In the last couple of years the connection between architecture and fashion became stronger and most of the designers, themes and topics explored in the "Intimate Architecture" exhibition (1982, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) were rediscovered.
The latest one was Ronaldus Shamask, but there is one left (as highlighted in posts here and there) - Stephen Manniello, the only American-born designer part of that exhibition.
Born in 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, Manniello first started his career making handbags and jewellery that also captured the attention of Letitia Baldridge, social secretary to the White House during the Kennedy administration (it was Baldridge who introduced Manniello to Nancy Reagan insisting he made her some bags).
Manniello was known for creating garments and accessories based on geometrical forms, in an attempt to find the "Golden Mean of Design". Firmly believing that clean lines are the starting point of fashion, Manniello would reduce garments and accessories to a primal shape that he then turned into a lively piece through colours and structural simplicity.
In the '80s he created for example a series of triangle/cylinder handle-bags based on the ancient arrow case, the quiver (the bags were made in Italy by Rossi Moda; Manniello also made some signature cylinder quiver bags for Mrs Reagan).
In 1986 a jury comprising Carolina Herrera and Giorgio Sant'Angelo among the others awarded him the More Fashion Award for his collection comprising tight jersey skits and lattice-decorated jackets.
Manniello died in 2009 and to remember him I'm republishing today a poem (it seems apt since New York Fashion Week has just started - ah, if only the "reduce" mantra of this poem would inspire a reduction of the schedule or of the amount of designs in the collections...) that was part of the "Intimate Architecture" catalogue and that summarised Manniello's geometry-related beliefs in fashion (style-wise it reminds a bit of Alexander Trocchi's poetry). Enjoy!
Reductionist American Fashion
Begin.
Reduce.
Circle.
Square.
Triangle.
Classical symmetry.
Ancient geometry.
Ahaxagoras,
Poseidonius,
Pythagoras;
2 2 2
C equals A plus B
Circle: 44 inch diameter.
Square: 44 inches by 44 inches
Triangle: 44 inches by 44 inches by 44
inches.
Equilateral symmetry.
Reduce
Geometric form
To softness.
Reduce.
With charmeuse.
Create the perfect
circle within circle,
create the perfect
square within square,
create the perfect
triangle triangle.
Beat an empty barrel with
the handle of a broom.
44, 22,
boom, boom, boom
No buttons.
No zippers.
Take a perfect shape
And make it soft.
Hand finish.
Replenish.
Drink plenty of liquids.
Take two aspirins every two hours.
And get lots of
two, two, two.
Reduce, reduce, reduce.
With charmeuse.
Reductionist American Fashion quivers,
it's so new
Quivers.
Cylinders.
The new old new bag quivers,
Quivers for arrows.
Cylinders for Euclid.
Quivers for Nancy.
Reduce, reduce, reduce.
Quantum nathematics.
Reductionist American Fashion.
REDUCTIONIST AMERICAN FASHION
reductionist american fashion.
Reduce.
Reduce.
Reduce, reduce, reduce.
With charmeuse
Begin.
Reduce.
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