The vocabulary of architecture mainly features hard materials - cement, stone, glass, metal and so on. Yet the editorial for the March 1982 issue of Domus was entitled "In praise of fabric". Italian architect and designer Alessandro Mendini explained in it that he was utterly fascinated by "the sweet tendernes of 'soft' designs" as opposed to the more conventional materials employed in architecture.
Mendini then launched in a personal ode to textiles, imagining a world made of fabrics, "I am fascinated by every kind of fabric. I'd like to line all rooms with carpets, cushions, tapestries and festoons. All soft rooms, made only of fabric. But in a utopian sense, I should also like to see streets in fabric, façades in fabric, arches in fabric, statues in fabric, furniture and cars in fabric, as well as clothes, mattresses, tablecloths, curtains, windscreens, and aeroplanes in fabric."
"Fabric alleviates the hardness of life, it quietens the inside of the house and leads back into the maternal womb," he concluded.
Mendini's vision of a world made of textiles and a return to the maternal womb was symbolised on the cover of the magazine by a pastel-coloured interior space covered in Alcantara fabrics, with a series of lamps - Ettore Sottsass's Callimaco (for Artemide), Gyula Pap's Pap Stehlampe and Gregoretti Associati's Segno 1 (for Fontana Arte) - in the background.
The model inhabiting this soft environment donned a design by the late artist and fashion designer Cinzia Ruggeri. This design was known as the "Statue of Liberty" overalls as the pattern and shape of the jumpsuit reproduced the pose of the Statue of Liberty, while the flame was stylised and evoked by the soft spikes protruding from the design. This creation was also known as "Sleeves to the Wind" overalls as the garment integrated a ventilation system that allowed the wearer to inflate the cones on the overalls, creating soft spikes that perfectly embodied Mendini's concept of soft (and in this case wearable) architectures.
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