In the previous post we looked at a geological inspiration, so let's continue the thread today by exploring the possibilities offered to designers by layered structures like the ziggurat.
Designed and Produced in Italy, the silk and lurex terraced and architectural "Ziggurat Dress" by Cinzia Ruggeri (A/W 1984-85) featured in this post was inspired by the Mesopotamian ziggurat and by the passion of the designer for staircases.
Ceremonies and rituals were usually performed on top of the ziggurat, a sort of cosmic mountain on which gods dwelled. The priest's ascent up the stairway to the temple at the top of the ziggurat represented the ascent to heaven and the ziggurat was part of a temple complex around which a city was built.
Among the examples of such structures in the world there is the Tchogha Zanbil ziggurat at the site of the ancient city of Elam, in today's Khuzestan province in southwest Iran. This ziggurat originally measured 105.2 m on each side and about 53 m in height, it was layered in five levels and was crowned with a temple, so its original configuration (shown in the reconstructed image in this post) looked a little bit like this dress.
In this case the wearer inhabits the temple and behaves like the goddess that protects and enchants. The design will be part of the Quadriennale exhibition "Fuori" at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome (30th October 2020 - 17th January 2021).
Comments