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

Live On Art Session @ Venice's Palazzo Mocenigo: The Enchanting World of Lace

Like all major trends, lace appears and disappears from the fashion runways, but high quality handmade lace pieces never go out of fashion. Lace-making is actually enjoying a sort of Renaissance, with younger generations interested in learning this art, though there are very few artisans left even in countries such as France or Italy with an established lace history.

If you're passionate about lace, you're looking for an alternative way to spend Halloween and you happen to be in Venice, head to Palazzo Mocenigo, the Museum and Study Centre of the History of Fabrics and Costumes.

Today there is indeed a very special Live On Art session focused on lace: your guides will take out of the Mocenigo Museum archives luxurious lace pieces and objects from the 1700s and explore them in conjunction with art and Baroque influences.

Visitors will also be invited to discover the history of the Mocenigo lace collections and the evolution of lace styles in conjunction with further rare textile pieces included in the museum collections. There will also be a brief session on the preservation requirements of lace.

You don't think you can go, but you still like lace? Well, start your own collection by finding old handmade pieces on the Internet or browsing in second hand markets; think about how you may be able to reuse that old lace piece your grandmother or auntie made or simply get inspired by lace for your Halloween costume. After all, even the Corpse Bride loved it, didn't she?

The Live On Art sessions about lace start today at 11.00 a.m. and at 2.00 p.m. at the Centro Studi di Storia del Tessuto e del Costume Museo di Palazzo Mocenigo, Santa Croce 1992 - 30133 Venice, Tel. +39 041721798. 

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Lights, Camera and...Costumes: Homage to Piero Tosi @ The Costume Gallery, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Book Alert: Worn Stories by Emily Spivack (Princeton Architectural Press)

We all have in our wardrobes some clothes or accessories - either carefully preserved or simply hidden away and stashed in a forgotten corner - that we can't bear to throw out because we have attached to them a special memory.

The truth is that, even in our consumerist society and with all the pressures of fast fashion trends luring us into changing our entire wardrobes every six months, we still keep a few pieces - a heirloom passed down for generations through family members, or a top, a dress or a small accessory that assumed an important place in our lives - that conjure up in our minds and hearts strong emotions and feelings. It is often fascinating just to sit down and wonder what would happen if such clothes could talk and recount their experiences. The volume Worn Stories by Brooklyn-based artist, writer, and editor Emily Spivack (Princeton Architectural Press) does exactly that from the perspective of the wearer. The book features over sixty clothing-inspired narratives from all sorts of contributors - artists, writers, academics, journalists, musicians, performers, restaurateurs and people leading historical family businesses. Some of these stories were told to Spivack, others were written down by the wearers themselves (contributors include Greta Gerwig, Heidi Julavits, John Hodgman, Brandi Chastain, Marcus Samuelsson, Piper Kerman, Maira Kalman, Sasha Frere-Jones, Simon Doonan, Dapper Dan, Albert Maysles, Susan Orlean, Andy Spade, Paola Antonelli, David Carr and Andrew Kuo, just to mention a few...). 

Handmade ties by a grandmother survive Hurricane Sandy; lucky tops lose their magic touch but not the memories connected with them; deeply set stains and frayed cuffs turn into badges of honour, and a shirt given by someone in India becomes the physical representation of an epic adventure.

Marina Abramović's battered boots she wore to walk the Great Wall of China, the purple shirt of Rosanne Cash's father and fashion designer Cynthia Rowley's Girl Scout sash all make an appearance, but, the more you read the stories, the more you realise the tales aren't about a piece of fabric or a battered accessory, but they often hint at finding one's own identity and one's place in our vast world through clothes. In a nutshell, these stories become delicate portraits of the wearers (or their parents and grandparents...) as young men and women.

A piece of fabric from her parents' department store is transformed into a skirt suit after the war and becomes a vivid memory of her tragic story for Holocaust survivor Dorothy Finger; a pair of shoes given as a thank you note from a stranger to Davy Rothbart turn into a symbol of the path the receiver will have to follow to find his destination and himself, while a surprising free dress in a thrift shop heals a soul with a broken heart.

Worn Tales could be considered as a hybrid book: it could be filed under literature, since it features a selection of intriguing short stories (their length makes them ideal to read as you commute to work, in between underground or bus stops and during short breaks), but it's also a visual art book as each tale is accompanied by an image of the garment or accessory described. Besides, it is also aimed at different types of readers, from fashionistas who love their labels (Debbie Millman's yellow Hermès coat hilariously becomes a "Danger Ahead" warning sign for Woody Allen) to anthropologists (could you ever believe that a pair of woolen legwarmers, companions in lifelong performances, can become a ritual for a dancer?) and people with an interest in psychology and medicine and in discovering the strong connection to the memories that accompany clothing.

The creator and writer of Threaded, the Smithsonian's only fashion history blog, Spivack has collected stories about clothing and memory from eBay posts for the website Sentimental Value, has hosted creative writing workshops at Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art and The First Person Arts Festival using clothing as a trigger for personal narratives, and also manages the Worn Stories site (where you can read further intriguing memories and stories or add your own), but this volume is the first she produces of this kind and it won't hopefully be the last.   

Worn Stories is indeed the sort of book that will have you rushing to your wardrobe and look a bit better at the clothes in your possession, while making you think about fashion, memories and storytelling in a poetic way. Last but not least, it is also a terrific idea for a Christmas present, so remember to get some extra copies for your friends and relatives while you're book shopping.

Worn Stories by Emily Spivack is out now on Princeton Architectural Press.

All images in this post Courtesy Princeton Architectural Press 

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DIY Mannerism Sweats

Don't you hate it when you see in a trendy boutique a basic sweat with a print of a painting sold at 3-4 times its real value just because it's a designer piece apparently inspired by "art" (well, to put it more correctly it's a case of "art printed on fashion" rather than "fashion inspired by art")? I personally do. So I decided to do my own version of the "arty sweat".

I got two Mannerist paintings - "Doppio ritratto di amici (Double Portrait of Friends, 1523-1524) by Jacopo Carrucci, better known as Pontormo (1494-1557), and "Morte di Cleopatra” (Death of Cleopatra, c. 1525) by Giovan Battista di Jacopo, known as Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1540) - printed on basic sweatshirts, then decorated them with a trim to give the tops a three-dimensional quality and added a white and a gold collar (well, for Cleopatra gold seemed more than just perfect...). 

I opted for two paintings from Mannerism because, as pointed out in a previous post, rather than looking at realism, Mannerists focused on elegance, refinement and style, creating in their paintings artful compositions. In these sweats, though, Mannerism meets Baroque and Surrealism in a casual and very basic sporty top, embracing in this way contradiction between different art movements and styles and showing that, if designers can do it, then we can all do it (in a funnier and cheaper way...). 

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Unidentical Twins: Pontormo and Rosso. Diverging Paths of Mannerism @ Palazzo Strozzi, Florence

The Kaleidoscope Opera: Last Call for The Colourful World of Kaffe Fassett @ The American Museum in Bath

People suffering from chromophobia may find the final cure at the American Museum in Britain, in Bath, UK. The exhibition "The Colourful World of Kaffe Fassett", celebrating the renowned American textile artist, is indeed a riot of colours. 

Born in San Francisco in 1937 and raised in Big Sur, California, Kaffe Fassett moved to London in 1964. In the '60s he met Scottish fashion designer Bill Gibb, and started creating multicoloured knitwear designs for him. Chosen by Beatrix Miller of Vogue as the 1970 Dress of the Year, one of Gibb's ensembles, including a Fassett hand-knitted waistcoat, relaunched traditional knitwear techniques into fashion. Fassett and Gibb were close friends and collaborators until Gibb's death in 1988. 

In 1994 Fassett exhibited for the first time at the American Museum, an institution that had provided him in the '60s with many interesting inspirations and where he had been mesmerised by the juxtaposition of colours of the antique quilts in the collection. This exhibition marks therefore a return of the artist to the museum. 

The exhibition gallery, the garden outside it with an ancient tree covered in multi-coloured pompoms and decorations, and some spaces of Claverton Manor are immersed in colour. Everything is bold and bright, there are vibrant fuchsias and vivid greens, deep blues and buttercup-yellows all around, while rhythmic stripes and geometric patterns invite visitors to discover techniques ranging from knitwear and needlepoint to beading and quilting. 

Theatrical designer Johan Engels designed the exhibition dedicating to his recreation of Fassett's studio with its cosy baskets of yarns and fabrics lined on shelves, a central position. Other spaces look like little gardens in bloom: there are intricate knitted shawls and cushions decorated with detailed needlepoint designs (replicated in digital format on the floor), while the stunning Hollyhock Tapestry dominates the end wall of the green room. Fassett's full-sleeved knitted coat, inspired by seeing Rudolf Nureyev in "Romeo and Juliet" is among the highlights, together with the walls of hand-knitted silk and alpaca sweaters developed in collaboration with his partner Brandon Mably.

Yet "The Colourful World of Kaffe Fassett" is not just about textile art: the exhibition also includes mosaics, Turkish tiles, Chinese vases and objects from Fassett's personal collection, all elements that surround him as he creates.

The event is also a way to discover Fassett's work as painter and illustrator since it features monochrome drawings the artist made as a boy in California and his pen drawings (from 1964) of the American Museum's Period Rooms.

Every item on display shows Fassett's obsession with the power of colours, but it also represents a journey through the world of decorative arts, and part of an intricate opera of an artist intent on finding vibrancy, exuberance and liveliness in our grey world. 

What's the main difference between this event at the American Museum in Bath and previous exhibitions such as last year's event at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London?
Kaffe Fassett: This one focuses on colour, so each area of the exhibition is an intense pool of colour. I've never actually shown quite that strongly in such pure colour before.

Talking about colours, in your opinion, why do we often end up opting for safe or neutral shades in fashion?
Kaffe Fassett: I think people are terribly nervous of getting something wrong and wanting to look cool and therefore end up thinking that grey and beige are safe colours and they won't get it wrong, but that's a pity, because they are very wrong in my eyes! I think that beige does nothing for most girl's complexions, for example, yet so many girls wear beige scarves...

The exhibition also features elements, including Turkish tiles and Chinese vases, that point towards interior design or architecture, do you feel there is also an architectural inspiration in your pieces?
Kaffe Fassett: Different inspirations come into my pieces, but I guess this specific one may come from the fact that I love the theatre and theatrical upscaleness. It's exciting when you see a room or a great cathedral or a wonderful old doorway with fabulous contrasting colours around the door and stone, it's dramatic and it's on a big scale and I think it's the scale as much as the pattern that excites me. There is actually a key connection with the theatre in this exhibition as designer Johan Engels, known for his opera sets, designed the exhibition. That's why the show displays such dramatic perfection, his guiding eye helped us thinking in a big dramatic way, it was simply wonderful working with him.

What fascinates you instead about geometry?
Kaffe Fassett: One of the things I realised when I started working with colours in textiles was that you needed to organise the colour in such a way that it had a very dramatic exciting sharpness to it, so that you were focused on the colour. I became very interested in different patterns and how for example a circle or a sequence of diamonds filled a space, because the repetition of a shape in a pattern is the vehicle for showing off the colour.

Though some of your pieces are inspired by traditional techniques, they also look extremely modern as if they were computer-generated patterns: is keeping an eye on the past and traditions the best way to create intriguing designs for the future?
Kaffe Fassett: I think it is very important not to throw out the past, since it has a lot to teach us and there's a lot to be digested and understood in it, so each generation should look very hard at the past. I'm always fascinated when I can see the roots of the past in an artist's work, I don't want someone to copy the past and make it sterile and turn it into a horrible copy, but remember to let the wonderful discoveries of the past artists' feed us and teach us.

Are visitors invited to touch your works?
Kaffe Fassett: I feel very sad that you can't allow people to touch the work, because we all look with our fingers. When we go shopping we feel a pair of trousers or a shirt or whatever, we experience them and it is sad you can't touch, but I did say in one exhibition I had in Sweden to let the audience touch and, shortly afterwards, some ladies tried to drag my coats down to their level so that they could look at them a bit better, and the signs went up again immediately. But we do have a special place in the exhibition in Bath with a half finished piece of needlepoint, bits of knitting and the fabric that we used for the patchwork and patchwork pieces sewn together, that people can touch and feel, or flip over to see what the texture looks like.

Do you have a favourite piece in this exhibition?
Kaffe Fassett: No, I don't have a favourite piece, as each of them is important, but there is one big piece in the Bath exhibition I'm very exciting about, because I haven't seen it for a long time - it's Hollyhock Tapestry that we did for a Shakespeare theatre in Stamford, England. We borrowed it back from the theatre and displayed it in a very dramatic way, at the end of our green room. It's 9 feet tall and features a big, strong Hollyhock plant with huge leaves and flowers. To see something that you made and you had to say to it goodbye right away because it was commissioned and to get it back and see that it wasn't really that bad, but it actually looked beautiful and that therefore at one point you did something well, fills you with happiness.

Will the exhibition travel and will you go back to Scotland at some point?
Kaffe Fassett: There are no plans for this exhibition to travel, though it would be nice to see it travelling to Scandinavia and Japan. We had another exhibition between July and September at the Aberdeen Art Gallery entitled "50 Years in Colour". I just love Scotland and when the museum in Aberdeen came to see last year's exhibition in London and decided to have their own event about me, I was very excited also because a coat that I made a while back and that was inspired by the Scottish landscape is part of the Art Gallery collection, so I have a close link with this space. This exhibition in Aberdeen was inspired by the colours of the Cinque Terre in Italy.

What strikes you the most about this rugged portion of land on the Ligurian Coast?
Kaffe Fassett: I was there in March with Brandon and we were blown away by the colours of those villages. That passionate use of colour is just so exciting to behold. I connect it to old Italian paintings of hill-towns, those villages have the same sort of shades, beautiful warm earthy colours that relate to the old way of doing things, a beautiful tradition that is still alive and a use of colours borrowed from the past that is still being wonderfully observed.

What plans do you have for the immediate future?
Kaffe Fassett: I usually go to the Quilt Market and International Quilt Festival (October 30 - November 2, 2014) in Houston, Texas, every Autumn where I launch my collection of new fabrics. It's a great place, a Mecca for this art. I look forward to it as there are people coming from all over the world. There are several events lined up for next year and you can check them out on my site. In a year's time we would also like to go and photograph a book of quilts in the Cinque Terre.

The Colourful World of Kaffe Fassett, The American Museum in Britain, Bath, UK, until 2 November 2014

Image credits for this post

1 - 7 and 11- 12 "The Colourful World of Kaffe Fassett" at the American Museum in Britain, images by Stuart Ross

8. Striped City Quilt, 204 x 185.5 cm, Courtesy of Debbie Patterson © Kaffe Fassett Studio

9. Jewel Squares Blind, HR KF, Quilt, 108 x 100 cm, Courtesy of Debbie Patterson © Kaffe Fassett Studio

10. Hollyhock tapestry, 275 x 150 cm, © Kaffe Fassett Studio

13. Portrait of Kaffe Fassett by Sheila Rock © Kaffe Fassett Studio 

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Spinning a Good Yarn: Toto Knits by Erin Brennan Allan

The fashion industry has been courting Africa for some time now: prominent fashion editors expressed an interest in the continent (two years ago Vogue Italia's Franca Sozzani even tried to "rebrand Africa"...); conferences about key emerging markets of the future often mentioned Africa as a source of opportunity (remember "The Promise of Africa" summit in 2012?); fashion houses and brands including Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Max Mara's Max&Co. and Carmina Campus often developed dedicated projects to manufacture in Africa special or limited edition products and capsule collections. 

Just a few months ago, when Nigeria became Africa's largest economy and the 26th largest economy in the world, many financial journalists wondered if luxury brands were going to finally start examining more carefully options for expansion and investments into the local market with dedicated stores.

Yet, quite often and rather sadly, big plans involving Africa end up in a superficial or temporary interest, but, luckily, there are people who are genuinely determined to change things. Take Erin Brennan Allan's Kenya-based Toto Knits. 

Brennan Allan moved to Kenya soon after 9/11, and, throughout the years, she found a way to produce locally organic cotton yarn, put together her own workforce of craftswomen and launched her childrenswear brand producing made to order knits that are currently shipped worldwide.

Toto Knits' designs (by the way, most of them are unisex) include clothes and accessories, from tops inspired by safari or farm animals (complete with little ears and tails for extra fun) to accessories such as hats, gloves, scarfs, booties and blankets, all in the softest organic cotton yarn.

It may take time to make a difference, but it is not impossible to build a sustainable and ethical business that genuinely helps people, and Brennan Allan has proved that Africa is not a market ready to be exploited, but an important source of opportunity offering the skills of talented artisans and craftspeople.  

What inspired you to start Toto Knits and how did it all start?
Erin Brennan Allan: I was living in New York and working for a magazine, then 9/11 happened and I decided I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life. I moved to Kenya and started working for a school for children with special needs, doing found-raising events and teaching some classes as well with the help of another woman, Mary Wambui. She is a talented craftswoman in anything you could imagine, from weaving and beading, to knitting and crocheting. While working together I got to know her story: she had three boys from two different fathers, since many men in Kenya tend to take off and leave women with their children. Polygamy is one reason, alcohol another, but at times men who can't provide for the family feel so embarrassed that they just leave. I used to work with Mary one day a week, so the other days I tried to keep her busy giving her work, asking her to mend something or repair for example a broken bracelet. I gradually started giving her more things to do and other women in neighborhood and in her village heard that she was getting work and asked her to find them work as well. After I had my first child I wanted to start making some baby sweaters and she said that everyone was keen to help. That was how I knew there was a workforce sitting idle and I could build the company around it. This happened nine years ago, we now have 30 to 50 women who work pretty much full-time.

Do the craftswomen producing designs for Toto Knits work in shifts?
Erin Brennan Allan: We don't have a rigid 9 to 5 schedule and the knitters are paid by the piece which allows them to work as much or as little as they like. One of the things the women like is that it's very much a traditional environment, so they are sitting, chatting, drinking their tea and gossiping or singing. Mary said that when she was a child she would just knit whatever she could - even grass - to be able to join the other women sitting around making their kids' clothes. So they find such a working environment nice, happy and relaxed.

As customers, do we get to know who made the piece we are buying?
Erin Brennan Allan: All the designs are signed by the women who make them so that gives the pieces a kind of provenance, and consumers know that there was a special craftswoman in Africa who made what they ordered. The good quality of the knits we produce also ensures that they can be handed down and used again and again. It's great to have new stuff, but it's also nice to be able to use the same piece again or pass it to another child. So each piece has a story and develops its own story. The company logo - the yarn ball unravelling and forming silhouettes of African animals and trees - symbolises the story behind each piece.

We often hear about big companies and fashion houses launching projects in Africa, do you think they work?
Erin Brennan Allan: The concept and intentions are usually good, and consumers are always happy to support these projects as they feel they are helping, but, in the long term, these initiatives do not work. The problem is that companies employ local women for three months and they don't give them a good enough wage. So, quite often, these initiatives do not turn out as sustainable long-term projects that really help the local women and single mothers in particular, but as one time PR stunts. These companies could easily set up a factory and create something more sustainable, besides increasing the wages of one-two Euros a day can make a big difference as it can mean an extra meal for a family and make these women feel their work is more valued. Such an increase wouldn't have much impact on the final retail price, but it is a question of dignity for the women making all the work.

Was it difficult to find the yarn to make Toto Knits' childrenswear?
Erin Brennan Allan: Finding a cotton yarn in Kenya was very tricky. Kenya used to be one of the world's biggest cotton producers. But now they import these big containers filled with unwanted clothes from the charity shops and this has killed the local textile industry. While it's great to know that unused clothes are being recycled and this is done under the auspices of charity, the downside is that the textile industry in Kenya and the supply chain that goes from farmer growing cotton to fabric maker and clothes maker was really compromised; in Uganda they had the same problems. Since I couldn't find anybody producing what I wanted, I had to establish it. Initially, I was using candlewick, but it's really scratchy, hard and not organic, therefore not good enough for childrenswear; I also experimented with mop yarn, but it didn't work, so I got cotton thread from Uganda. They have one machine in Nairobi that takes 20 threads and twists them and I told them to make them not too tight and not too lose to come up with a nice yarn for baby clothes. We went from conventional to organic cotton and this whole process took 3-4 years.

How do the Toto Knits collections work?
Erin Brennan Allan: We have a collection dedicated to basic and classic pieces that also offers a dance line for girls and the possibility for our clients to customise their own design, plus two collections of knits inspired by safari and farm animals. I have worked with mummy bloggers on three capsule collections, in the past three year. Coos & Knits from Brooklyn designed a urban edgy line; Heart + Habit based her collection on Canada and its rugged outdoors and cosiness as well, while Flannery O'Kafka from Scotland came up with a collection that revealed as rather popular and was inspired by the sea and Scottish shipyards and also featured spooky yet fun tops like a Glasgow goblin jacket. 

Does your team of craftswomen also work on other design projects?
Erin Brennan Allan: Sometimes we do carpets as my husband designs and produces tents for luxury lodgers, so we often do projects for interior design, such as blankets, carpets or cushion covers, but usually it's the Toto Knits designs that keep the team going.

Images 2 - 7 in this post Courtesy Toto Knits

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Critical Halloween: I-Relevance by Storefront for Art and Architecture

If you're in an architectural frame of mind and you're looking for a good Halloween party night, check out the Critical Halloween party. This event is put together every year by Storefront for Art and Architecture, a non profit organisation founded in 1982 and committed to the advancement of innovative positions in architecture, art and design.

The organisation usually offers a wide variety of events including exhibitions, artists talks, film screenings and conferences to generate dialogue and collaboration across geographic, ideological and disciplinary boundaries.

The Critical Halloween Party and Costume Competition has been going since 2011, tackling all sorts of themes including Banality, Metaphor and Corporate-Avantgarde.

These topics unleashed the most bizarre and original sartorial choices that went from costumes inspired by the "Form Follows Function" statement or by literal interpretations of the Grasshopper software and the Rhino application (for parametric enthusiasts...) to amusing interpretations of King Kong and the Empire State Building, of Humans Scales, or of conceptual statements such as "Banality in the Eye of the Beholder" and Superstudio's Supersurface.

Taking place in Lower Manhattan, this year's theme is "I-Relevance" (with a poster inspired by the engravings in Masquerade à la Grecque by French architect Ennemond-Alexandre Petitot) and looks at the digital world and at the online culture that propels banality to stardom.

People going are therefore encouraged to address the relevance/irrelevance (and the Irrelevant/I Relevant) dichotomy within contemporary culture and contemporary digital platforms in their costumes.

The event will also include a competition for Best Group Costume, Best Individual Costume and Best Critical Costume. But, remember, if you can't go, you can still pick ideas for costumes from the previous editions (monstrous architecture and corporate vampires are after all more scary than traditional monsters and vampires...) on the Storefront site.

Surely Storefront for Art and Architecture have gone well beyond the 1931 edition of the annual costume ball given at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts with its group of prominent male architects dressed as buildings. Who said it wasn't possible to think critically about art and architecture during a costume party and enable critical thinking and public forms of expression at a Halloween event? 

Critical Halloween, 80 Greenwich Street, Lower Manhattan, 31st October 2014.

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The Science of Fashion

In yesterday's post we looked at the science and fashion connection. The young designer interviewed in that feature, Ali Karami, mentioned the Arts@CERN Visiting Artists scheme as an initiative that would allow him to look deeper into his research in "Quantum Fashion". The Arts@CERN scheme is actually a very interesting project that encourages researches and projects that merge science with the art world. 

Dutch Designer Iris van Herpen was for example invited to discover more about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) while visiting CERN, the Switzerland-based European Organization for Nuclear Research, a while back.

At the world's largest particle physics laboratory Van Herpen discovered the use of magnets: her visit included the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector with a 4 Tesla magnetic field that is 100,000 times stronger than the Earth's. The CMS actually became a source of inspiration for her Spring/Summer 2015 collection, entitled "Magnetic Motion" and showcased during the latest edition of Paris Fashion Week.

A hybrid mix of art, architecture, fashion and science, the collection was designed with the help of architects Philip Beesley and Niccolò Casas, and artist Jolan Van der Wiel, and featured intricate 3-D creations and structures; mesh veils that reinterpreted Beesley's geotextiles usually employed for engineering landscapes but used in this case to hint at new geographies of the body or fertile clothes that can grown on the wearer's body; and accessories such as necklaces and platform shoes that had been subjected to magnetic fields and looked as if the material they were made in had been frozen in alien-like formations. 

While the collection certainly benefited from her 2014 ANDAM Fashion Award (250,000 euros and mentoring from Kering chairman and chief executive officer François-Henri Pinault) it obviously benefited even more from the designer's visit at the laboratories.

According to the Arts@CERN newsletter, van Herpen will go back to CERN next week for another specially curated visit to explore more and you can bet that this new experience will boost her imagination even further. 

Yet there are further projects linking science and fashion, among them the Parallel Practices residencies: this pilot partnership project from the British Crafts Council and the Cultural Institute at King's College London, stimulates learning and research via collaborations between creative minds/makers and medical and scientific academics.

At the moment there are four Parallel Practices residencies: Richard Wingate, Principal Investigator at the MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology at King's, and Celia Pym, textile maker, are bridging the gap between the concept of mending in anatomy and textile repair, and exploring notions of mending and repairing in the dissecting room.

Wingate and ceramist Tamsin van Essen are working on the concept of anatomy through a transformation process and through stages including digitisation, dissection, reassembly and display, with van Essen using clay to look at different material states and preparing experimental pieces, material trials, models, maquettes and tactile interactive objects.

Matthew Howard, lecturer in robotics at the Department of Informatics, and Karina Thompson, textile maker, are instead working towards digitally programmed embroidery and embroidered electrical connections for sensors. Stitched into garments, the latter will allow to measure and capture both movements of the wearer and the electrical impulses in the muscles causing the movement. Thomspon is also employing medical data as a starting point for her work.

Thrishantha Nanayakkara, principal investigator of the Laboratory for Morphological Computation and Learning, Les Bicknell, book artist, and Naomi Mcintosh, jeweller, are working on soft robotics through model-making and looking at ways of controlling movement and articulation of objects in order to build new structures.

Fashion-wise it looks like what we dreamt about on this site in 2010 with multiple posts about science and fashion (or about shooting fashion collections in underground scientific laboratories...) is not just turning into a possible reality, but it is showing that there are many benefits in sharing skills between different practices and professionals. Who knows, maybe one day fashion will become - thanks to science - a sort of "possibility space" where special experiments can be tried and where new hopes and dreams can be nurtured. 

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Scientific Principles for Modern Designs: "Quantum Fashion" by Ali Karami @ E27, Milan, Italy

Fashion students working on a dissertation or on their graduate collections rarely end up studying physics...unless they are enrolled at the Milan-based Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA). Here Ali Karami, one of the students from the Master in Fashion and Textile Design course, has devised a new theory - "Quantum Fashion" - a sort of scientific approach to design objects and fashion events. 

Karami investigated his theories in his dissertation and developed them into a compact exhibition that recently opened at the local E27 gallery.

Curated by Cinzia Ruggeri and divided in five parts, the exhibition explores scientific principles via visual installations, informative stations and an alien-like tree of life made with yarns and threads that trap limbs and mysterious bulbous formations. A dummy on which glowing red and orange images morph into deep blues calls to mind the work of German physicist Max Planck and his discoveries on radiations in body at different temperatures.

In his analysis Karami tries to go beyond fashion, telling visitors that there could be other paths - scientific ones - to investigate fashion theories and find in this way more original inspirations for innovative designs. 

You may argue that Quantum Theory is a baffling concept for many of us - even for scientists and researchers - and subatomic particles don't seem to have much to do with fashion. Yet Quantum Theory poses all sorts of strange questions that stretch the limits of our imagination and asking questions, investigating possibilities and finding new solutions are the solid principles applied to any creative process, even to the stages behind any fashion collection.

So, as much as Quantum Fashion may be considered as a rather unusual idea, Karami may actually be up to something: today's information technology, but also some aspects of chemical processing, molecular biology, and the discovery of new materials, rely on quantum theory, and the principles of quantum physics are constantly applied to an increasing number of areas, such as quantum optics, quantum computing, and quantum cryptography. So why not going for "Quantum Fashion"?

Can you tell us more about your background?
Ali Karami: I was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1979. My father works in the textile and clothing industry, while my mother is a housewife. I started working with my father when I was 7 years old. Due to my keen interest in physics and mathematical events, I decided to choose Physics in High School, and later on, I opted for Mechanical Engineering at university. Because of some external problems in the educational system of my country, I decided to leave university and, after two years of compulsory military service, I returned to work with my father in his company. During this time, I started collecting further information on fashion and design. The subject of fashion was not very popular in Iran at that time, as fashion has always been controlled by the Iranian government system. My research about design pointed me towards humanity subjects, so I decided to study Human Sciences and in particular Art History, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology and Biology. My goal was finding some connection between human beings and objects of design and therefore look at the relation between human beings and creativity. Studying fashion and design for a man in Iran is not that easy, so I moved to Turkey where, in 2005, I enrolled in Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, graduating in 2009. While studying, I kept on researching issues linked with science and physics, with particular focus on quantum physics. Three years ago I moved to Milan to pursue further studies at the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA) where I went for a Master in Fashion and Textile Design. These years in Milan gave me the opportunity to give a proper shape to my research: the concept of consciousness in quantum physics helped me giving order to all the inspirations and information I had gathered about fashion, creativity and human beings throughout the last few years. I did my dissertation on these subjects and graduated in July 2014. 

Who has been the greatest influence on your career choices?
Ali Karami: It is difficult to choose one person since there have been many people who have greatly influenced my career choices - from my father with his helpful support to my great teachers. While researching quantum physics I was influenced by Carl Gustav Jung and his concept of collective unconsciousness in psychology; Dr. Bruce H. Lipton and his theory about Epigenetics and his researches on belief system and genes; and Dr. Rupert Sheldrake and his researches on Morphology. I also found the work of Dr Amit Goswami very interesting as it gave me a clearer understanding of Quantum Physics, and in particular his detailed explanation on the topic of consciousness in Quantum Physics.

Which disciplines inform your work - art, design, science, technology?
Ali Karami: Science, since I see "Quantum Fashion" as an innovative scientific approach to design objects and fashion events.

Can you introduce to us your installation on display at the Milan-based E27 Gallery?
Ali Karami: This is just my attempt at visualising the basic concepts of Quantum Fashion, which I explained in my dissertation - "Quantum Fashion and Fashion Codes". In the latter I explored how we can explain and analyse fashion designs and fashion trends by carefully looking at the characteristics and behaviour of base particles and waves, which were discovered by Quantum Physics. Another issue I tackle is how we can develop the concept of creativity in design, according to the concept of consciousness and collective consciousness in Quantum Physics. In my dissertation I also designed the comprehensive model to explain the communication system between Consciousness, the field of information and the world of matter - I called it "Fashion Consciousness Model" (FCM). The dissertation closes with my explanation of the comprehensive coding system to codify reality. All information and programs are made as a binary code in a computer system from two codes of 0 and 1, all reality is also made from limited codes, which exist in the field of information and in my work I also try and classify the codes of reality. 

What fascinates you about Quantum Theory?
Ali Karami: The concept of consciousness, since it is suspended between the world of matter and the world of imagination.

And what did you discover about Quantum Theory that you didn't know while researching your collection?
Ali Karami: The concepts of collective consciousness and subjectivity. The subjective point of view will open new doors in every kind of science, while consciousness is the factor that affects the results of all experiments in different scientific fields.

There is an interesting dichotomy in your collection, on one side the fashion and artisanal elements (the yarn and thread sculptures with integrated lights...) and on the other the scientific references with the light projections: what does this dichotomy symbolise? 
Ali Karami: What we call art and fashion design is a mixture of information codes that our consciousness chooses and sends to the brain; our brain receives them and projects them out there as reality. In this process there are many effective codes and factors that change our perception from the reality that consciousness designed for us to experience. I tried to show that the reality and environment around us are the result of the mixture of codes that consciousness chooses for us. In short, as Prof. Rupert Sheldrake stated, "brains are more like tuning devices, more like TV receivers than like video recorders". Therefore if we have a clear connection with the system of consciousness, we have the power of choosing our garments and outlooks, but also of entirely changing our body, altering it with different colours, shapes and forms. 

Can you take us through the exhibition?
Ali Karami: The gallery is divided into five parts. In "QB" - or "Quantum Body" - different pieces of body limbs are intertwined with fabric and threads. For this part I was inspired by the concept of the morphogenetic field developed by Dr. Rupert Sheldrake who analyses the field of information which designs the form and shape of our limbs and states that the program for the shape of our limbs is not in our genes, but this information is in the invisible field of codes and information. By cutting and dividing the limbs of mankind and the pictures of faces of people from different parts of the world, I designed certain areas like the windows of the shop to symbolise the way we can decide to change the shape of our body and limbs just like we choose clothes from a shop. The second part is entitled "Collapsing the wave function" and here I projected images on the threads, inspired by the definition of collapsing the wave function in quantum physics as the projected image is clearer and more defined when all threads are not moving. The third part "Projecting the reality" looks at the projections of images on the body and in this part I moved from the concept of the projection of reality that our consciousness choses for us to experience. The last two parts focus on the "Tree of Life" and "Window" concepts: I tried to show in the former how we can conjure up different feelings and evoke nature by playing with materials; the latter looks instead at the possibility of varying the composition of threads in the external space by altering their composition inside the gallery.

Do you conceive these dichotomies (nature and science; nature and technology...) that you explore in your work, as ways to refer to our world, divided between our more human and natural side and the fast world of technology?
Ali Karami: They are actually explorations of codes. The world around us - even nature - is the result of the projection of codes downloaded into our brain and sent out into the environment. Nature and technology are based on codes and in the past these codes where more precise and more easily received and perceived by human beings, but the technology of today is a mixture of the codes and information that created our amazing reality. 

Would you like to take part in a creative programme linked to a scientific research laboratory such as the Arts@CERN?
Ali Karami: I would love to have such an amazing opportunity. Developing further installations and researches for creative programmes linked to an institution like CERN is not just a dream but the proverbial missing piece to my puzzle, as it would allow me to take my work onto the next level. 

What's the next step for your research in Quantum Theory and fashion?
Ali Karami: The concept of "Quantum Fashion" and fashion codes has two different research fields – the humanistic and the technological field. For what regards the former I would like to start a research group in other design schools all over the world in order and collect information about students working on this topic or on collections inspired by this subject. I would like to classify the personalities of the students and compare them and their chosen research subjects to discover the relation between personality and designs.

What are your immediate future plans?
Ali Karami: At the moment I am working as assistant in my university. I would like to send my dissertation around to other universities as my aim is to find people who are interested in further studies on the same subjects that fascinate me. I would really like to introduce further design students to the subject of "Quantum Fashion" via lectures and seminars. My plan is to complete my research and work on the possibility of proving the hypothesis suggested in my dissertation and develop it further. I think I will be in Milan for the next few years, but if I have the opportunity to complete my research in any other part of world, I will certainly embrace it. 

 

"Quantum Fashion" by Ali Karami is at E27, Via Edolo 27, Milan, Italy, until 30th October 2014 (opening hours: Monday to Friday: 7.00 p.m. - 9.00 p.m.)

All images in this post Courtesy Ali Karami

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Obituary: Oscar de la Renta (1932 - 2014), Tribute via Online Museum Archives

Finding an angle to re-tell the story of Oscar de La Renta - the fashion designer who died on Monday night at 82 - may be a difficult task as many tributes have already been paid, but maybe it's not impossible. Let's try by focusing on an iconic moment in the designer's life. 

In 1973 de la Renta was among the American designers who stormed Versailles at a benefit fashion show (featuring French designers Hubert de Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Emanuel Ungaro, Andre Oliver (Cardin) and Marc Bohan (Christian Dior) and American creators Halston, Anne Klein, Bill Blass and Stephen Burrows) to collect money for the restoration of the palace.

Model Billie Blair starred in the de la Renta segment of the show as a sensual genie who brought alive the colours donned by the models around her. So, while Barry White could be heard on the speakers, Blair evoked emerald greens and peaches, fuchsia nuances and yellow-gold shades. The riot of vibrant colours proved mesmerising for the audience, but also conjured visions of tropical landscapes dear to de la Renta. 

Óscar Arístides de la Renta Fiallo was indeed born in Santo Domingo in 1932 to a wealthy family. He studied art at The Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, Spain, and, soon after, he started working as apprentice at Cristóbal Balenciaga.

In 1960 de la Renta became couture assistant of Antonio Canovas del Castillo de Rey at Lanvin in Paris where he gained further experience in the world of Haute Couture and where he remained until 1963, the year he moved to the States. 

Mentored by Diana Vreeland, editor-in-chief of Vogue, de la Renta began designing haute couture gowns for Elizabeth Arden, joining Jane Derby in 1965. Derby retired soon and de la Renta took over, launching his own label, that throughout the years became known for high quality fabrics, ornate details and intricate embroideries. 

Married from 1967 to Françoise de Langlade, editor at French Vogue, de la Renta covered prestigious roles becoming the President of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (1973 to 1976; and 1986 to 1988) and was the recipient of many awards including the Coty in 1967 and 1968 and the CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989 (followed by the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year award in 2000, and again in 2007).

In 1989, six years after the death of his first wife, he married American publisher Annette Reed. The designer also showed his ready-to-wear collection in Paris for three seasons, in 1991 and 1992, and worked from 1992 to 2002 for Balmain's Haute Couture collections.

As the decades passed, his name became inextricably linked to Hollywood stars and red carpet events. Equally loved by the social and political establishment, he was known for dressing Jacqueline Kennedy, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and his latest conquest, Michelle Obama (on 8th October 2014 at the cocktail party after her White House Fashion Education Workshop). More recently, de la Renta was on the news for creating the ivory tulle wedding gown for Amal Alamuddin's marriage to George Clooney.

Widely considered by key fashion industry insiders as a charming and elegant man, the epitome of the true gentleman, since he launched his house in the '60s de la Renta developed a bridal line, fragrances and homeware collections. 

The business successfully relaunched in recent years and went into expansion, becoming once again relevant to younger clients also thanks to the efforts of his stepdaughter Eliza Bolen and her husband Alexander Bolen, CEO of the company.

In 2013, de la Renta controversially offered John Galliano a temporary studio residency, to allow him to return to the fashion industry after his fall from grace and consequent dismissal from Dior. Rumoured to be his successor, de la Renta had second thoughts about him, as Galliano would have wanted to replace the American designer's staff with his own. 

On 14th October 2014 – just a week before he died – de la Renta appointed British designer Peter Copping as his successor (he will start from early November and show his first collection in February). De la Renta is survived by his wife, Annette, as well as his son, Moyses de la Renta, and step-children, Beatrice Reed, Charlie Reed and Eliza Bolen. 

An unofficial ambassador for the Dominican Republic, where he built two homes in Casa de Campo and Punta Cana, de la Renta always showed strong links with his Latin heritage and background, producing romantic and feminine styles, with extravagant twists that borrowed from his time in Spain and France and that were never vulgar. 

A good way to get to discover or rediscover de la Renta's aesthetic is via online archives such as the Met Museum or the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art's. Both have several garments by the designer - from coats and dresses from the 1960s to evening gowns from the 1970s, cocktail dresses from the 1980s and '90s and separates from the 2000s. Some designs come in luxurious fabrics such as silk, others are characterised by eye-catching graphic motifs like as stripes or by sequinned embroideries.

Quite a few of the pieces stored in these archives show a clear derivation from French houses, and call to mind his apprenticeship at Balenciaga: the latter was known for being inspired by the attire of Spanish peasants, but also borrowed from Zurbarán, Velázquez and Goya's paintings, translating these influences in creations that looked architecturally perfect and elegant without being costumy.

The same could be said about Oscar de la Renta's designs. Yet, while looking more in depth into these archives and while spotting some gems here and there, always bear in mind Oscar de la Renta's ultimate fashion adage: "It's not about what you wear, but about how you live your life".

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Sound Patterns: Falling Records by Ei Wada

Let's continue the textile thread that started with yesterday's post by looking at a sound installation by Tokyo-based Japanese artist Ei Wada.

"Toki Ori Ori Nasu" (Falling Records) is an impressive work of art, suspended between film and media art that consists in four tall glass columns in which tape reels fall gracefully down to form intriguing and inspiring patterns.

Yet this sound tapestry is only temporary: when the reels are empty they indeed reverse and dramatic music starts playing in the background. 

The piece is inspired by Ei Wada's fascination with mix tapes, the obsession of a generation that was quickly out-fashioned by new technological devices such as digital music players.

The installation will be part of the "Next Gen Art: New Horizons" (21st November 2014 - 15th February 2015) exhibition at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, an event that will be looking at art and video gaming influencing each other and that will explore the connections between art movements such as Symbolism, Romanticism and Surrealism and the visual language of video games and at artists using games as an art form.

 

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