Quite a few fashion houses found new strengths in the last few years by going back to their roots.
Krizia finally woke up from its slumber and decided to do more or less the same, going back to the architectural experiments carried out by Mariuccia Mandelli.
In the early ‘80s Mandelli explored the possibilities offered by architecture, moving from pleating techniques.
Mandelli at the time tried to play with the rigid Vs softness dichotomy, using pleats to expand the body in an architectural way and at the same time to define softly the body’s contours.
In 1983 Mandelli – considered at the time as a sort of Italian Issey Miyake – created two iconic designs, a jumpsuit and a long gown in silver metallic cellulose acetate inspired by the decorative arches of the Chrysler Building, a classic example of Art Deco architecture.
Mandelli originally based her designs on the ornamentation characterising the terraced crown of the building (View this photo), designed by architect William Van Alen and inspired by the features on Chrysler cars.
The fashion designer tried to recreate the sunburst pattern of the crown using a pleating technique and a silvery fabric that called to mind the material for this part of the building, the "Enduro KA-2" stainless steel metal.
Both the jumpsuit and the dress (View this photo) were recreated for the Autumn/Winter 2011 collection, this time in a beige nuance rather than in their original more flamboyant silver shade, while the architectural moods were also applied to the strong and exaggerated peaked shoulders (View this photo) and softness reappeared in the draped designs (the weakest part of the collection, actually, together with Krizia’s iconic animal jumpers) and in the ample and voluminous coats.
Bizarrely enough, with Gucci celebrating its collaboration with Fiat (a customised car that will be available from April) and all the talks about the Fiat-Chrysler merger, rediscovering these iconic designs inspired by the building where the headquarters of the Chrysler Corporation were based (from 1930 until the mid-1950s) seemed very apt.
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