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

Conceptual Social Distancing Designs from the '60s: Ico Parisi's "Contenitori Umani"

Practicing social distancing to fight against Coronavirus has become the new normal in the last few months. Most public spaces have adopted signs, stickers and displays to remind us where we should sit, stand or stop, but maybe not many designers have developed projects with a conceptual twist about them inspired by the social distancing rule. If you're looking for inspirations from the past, check out the work of Ico Parisi (1916-1996). 

The Italian architect and designer studied in Lausanne and, from the '50s and throughout his career, he combined architecture and interior design with art. He designed experimental pieces, playing around with shapes, silhouettes and materials and creating elegant and timeless furniture for companies such as Cassina (his 875 armchair for them is a perfect example of a well-balanced design).

IIn 1954 he designed the Padiglione Soggiorno (Living Room Pavilion) for the X Triennale di Milano (Milan Triennial) and then his studio, La Ruota, founded with his wife Luisa in 1948, focused on private houses.

Already in the '50s Parisi started developing a concept for a living cell, conceived as an intimate and compact space for a human being, but he created the first prototypes of his highly experimental "Contenitori Umani" (Human Containers) in the '60s.

These pieces consisted in large blocks of expanded polyurethane foam with the outline of a human being resting or sleeping carved in the foam.

The block was supposed to be covered with a fiber glass and polyester resin shell, but the prototypes featured a sort of external metalic structure. The latter also featured four large metal rings that allowed the structure to be easily moved around.

Parisi devised different types of human containers - for one person or for a couple - this modular structure could be expanded with more containers that featured a studio or living room area, a playroom for children, a kitchen and a toilet.

The container was supposed to be electronically connected with a health support centre to monitor a resident who may have been ill without recurring to hospitalisation and there was also a container for children and young people that was instead connected with a central educational institution. Basically this modular structure allowed to change the composition of a house quickly by moving around the containers as if they were building blocks and choosing them in accordance with the needs of the people living in those spaces (this is also the main reason why the containers were devised as structures that could be hired rather than bought).

Simple, flexible and customisable, the human containers were supposed to be made in collaboration with artists and designers and Parisi researched some of these containers with Davide Boriani, Gianni Colombo and Gabriele De Vecchi, artists from the Milanese "Gruppo T", but in the end only two containers - for one person destined to meditation and sleep and for a couple, destined to intimate moments - were made in collaboration with sculptor Francesco Somaini.

There were obviously pros and cons behind these experimental designs: they were surely compact, flexible, modular and cheap spaces, representing a utopian form of design and a will to create innovative and futuristic habitable spaces, but they also hinted at modern society, new lifestyles, human self-destruction and alienation.

In a way Parisi's human containers anticipated modern social distancing, but also other aspects of our lives radically transformed by Coronavirus (think about online classes for students in our times and the way Parisi thought about a module connected to an educational institution) and they may still inspire contemporary designers new conceptual ideas to fight against this global pandemic.  

Back to Basics at Sonneveld House: Gijs Bakker's Jewellery & K. Schippers's Poems in Dialogue with Architecture

Museums and exhibitions have been slowly reopening all over the world after the long months of Coronavirus lockdown, but curators and event organisers have also been trying to come up with more intimate events that may be enjoyed by smaller numbers of people and maybe appreciated even more.

"Basics by Gijs Bakker and K. Schippers" (until 10th October 2021) at Sonneveld House, in Rotterdam, is one of such events and it is also an unusual exhibition of jewellery and poetry to be admired in a unique architectural context.

Renowned jewellery and industrial designer Gijs Bakker created throughout his career a variety of accessories and interior design pieces.

Dutch poet, prose writer and art critic K. Schippers (the pen name of Gerard Stigter) was inspired by the Dada movement - including artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Kurt Schwitters - and founded in the late '50s of the magazine Barbarber with J. Bernlef and G. Brands, which marked a shift from the expressive poetry of the Vijftigers to a focus on everyday reality.

While they both represent the creative arts, Bakker and Schippers also stand for different worlds - design and literature - and reuniting their creations in the same exhibition may seem rather odd.

Yet these two creative minds share something - a passion for examining what surrounds them and then reporting about it with words or through an iconic piece of jewellery. Besides, jewellery and poetry have something else in common and that's the fact that they convey a message in a compact form that can immediately reach out to people.

"Basics" features for example Bakker's "Plastic Soup" bangle (2012), inspired by the impact of plastic straws on the environment and made from straws in fluorescent colours covered with gold or silver, but also his "Black to White" necklace, a piece with the faces of Bakker's personal heroes, people of all skin colours.

This piece was created in 2016 to draw attention to persistent racism and xenophobia, but it is still relevant today (it is impossible to look at it and not think about the killing of George Floyd and the demonstrations that followed since then).

The jewellery (among the other pieces there are also Bakker's iconic abstract geometries from the '60s and his coloured stone butterfly brooch from 2008) and words on display around the house (poems are cleverly engraved on mirrors or printed on curtains) also create new connections and entertain alternative interpretations with the architecture of the house, a villa where people actually lived for many decades that was later on turned into a museum house.

Visitors can wander around the building (respecting obviously the Coronavirus restrictions), look at the jewellery, read the poems and make connections with the interior design (the majority of the furniture in the house was designed and manufactured by W.H. Gispen's company) on display and the architecture of the house, observing things from a distance and up close while thinking about the social activities that were carried out in the house in connection with spaces and objects.

Built between 1929 and 1933 Sonneveld House was designed by Brinkman & Van der Vlugt, one of the most important and most successful Dutch architecture practices in the inter-war years, the leading exponent of Functionalist architecture in the Netherlands.

Tea, coffee and tobacco manufacturer Van Nelle was Brinkman & Van der Vlugt's most important client in its early years and the directors of Van Nelle, including Albertus Sonneveld, commissioned the practice to design their own houses.

Albertus Sonneveld, his wife Gésine Sonneveld-Bos and their daughters Magdalena (also known as Puck) and Gesine (Gé) lived in Sonneveld House from 1933 to 1955. 

The house adheres to the principles of Functionalism - light, air and space (it is worth remembering that this is one of the best-preserved private houses in this style in the Netherlands) - and to the five points that Le Corbusier formulated in his book Vers une architecture (1921). In this case the building's function and the needs of the residents were more important to these architects than the building's monumentality, that's why this house was designed with efficiency in mind and was made with modern techniques and materials such as steel and concrete.

These are the basic principles behind Sonneveld House that visitors will have to take into consideration in conjunction with the "basics" of design in Gijs Bakker's jewellery pieces and K. Schippers's language to find new connection points between different arts.

Punching Away: Bunka Shishu According to Kansai Yamamoto

In the last two posts we examined the work of the late Japanese designer Kansai Yamamoto and looked at the way he often employed traditions as starting points for his designs. Yamamoto moved for example from the Kabuki theatre or from figures such as samurai warriors and incorporated certain inspirations into his designs as prints or as knitted elements. At times, the designer also attempted to create modern motifs using traditional techniques. In 1973 he produced indeed a series of designs - among them cotton or wool plain weave dresses and jackets - and decorated them with Bunka shishu.

The history of punch needle embroidery is long and for some researchers it goes back to ancient Egypt, for others to Medieval Europe. It consists in punching and looping a thread with a special needle through a cloth usually tacked onto a wooden frame like an embroidery hoop.

Bunka punch embroidery originated in Japan when rayon thread was invented. Rayon thread can be manipulated to create different textures and effects reminiscent of paintings that provide great visual effects and depth as well. 

Kansai's dresses were inspired by the 1970s Japanese trend for mid-calf to ankle-length peasant-style dresses. In his case he turned the idea into a sort of fun halter neck piece in which the embroidered flower had a decorative and functional purpose as it covered the breasts, creating a sensual and innovative shape and motif.

The dress could be matched with a short, full-sleeved jacket with buttons along the left shoulder, The designs were decorated with his name and with large red lotus flowers in punch needle embroidery.

These designs also referenced in a clever way Kansai Yamamoto's life: the name of punch needle embroidery - bunka - was indeed a play on the name of the Bunka Fashion College where the designer studied, graduating in 1967. 

Want to try your hand at this technique that is actually not too difficult and can be also a relaxing way to fight against modern anxieties and worries? Check out on the Internet and you will easily find not just information and books about punch needle embroidery, but also learning videos illustrating the technique at different levels, from amateur to professional.

From a Samurai from Space to a Samurai from Another Age

In yesterday's posts we mentioned some of the Japanese inspirations of the late designer Kansai Yamamoto, including the yakko, a caricature of a Japanese warrior, often featured on masks in Japanese Kabuki theatre, and samurai.

Among the designs inspired by samurai warriors that Kansai Yamamoto created for David Bowie there is also the "Space Samurai" jumpsuit.

Similar to the "Tokyo Pop" suit for its shape, this creation was based on the hakama, traditional Japanese men's trousers worn under the kimono, but it was made of quilted metallic black, red and blue material.

Apart from the shape, also the construction of the garment was inspired by Japanese traditions. Silver snaps ran from the tops of the sleeves to the cuffs, allowing the wearer to change the costume really quickly. 

This feature linked the "Samurai Suit" to the Hayagawari (早替り, "quick change") in the kabuki theatre.

This was done using strings that could pull off or pull apart a top layer of costume to reveal another costume underneath. In the hikinuki technique the outermost layer is held on with only a few threads that are pulled by stage assistants allowing this outer costume layer to come off quickly and easily.

In the case of David Bowie, who donned the "Space Samurai" suit at a concert in 1974, Yamamoto's costume was removed by The Astronettes on stage to reveal a dark green costume with pink satin keyhole and a peeping eye underneath.

While the Hayagawari technique may provide some inspirations for a fashion presentation, guaranteeting a quick change of looks, if you're looking for further samurai moods, check out Stillfried & Andersen's Album of Photographs from Japan. The album by this photographic studio founded by Baron Raimund von Stillfried and Hermann Andersen that operated in Yokohama, Japan, between 1876 and 1885 is to go on auction today at Sotheby's.

While not many of us may be able to buy it (it is estimated to fetch between 10,000 and 15,000 GBP), we can all look at some of the hand-tinted costume studies taken from this album and available online. The shapes, prints and motifs of the costumes portrayed and the delicate colours characterising the images look different from Kansai Yamamoto's pop interpretation of his culture, but they still look poetically inspiring.     

Fashion Obituary: In the Fashion Kaleidoscope with Kansai Yamamoto (1944 - 2020)

Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto (山本 寛斎, Yamamoto Kansai) passed away on July 21, after suffering acute myeloid leukemia since March 2020. His death was announced by his daughter, actress Mirai Yamamoto, through the official Instagram account of the designer.

Born in 1944 in Yokohama, Japan, Kansai Yamamoto studied civil engineering in high school, majoring in English at Nippon University before he decided to quit his studies and pursue his dreams.

He entered Junko Koshino's workshop as a stitcher, and, in 1967, won a major award, the Soen prize by the Bunka Fashion College. Four years later, in 1971, he opened his own company and showcased his first collection in London and in the United States at Hess's Department Store in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Vogue Italia celebrated Japan with a long reportage about fashion and culture published on the June 1971 issue. The fashion section of the shoot was an exploration of different cities in Japan and Tokyo featured a picture of Kansai Yamamoto, radiantly smiling, flanked by two models.

The magazine stated his designs were pure avant-garde and that Yamamoto combined traditions with pop. In the photograph accompanying the piece about Tokyo, Yamamoto wore a second skin tattoo shirt (that perfectly matched with the print on his umbrella) an intarsia vest with the Japanese character spelling the word "sushi", baseball style pants accessorised with a tubular neon coloured belt and knee-high black boots (the models wore instead designs by Raphaëlle; sandals by Bologna & Figli).

His kaleidoscopic, colourful and flamboyant creations and theatrical layered garments were supposed to spread "genki", a Japanese word meaning having energy, pep, or health, and were inspired by the Japanese word "Basara" that means to dress freely, with a stylish extravagance. This concept is indeed the opposite of the Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic, that is something underplayed and modest. 

In his bright and bold colours Yamamoto would combine inspirations from Japanese culture and traditions such as elements from the Kabuki theatre or the face of a Kabuki samurai actor, irezumi tattoos (popular in Japan during the Edo period), traditional Japanese firefighters' clothing (the "bull's eye" cape was for example constructed from a full circle of fabric, like the capes worn by samurai fire wardens) and a samurai archer's target, the kasumi-mato. His high-heeled clogs were inspired by traditional Japanese okobo, lacquered platform geta with straps worn during the summer by apprentice geisha.  

Yamamoto developed a reputation as an avant-garde designer and soon became well-known for his connection with David Bowie. He designed for him many futuristic stage costumes that contributed to the creation of the Ziggy Stardust character.

After his final collection (Autumn/Winter 1992), he lent his name to licensed products (including eyeglasses and tableware), and designed the Skyliner train, unveiled in 2010, that connects Japan's Narita Airport with central Tokyo.

He also started producing his "Super Shows". Organised in Moscow, New Delhi and Tokyo, these events combined fashion with music, dance and entertainment on a large scale. Throughout the decades he collaborated with many different brands, including Louis Vuitton (he developed kabuki-inspired patterns and prints for the luxury house's Resort 2018 collection).

In 2013 the Victoria & Albert Museum in London organised a "Fashion in Motion" event dedicated to Kansai Yamamoto, that included archive pieces spanning his entire career plus specially made pieces. The show also featured recreations of some of his designs worn by David Bowie on the 1973 Aladdin Sane tour, such as the "Tokyo Pop" vinyl suit, characterised by a black and white optical motif and a striking shape.

Anticipated by another similar costume that appeared in 1971 on the cover of Harpers and Queen magazine (photographed by Hiroshi Yoda), the suit was characterised by a shape reminiscent of traditional Japanese clothes such as wide leg samurai pants, but also borrowed from other designs including Oskar Schlemmer's costumes for the Triadisches Ballett. Donned during a concert at the Long Beach Arena in Los Angeles (10th March 1973), the suit reappered again in 1989 in a photoshoot of David Bowie by Herb Ritts.

Bowie's androgyny fascinated Yamamoto who saw him as the perfect model for his genderless designs such as his body-con knitted jumpsuits (often included in exhibitions about Bowie) and intarsia jumpers featuring large masks or the caricatured face of the yakko, the servant of samurai during the Edo period in Japan, graphic motifs that went on inspiring many contemporary designers and collections including Givenchy's A/W 17.

In 2008, an exhibit named "Netsuki Shinten: Kansai Genki Shugi" (or "Passionate Exhibit: The Energy Principle of Kansai") was held at the Edo-Tokyo Museum. In 2009, a major retrospective of Yamamoto's work was exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, while Yamamoto received an indirect tribute last year when Mattel released a "David Bowie" Barbie dressed in a mini replica of a costume designed for the singer by Freddie Burretti alongside Kansai Yamamoto, matched with boots designed and made by Kansai Yamamoto.

In a message on the Instagram page of the designer. Mirai Yamamoto, the designer's daugher stated: "In my eyes, my father was not only the eclectic and energetic soul that the world knew him as, but someone who was also thoughtful, kind-hearted, and affectionate. He valued communication and showered me with love throughout my entire life."

"He also taught me to persist throughout failures and to never let go of a positive, forward-looking mindset. He viewed challenges as opportunities for self-development and always believed in the brighter days ahead." His daughter promised she will continue working at Kansai Super Studio, alongside her acting career, and spread Kansai Yamamoto's spirit of "Genki" to the world.  

Couture Velvets for Sacred Spaces

It is maybe rare nowadays to visit a Catholic church and find certain architectural features, such as columns, partitions or sections of walls, covered in decorative fabrics. Yet this tradition of dressing up architectures in precious textiles still exists in Italy, especially for what regards historical churches. In these rare cases the fabrics covering the architectural elements are often made by prestigious historical companies, such as Tessitura Bevilacqua, famous for its velvets. 

This company started collaborating with churches supplying textiles for liturgical furnishings and vestments after receiving important awards at the Brussels Universal Exposition in 1910 and the International Exposition of Turin in 1928.

After working closely with the Vatican and dressing churches and basilicas in their soft and luxurious velvets, Bevilacqua also received the title of "papal supplier" in the '50s.

Creating velvets for sacred spaces and architectures is not a mean feat as you must know your historical and biblical references and iconography and be able to borrow from different times and styles (early Christian symbolisms are often combined with Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical elements) to create unique designs that complement the architectures.

The archives of the Tessitura Bevilacqua preserve samples of precious velvets designed for various churches. Among them there are samples of soprarizzo ivory velvet on gold created for the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Praglia.

Designed in 1934 this velvet featured motifs from the Eucharistic liturgy (such as the Paschal lamb, grapes hinting at the blood of Christ, an anchor representing hope, a dolphin symboling salvation and the Eucharistic pelican, an allegory of Christ's supreme sacrifice) harmoniously combined with the coats of arms that identify the patron.

The company opted instead for a crimson silk soprarizzo velvet for the Benedictine monks of the Santa Giustina church in Padua. Created again in 1934 this design revolves around floral motifs such as leaves and pomegranate flowers enclosing the initials of saints venerated in the church.

Some of the most beautiful velvets created by Tessitura Bevilacqua decorate the churches in and around Venice: the Cathedral of Caorle, boasts handwoven soprarizzo "Fioroni" (Large Flowers) velvets with large floral motifs of Baroque inspiration; red and gold soprarizzo velvets with rococo floral motifs also decorate the basilica of the Madonna della Salute.

The Sant’Alvise velvet in the eponymous church features instead a sunflower, peonies and hazel twigs. Sunflowers indicate devotion and peonies, on the other hand, are often used as a symbol of the Virgin.

The high altar with the Coronation of the Virgin altarpiece and the pillars of the presbytery of the church of San Zulian, characterized by an explosion of naturalistic elements typical of the "Jardinière" motifs are upholstered with Bevilacqua's handwoven soprarizzo velvets with a gilded ground and red architectural elments with spaces between them filled by lozenges, flowers, berries, grapes and buds. 

There was a long philological research behind these velvets: as documents about the original San Zulian's fabrics were lost, these fabrics were recreated following descriptions from oral sources and by drawing comparisons with other "giardino" velvets. But the research aspect and the symbolisms behind these fabrics are just some of the reasons why these textiles dressing sacred spaces are unique: being handwoven these textiles can indeed be considered as couture fabrics destined to add visual - and tactile - enrichment to these spaces.

A Masked Tribute to Key Workers by Freyja Sewell

As seen in the previous post, many creative minds all over the world remained active even during the Coronavirus lockdown. Inspired by quarantine, face masks intended as protective devices, but also by fetish masks, London-based designer Freyja Sewell came up with eight decorative face masks.

Made from everyday objects including felt and yoghurt pots, the masks are not intended as a medical devices or as personal protective equipment (PPE), but they are part of a visual project Sewell published on her Instagram page to honour the key workers during the Coronavirus pandemic and send them a sort of visual thank you note (with photographs by Sara Marinangeli).

One of the first masks Sewell published was inspired by sci-fi and was dedicated to workers from the communication and financial services, from the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors, and from information technology and data infrastructure (just to mention a few ones), and, while the mask was made with a piece of chain mail fabric, the designer recycled wires and cables to create a halo-like structure around her head. 

Journalists and broadcasters were celebrated with a mask in BBC red and three objects similar to microphones used as head props, while yellow was the colour the designer employed for a circular mask with a visor covered with mathematical formulas and childish drawings to celebrate education and teaching staff.

A high vis-jacket was accessorised with a mask with a shape evoking the roundel, London's underground logo, to hint at transport workers, and a green felt mask evoking organic forms found in nature reminded people of all those ones working in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery.

Sewell opted for a neon yellow shade to remember public safety and national security workers (including the police, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel, fire and rescue services, prison and probation staff) and she used yoghurt pots, beer cans and a painted pool table triangle to make this mask.

Political leaders and civil servants and people working in local and national government were celebrated with a purple shade and a mask that incorporated a piece of a plastic crate.

The most striking mask was maybe the one dedicated to the health and social care workers, such as doctors, nurses, midwives and paramedics. This sky blue (a colour inspired by standard PPE employed by healthcare workers) mask covering the face and neck made with pleated cotton linen recycled from a theatre costume was intended to be a sort of superhero costume, but called to mind in its structure the shape of armours, while the halo-like head prop pointed at religious iconography.

Sewell's Key Workers masks were also inspired by her passions and interests and, in particular by sci-fi and Buddhism, but the best thing about them is not just the message of solidarity they send, but also the fact that all the materials she employed to make the pieces were recycled and reinvented, reminding us that, yes, creativity is everywhere, even in lockdown.

Community Quarantine: Oscar Murillo's "ética y estética" @ Parroquia Santa Barbara, La Paila, Colombia

Each of us spent the Coronavirus lockdown in different ways, from smartworking to cooking, from reading or learning a new skill to nurturing our creativity.

Colombian-born artist Oscar Murillo has been quarantined for months in his hometown of La Paila, where he remained creative by focusing on a new series of paintings. The latter were then displayed as part of an exhibition entitled "ética y estética" at the local church of Santa Barbara.

The abstract paintings feature Murillo's trademark scratching, scribbles and doodles and names of food - "chorizo," "maiz," and "carne", for example.

Murillo's fans may remember how he used these terms in his early works and how the terms were also featured in an advertising campaign for Comme des Garçons' Shirt line. These early works were also popular among Murillo's collectors: a painting with the word "Burrito" scrawled across the top in bright yellow sold indeed for $322,870 at an auction in 2014.

Yet now the aim and purpose of these words have changed: in these new paintings, the terms are partially or totally obliterated as a metaphor to hint at the precariousness of life and at the fact that some people may not be able to afford these bare necessities at this moment.

The paintings represent contrasting elements in the church as they create a chaotic disruption in the simplicity of the pristine chapel, but, at the same time, they engage in a dialogue with religion, reminding us about the need to feed the body and to nurture the soul as well (these paintings displayed in the church spaces rather than in an art gallery, also prompt us to think about the artificially inflated modern art market and about the fact that most people can't afford any works of art...).

The exhibition represents also a sort of ritual, a tribute to the act of coming together in celebration: while Murillo is not a fan of organised religion he acknowledges the importance of parishes for many communities. In fact, during the Coronavirus lockdown, he also turned his studio into a distribution centre to supply food to the village and collaborated with the local church to share essential goods. 

The event was inspired by an eponymous 2016 performance Murillo did at the village in which local people marched with painted placards to the statue of Hernando Caicedo (1890-1966), founder the Colombina candy factory, that employs many of the residents (four generations of his family worked here, including his mother and, in 2014, the factory inspired him the project "A Mercantile Novel"). 

The performance celebrated the prosperity brought by the factory, but also the fact that workers get exploited in factories as they often receive low wages for their hard work.

Murillo is represented by David Zwirner, but this is one of the many exhibitions that will be taking place offsite. People from all over the world will be able to enjoy the event as well by accessing it online at this site.

Luminous Optical Fiber Tapestries to Dispel the Darkness: Daniel Buren X Bergamo

Lombardy was the Italian region hit the hardest by the spread of Coronavirus. In March Bergamo turned into the epicenter of the tragedy: pictures and footage of the convoy of military vehicles carrying hundreds of coffins away from the city at night as the local graveyard was full, were the most shocking and moving images of the pandemic in Italy. While nobody will ever manage to forget those terrifying moments and the sorrow, pain and anxiety felt during those long weeks of lockdown, Bergamo is trying to stand up again with an art project that will hopefully bring back lights and colours to the city.

The exhibition "Daniel Buren per Bergamo. Illuminare lo spazio, lavori in situ e situati" (Daniel Buren for Bergamo. Lighting up the space, on site and situated works; on until 20th November) opened indeed last week at the Palazzo della Ragione.

Organised by Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo (GAMeC), the exhibition features works that move from Buren's first experiments in 1965 with outdoor sun shades.

The French artist used at the time sun shades conceiving them as backgrounds for his minimalist "degree zero" paintings characterised by vertical white and coloured 8.7 cm strips that then turned into the artist's trademark.

There is something unusual for Buren in this Bergamo-based installation - for the first time in his life Buren didn't work in situ. Because of the Coronavirus restrictions he had to reinvent his modus operandi and, like many of us, had to work remotely, providing his instructions from France to the team in Italy.

The installation combines the outdoor shade format with Buren's passion for lights and colourful landscapes. Visitors stepping into the of the Medieval Sala delle Capriate will indeed find themselves in a futuristic environment filled with optical fiber canvases, showcased for the first time in Italy after they were displayed in a number of major European galleries and museums.

The luminous fabrics, in soft pink, grass green, lemon yellow, burnt orange and sky blue and characterised by Buren's trademark stripes and geometrical motifs, create a new spatial dimension and an unprecedented dialogue with the space where they are installed.

The Palazzo was indeed the place where the administrative and judicial functions of the city were performed, but the canvases represent a contrast in this historical location.

The works should be considered as paintings and sculptures from the future that talk to the past, represented by the architectural elements of the palazzo and the frescoes that were removed from the city's houses and churches to be preserved in this space in the 1980s.

Buren's works recontextualise the historical space, while they are also used in a conceptual and metaphorical way: they are here to dispel the darkness of a global pandemic and a local tragedy, they aren't white burial shrouds, but bright fabrics, shining through the night, reminding visitors that the light always follows darkness.

As optical fiber fabrics have already been used in fashion, you naturally wonder if these works will inspire some kind of fashion collaboration in the future.

Time will tell, but, in the meantime, let's hope that these shiny striped canvases and tapestries of minimalist light will bring visitors hope and rekindle a collective sense of wonder that too many of us lost in the worst months of this global pandemic.

Image credits for this post

Images 1, 5 and 10
Daniel Buren, Fibres optiques tissées.
Illuminare lo spazio, lavori in situ e situati, GAMeC, Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo, 2013 - 2020
© Daniel Buren by SIAE 2020
Photographs by Lorenzo Palmieri

Images 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 
Daniel Buren, Fibres optiques tissées. Detail
Illuminare lo spazio, lavori in situ e situati, GAMeC, Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo, 2013 - 2020
© Daniel Buren by SIAE 2020
Photographs by Lorenzo Palmieri

Image 9 
Daniel Buren, Fibres optiques - Vert. K1, Detail
Illuminare lo spazio, lavori in situ e situati, GAMeC, Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo, 2013 - 2020
© Daniel Buren by SIAE 2020
Photographs by Lorenzo Palmieri

Purple Promises: Maurizio Galante Haute Couture A/W 2020

The digital format of the Haute Couture week in Paris may be awkward for those ones who usually attend the shows in person, but it may open wide the doors of the high fashion world to a larger number of fashion fans and prove beneficial to less known designers. Among them there is Maurizio Galante, a very talented Italian fashion, costume and interior designer whose refined and elegant collections can usually only be appreciated by critics and customers.

For this edition of Haute Couture Week Galante showcased his collection with a short film available also on YouTube, entitled "A promise". Inspired by the night, the collection in tones of purple, mauve, blue and black, was shot in the studio of the couturier.

Starring Somalian model Amalia Vairelli, muse to Yves Saint Laurent, the collection features voluminous capes and kaftans with pleated, folded and layered motifs, a textile vocabulary that galante speaks fluently and that is partially reminiscent of Roberto Capucci.

The main protagonists of the film are the designs: as the model goes down the staircase, a narrative of fabrics unravels and we see her in a different design as she walks down from one floor to the next.

There is emphasis on sculpturally perfect volumes and architectural shapes (it is worth remembering that it took over 500 hours to make some of these designs) that, rather than caging the body like more structured and classic Haute Couture gowns, allow the wearer to move freely.

We see Vairelli wearing a grid-like tunic, then a design in which swirls of fabric form infinite roses and finally a grand and voluminous gown in a beautiful shade of purple-mauve.

The collection pays homage to those moments of anticipation that precede a special encounter or event, those instants during which everything seems possible, while inviting us to consider the symbolism behind the purple, lilac, violet, ink and black and blue nuances.

The main colour chosen for this collection is indeed very symbolic: purple has long been associated with royalty (originally because Phoenician purple dye was extremely expensive in antiquity), but also with magic and mystery, penitence (in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic liturgy), mourning, vanity, extravagance, individualism and ambiguity (it is made by combining two primary colours, so it is seen as uncertain and equivocal).

While it is a colour that occurs the least frequently in nature, purple was originally made using something that came from nature, the famous murex purple extracted from molluscs, while in Scotland purple dyes were made with lichen dyes such as orchil.

Purple was the first colour to be synthesized: in 1856, a British chemistry student named William Henry Perkin produced the first synthetic aniline dye, a purple shade called mauveine, shortened simply to mauve. It took its name from the mallow flower, which is the same color. A series of modern industrial dyes followed and they completely transformed both the chemical industry and fashion. This progression from natural to synthetic dyes is almost mirrored in this collection that features gowns in natural materials such as silk and cotton juxtaposed to synthetic materials like transparent vinyl strips. 

Art-wise, purple was popular with the pre-Raphaelite painters and it was also the favourite colour of Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, who often included in his paintings sensual purples and violets. Associated with social change, it was one of the colours of the Women's Suffrage movement for the right to vote for women in the early decades of the century.

It is possible to explore this collection from different points of view, themes, ideas and concepts, but let's hope that its main purpose will be just one - allowing Galante to reach out to a wider audience.