers in Fan Yue and Wang Chaoge's installation in the China Pavilion, exploring space dynamics and sites as places of exchange between ideas and cultures.
Only in this way we will finally leave behind the “Look! This is what I’m going to wear/what I bought today”-days in favour of the “Look! This is what my fashion research project is going to be about today and - you know what? - I'm going to change the world through it”-mantra.
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