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

When Ugly Fashion Backfires (Never Underestimate the Potential of That Fashion Collab with Lidl)

Miuccia Prada came up with the concept of "ugly chic", a superficially casual, but actually very studied juxtaposition of different ideas, colours, shapes and textures that does not respect conventional canons of beauty. Ugly chic is about combining together contrasting and at times undesirable designs, pieces that insinuate doubts and create cracks in our definition of "good taste", producing an innovative effect while challenging our preconceptions.

Alessandro Michele at Gucci took the concept further creating an aesthetic revolving around the concept of "buone cose di pessimo gusto" (good things in awful taste), to quote Italian poet Guido Gozzano, assemblages of layered fashion designs, conglomerates of colours and styles to create a supposedly geeky aesthetic, a mix of bohemian moods, librarian chic, glamour and grandma styles. Yet it should be noted that the sense of unconventional beauty in both Prada and Michele's collections for Gucci is still produced by combining a series of luxury items.

Younger generations of designers such as Demna Gvasalia at Vêtements and Balenciaga took the ugly discourse further with rather questionable experiments that combined not just unstylish shapes and silhouettes, but introduced commercial pieces not necessarily made with high quality materials or ordinary accessories reinvented in high-end materials. And so we saw on the runways the (now forgotten) DHL T-shirts, the horrific mammoth-like platform Crocs covered in decorative pins, bags with motifs of skylines ripped from kitsch souvenir bags and an Ikea's Frakta bag reinterpreted in leather and transformed into a luxury item. The prices for such "designer" products remained rather high.

But what would happen if tables would turn? What if, rather than having high-end pieces creating an ugly aesthetics that becomes acceptable as the fashion norm or taking a cheap product and transforming it into a luxury product, we would have a cheap product that would unexpectedly elevate itself and gain cult status? Well, don't waste your time making theories because German hard discount chain Lidl has just provided us with the answer.

A few months ago Lidl launched cheap sneakers in UK, Belgium, Germany, Finland and The Netherlands. A trend started and soon the limited edition sneakers in the blue, red and yellow combination of colours reminiscent of the hard discount logo, became a covetable product. Soon they went sold out, but expectations were high again when it was reently announced the sneakers were going to be released in Italy on 16th November.

The shoes were part of the "Lidl Fan Collection" together with pool slides, socks and T-shirts. We must use the past tense ("were") because, despite Italy is going through a second Coronavirus alert with many regions facing red zone restrictions and with a national curfew (from 10.00 pm to 5.00 am), the shoes went sold out all over the country in just a couple of hours. 

People started queueing outside Lidl stores at dawn on Monday and by 7.30 am all the products were gone, something that genuinely puzzled Lidl shop assistants who obviously never thought they may have witnessed such frenzy for such an ordinary product. Soon memes spawned about the coveted sneakers that soon started appearing on eBay, at incredible prices. At the time of writing there is a seller offering them at €799 and another at €2,200. There are also bundles of Lidl branded products being offered on eBay, while the most astonishing offer sets the price at around €60,000 (or you can start bidding from €35,000...).

Now you may superficially justify the rush to buy the Lidl products with the fact that Coronavirus had an impact on the spending abilities of many consumers. We are definitely all on the lookout for a good bargain and surely Lidl's producs fit the bill (in Italy the shoes sold at €12,99; the pool slides €4,99 and the socks €2,99, while in other countries there were even lower prices with the socks being sold at €1 and T-shirt and slides at €3,99).

But in reality here we had a very different mechanism, worthy of an essay about fashion, consumerism and marketing strategies: the behaviour of these consumers was indeed more similar to that of streetwear enthusiasts who queue up in front of their favourite stores before a "drop" by a cult label such as Supreme. In this case, though, the "drop" focused on very cheap products that created a trend on their own. In a way, it was as if consumers, realising that fashion often engages in psychological and visual horror (hands up those of you who grew up between the '70s and the early '80s abhorring the then fashionable brown leather men's mocassins and now cringe at Gucci's nerds proudly wearing them?) producing garments and accessories sold at ridiculously high prices, decided to create their own horror trend with a satirical twist using a cheap fast fashion product, turning it into an exclusive must-have and selling it at Haute Couture prices. 

In a nutshell, if fashion goes crazy and takes the piss out of consumers, then consumers for a Dantesque contrappasso-like punishment, are now taking the piss out of fashion by using its strategies and applying it to very unfashionable products sold next to compressors and cheeses rather than in painfully hip boutiques. 

Therefore, the sneakers from the "Lidl Fan Collection" seem to act as a final leveller: a few years ago wearing a DHL shirt while not working for DHL meant you had status since you could afford an expensive designer piece. If you're wearing Lidl shoes, you may be doing so because you can only afford cheap shoes, because - bless you - you don't take yourself too seriously or because you are actually rich enough to buy them on eBay at extremely high prices. While Lidl has unexpectedly become the driving force behind a trend that reunites ordinary people and impenitent fashionistas, the most hilarious thing about this surprising story remains the fact that this wasn't a fashion collaboration and you know that somewhere in the world there are designers now banging their heads against walls, maybe realising you should never underestimated the potential of that fashion collab with Lidl.

Why Is Cultural Appropriation Always Fashionable?

Coronavirus may have changed our lives and revolutionised the way we create and present fashion. Yet there are some things that never change. We have the entire world within easy reach thanks to the Internet; we can check out museum collections and leaf through the digitalised contents of libraries or visit exhibitions even when institutions are closed, but, when it comes to inspirations, you often see some ideas - quite often not the best ones - returning collections after collections.

Take the example of Isabel Marant. The French designer was recently at the centre of a case of appropriation regarding pieces from her Autumn/Winter 2020-21 Etoilé collection (but some motifs also appear in the A/W 20 menswear collection). One of the designs included in that collection, a cape, featured stripes and a starburst pattern reminiscent of the jorongos (blanket-like shawls) from the Purépecha communities of Mexico's Michoacán state (with other patterns and embroideries similar to the ones from Tlaxcala, San Luis Potosí and Oaxaca). So Mexican culture Minister Alejandra Frausto wrote to Marant and enquired about her use of indigenous Mexican patterns.

Frausto wondered in her letter why Marant was trying to privatise "collective property" and employing cultural elements that benefit Mexican communities. Marant answered with a letter (undersigned by Marant herself and by brand Chief Executive Officer Anouck Duranteau-Loeper) that Frausto recently published via Twitter.

In the letter Marant apologised and stated the brand focuses on openness towards other cultures and traditions, so she felt sad about the incident as her intention was to pay homage rather than culturally appropriate the design. The designer also announced the company remained at the entire disposal of the Mexican government.

Now, while it is honourable that the company answered the letter, it must also be noted that Isabel Marant is not new to such attacks. The designer included in her Spring/Summer 2015 Étoile collection a blouse that seemed entirely lifted from the 600-year-old traditional dress of the indigenous Mixe community living in the village of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, Oaxaca, southern Mexico.

At the time Oaxacan singer Susana Harp actually brought the issue to attention by tweeting a picture of the blouse and asked to remove the blouse from the collection and pay damages as well. Mexican embroideries returned also in Marant's S/S 2009 collection.

The A/W 20-21 Etoilé collection seems to be an updated version of the S/S 2015 collection and, even though the embroidered blouse is not included in this collection, there are different motifs that prove this was another season heavily inspired by Mexican patterns, embroideries, shapes and styles.

In the past we have seen several other brands that moved from Mexico as an inspiration for their collections, among them also Carolina Herrera, Louis Vuitton, Zara and Mango, but you would expect that those fashion designers and brands criticised once such as Marant would have by now learnt their lessons.

Instead it looks like the process of borrowing and incorporating - in a nutshell of appropriating - the cultural and textile canons of specific populations has returned in Marant's practice and is still trending.  

This is damaging on different levels: appropriating means borrowing a motif, separating it from its context and reapplying it in another. It is also not so rare to see specific symbols or patterns usually linked with profound meanings and often preserved thanks to artisans who passed them from generation to generation, being disrespectfully incorporated in commercial pieces that, being produced by high-end brands also have high price points compared to traditional pieces (on Etsy an elaborate jorongo costs less than $100; Marant's designs are definitely more expensive and the cape from the A/W 2020-21 Etoilé collection will set you back $582).

So what can be done to improve things? Well, in the history of fashion, as stated in a previous post, there have been designers who moved from a traditional pattern like a Mexican motif and re-elaborated it (remember Bonnie Cashin's bags?). But in more recent years there has been a new and very welcomed practice: working side by side with specific artisans from other countries, making sure that a collection or some designs from that collection are created respecting the cultural heritage of a community and even helping it financially and socially. In a way this could be a great idea not for the distant future, but something that should be applied sooner rather than later by the fashion industry (there are already quite a few fashion brands who have adopted this modus operandi, something that makes sense also if we think about producing smaller and therefore more sustainable collections).

The issue of borrowing a traditional motif from indigenous communities is not just annoying towards that community, it also falls into the copyright infringement category, and for what regards Mexico there have been politicians who have campaigned to improve and toughen the copyright laws protecting traditional patterns and the collective rights of the Mexican communities. Frausto Guerrero hopes that in future fashion designers will become allies of indigenous populations rather than dangerous competitors, but better copyright laws may help Mexico.

Traditional heritage, including craftsmanship, is protected by the United Nations' Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, but in some cases there are specific acts that protect the rights of indigenous populations. For example, in the United States the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA) of 1990, protects the work of Native American nations. The act was invoked also in relatively recent cases such as the 2012 Navajo Nation lawsuit against Urban Outfitters for products (including the "Navajo Hipster Panty" and "Navajo Hip Flask") that were infringing copyright and violating commercial law (the case settled with a licensing agreement between Urban Outfitters and the Navajo Nation). The Navajo Nation even went on to created an intellectual property department in 2019 that enforces trademarks and facilitate the licensing of its intellectual property.

So while more indigenous populations will probably start working along the same lines and come up with their own intellectual property department, the first step towards eliminating the appropriation issue in fashion is for designers and fashion houses to stop and think before producing a piece that moves from a traditional garment or even launch collaborations with artisans that may bring an added value to contemporary collections.

Restored Art, Timeless Patterns: Pietro Lorenzetti's "Virgin and Child" Polyptych

Most museums are shut in Europe at the moment due to new Coronavirus lockdowns, but this moment of pause allows us to reshift our attention on other aspects linked with art rather than just look at exhibitions. One aspect we may focus on, for example, is the restoration of paintings and works of art, something that may prove inspiring also for fashion or interior designers.

It was for example recently announced that the restoration of Pietro Lorenzetti's "Madonna con Bambino, Santi, Annunciazione e Assunzione" (Virgin and Child with Saints, Annunciation and Assumption, 1320), was finally completed (after 6 long years) and the altarpiece, a well-known example of Italian Gothic painting, is ready to go back to its place in the Santa Maria Parish Church in Arezzo.

One of the most famous paintings from the 1300s, the three-storey polyptych was commissioned in 1320 by bishop Guido Tarlati who asked Lorenzetti to paint beautiful pictures in fine colours on golden backgrouds. The artwork by the Sienese painter was completed in 1324 and in the centuries that followed it went through a series of restorations - at the end of the 1800s, in 1916 and 1976. Besides, the polyptych was dismembered and some parts were lost, so the artwork looks less monumental than it was in its origin.

The surface of the painting was often cleaned but the latest restoration managed remove residues from the 1976 restoration, allowing in this way to rediscover quite a few dusty painted and gold sections.

The artwork was then cleaned at the microscope, a process that brought back the vibrantly vivid colours of the original paint and the extraordinary geometrical patterns and freehand floral decorative motifs. The paintings were restored with chromatic selection employing watercolours. The re-acquired brightness will allow experts to examine the polyptych in all its glory, but it will also prove inspiring for design fans who love patterns.

There are some intriguing details that could be recreated or reinvented for textiles such as mantle of the Madonna with Child characterised by blue and gold motifs; the fine decoration on the cloak of Saint Donatus; the wall patterns in the scene of the Annunciation or its architectural details (see the thin columns supporting the roof section and creating a space for the Holy Spirit, symbolised by a dove, to fly in), but also the motifs on the book covers carried by the saints.

Due to Coronavirus events scheduled to celebrate the return of the polyptych to the Church of Santa Maria were postponed, but, in the meantime, we can let ourselves be inspired by the first images recently released or we can actively support other projects linked to this restoration. There is indeed a crowdfunding campaign at the moment on GoFundMe that is collecting donations to complete other works inside the church and transport the artwork to its original destination. So, yes, museums may be closed because of Covid-19, but we can still enjoy, promote and help art and, obviously, get inspired by it.

The Added Value of Good Design: Climate Challenge Accepted at the Henry van de Velde Awards 2020

The power of beauty in design satisfies our desire for aesthetically pleasing objects. But the future of design is definitely not just in merely beautiful objects, but in pieces that combine aesthetic principles with functionality and in products that can genuinely improve our lives.

The Henry van de Velde Awards have been celebrating such designs since they were launched in 1994. This Belgian event promotes good design, showcasing national and international Flemish designers, enterprises, products, projects and services that have a positive impact on the economy and on society. The winners of the 2021 edition were recently announced and, as usual, their projects seem very exciting.  

The jury selected 17 winners from 198 submissions in seven categories: browse them and you will discover useful projects such as the Nobi smart lamp, designed by Studio Dos Santos for Nobi.

This product is perfect for caregivers who need to monitor elderly people as the lamp helps them detecting a fall, asks whether everything is ok and can even call a family member or a trusted contact (it is possible to reach them using the lamp, without the need for a phone). The lamp has also got other functions and can detect fire and break-ins, remind a person to drink enough water and stay hydrated and can monitor air quality and room temperature. 

The Aloxy Pulse device, designed by Studio Dott for Aloxy, can instead help monitoring not people, but processes in the petrochemical industry.

Quite a few of the projects submitted this year focus on alternative materials that can help us protecting our planet. Tim Duerinck developed, for example, an ecological solution  to carbon fibre or glass fibre string instruments.

Made with high-tech flax fibre, an artisanal material with a rich local history in Flanders, the string instruments designed by Duerinck require less maintenance as they are more resistant than traditional instruments and they are also less susceptible to fluctuations in temperature or humidity, which means they are always reliable for musicians, both indoors and outdoors. 

Duerinck's flax fibre instruments are produced by violin makers entirely by hand, so they are still a great artisanal product and this application of flax fibre to create a wood-like material could open up further design options in other fields (could this material be applied for rigid bags for example?)

Among the winners of the Climate Challenge Award category there is a project that fashion fans will find interesting. Studio AMA, an ethical fashion label, produces pieces using circular and social principles: the studio tries indeed to address three issues - textile waste, mass production and social exploitation.

All its designs are produced from waste materials sourced from the local textile industry and in particular from Flemish textile manufacturers Libeco (linen sheets, tablecloths), Annabel Textiles (fabrics for upholstery and curtains), Clarysse (towels) and Bekaert-Deslee (mattress covers). 

Studio AMA created for example a line of affordable shirts, shorts and hoodies based on towels and table linens, its conceptually playful skirts and dresses are made instead with classic men's shirts while its bomber jackets and sweats assembled with a textile characterised by an embossed architectural three-dimensional pattern are actually made with mattress covers and fabrics for interior design. 

The design of the pieces is based on the properties of these textiles and the material determines the look of the piece, therefore each creation is different and unique. The designs are also sold with a leaflet describing the origin of the piece, as well as instructions for washing and use.

Using waste materials isn't the only added value in this project, there's also another aspect to consider - social employment. Studio AMA collaborates indeed with Zonnehoeve Production from Eke, a customisation company that provides jobs for disadvantaged people in an adapted and protected work environment.  

For Studio AMA founder Soraya Wancour there is an urgent need to find a fast fashion alternative and the studio's collections are a way for consumers to ponder on the fast fashion industry vs slow and ethical fashion dichotomy.

So this year the Henry van de Velde Awards prove that living in challenging times may be hard for all of us, but it can also be stimulating as contemporary problems and issues may be tackled with innovative solutions that contribute to give a very special added value to design.  

While you may want to check Studio AMA's site for ideas for Christmas presents or for practical designs for your lockdown needs (towel tops still look stylish even though they are incredibly comfortable), you can still lend your support to your favourite designer or product by casting your vote (online at henryvandevelde.be until Friday the 18th of December 2020) for the Public Choice Award. Winners will be announced at the Henry van de Velde award ceremony, on February 5th 2021 at Bozar, the Centre for Fine Arts, in Brussels, where the Gold Award in each category, the Ecodesign by OVAM, the Company, the Young Talent, the Public and the Lifetime Achievement Awards will also be presented.

Vintage Patterns for November

Rather than offering one vintage pattern as usual, this month we have two patterns - a dress and a coat - as some readers may have more time on their hands since many of us in different countries all over Europe are experiencing new Coronavirus lockdowns.

More expert readers may try and do both the designs, amateurs can instead pick the one they prefer and find easier to do (please don't think the coat is the difficult one as the back is not divided in two parts, but comes in just one piece, a detail that facilitates its construction). Both the designs are characterised by large pockets and well-defined round collars.

The magazine suggested to use fabrics such as plaid, tartan or check patterns for the dress, and to opt for Shetland wool, loden, tweed or camel for the coat.

The pattern [Parts for the dress: 1: half top (front); 2: half collar; 3: sleeve gusset; 4: pocket profile; 5: half skirt (front); 6: half skirt (back); 7: half top (back); 8: half belt, the dress has a zip on the left side; Parts for the coat: 1: half front; 2: half back; 3: back sleeve; 4: front sleeve; 5: pocket: 6: half collar] was designed for an Italian 46 size (size 14 in the UK; and 12 in the USA) and each square corresponds to 10 cm. Enjoy the November project, stay safe and always remember to wear a mask.

Accessories as Works of Art: Ai Weiwei's Papercuts as Bags and Scarves

Some of us may already be looking for Christmas presents; others, instead, may be more interested in something to cheer themselves up in our dark and depressing times, and may want to invest in something more durable rather than a designer piece like a luxury bag (considering also the fact that due to Coronavirus our social interactions have dramatically reduced and there aren't many occasions where we may wear a special piece...). If you fall into these two categories (and can afford it), you may opt for Ai Weiwei's limited edition bags and scarves for Taschen.

These pieces are inspired by the "Papercut Portfolio" created by Ai Weiwei in 2019 for the same publishing house. In that case the artist moved from a time-honoured Chinese art going back to 2,000 years and used for festivities, prayers, and as everyday decoration, to tell, through intricately cut paper, a narrative combining a traditional technique with his life and practice. 

The bags and scarves are recreations of some of these papercuts and incorporate a series of references to Ai Weiwei's works. The red bag motif, for example, looks at a decisive period in Ai Weiwei's life, from his return to Beijing in 1993 after a decade-long stay in New York to building his Caochangdi home and studio on the Beijing outskirts in 1999. The middle finger in the centre of the papercut is inspired by a 1995 photograph that marked the beginning of his series "Studies of Perspective" with his outstretched middle finger on various world-famous sights including the Eiffel Tower (View this photo) and the White House (View this photo). In this specific papercut the middle finger is positioned on the Forbidden City and accompanied by the word "Fuck", a reference to a photographic piece in which the artist had the same word sunburnt on his chest.

The antique vases with the Coca-Cola logo are references instead to the "Han Dynasty Urn with Coca Cola Logo" (1994). The logo is intended as a reference to brand culture or political identity; the cats and dogs are a tribute to the many animals that wander in the artist's studio and the tables on which they are standing hint at Ai Weiwei's sculptures in which historic antique tables are combined together so that the authenticity of the tables in their original form is destroyed to give these pieces a completely new identity.

The white tote bag is instead a great commentary to art, collecting, authenticity and appropriation: this piece references indeed the treasure looted from Beijing’s Old Summer Palace by Western powers during the Second Opium War in 1860.

Designed by the Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione for the court of the Emperor Qianlong (1711–1799), the zodiac water-clock fountain is legendary as it included precious bronze-plated sculptures of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. Dismantled by the British and French troops that sacked the palace and that left behind ruins preserved in a public park to this day, the water-clock doesn't exist anymore in its integrity. Seven animal heads still exist, preserved in Western collections, but five were lost (dragon, snake, ram, rooster, and dog), so Ai Weiwei designed these animals himself, raising new questions about authenticity and cultural appropriation.

The scarves remind instead of two events: the blue one is dedicated to a papercut commemorating Ai Weiwei's project for the 2007 edition of Documenta in Kassel, where he took 1,001 Chinese people from every walk of life who had never left their country before. For this event the artist designed their clothes, suitcases, and - as depicted in this papercut - also cut their hair.

The scarf also includes the monumental outdoors installation "Template", built from Ming and Qing Dynasty wooden doors and windows salvaged from demolished buildings, which collapsed in a thunderstorm a few days after the opening of the event as seen in the lower right center of the papercut.

The "Citizens' Investigation" scarf is dedicated to all those who search for the truth and it is linked to more tragic events: on May 12, 2008, a 7.9 earthquake struck China's Sichuan Province. Its deathtoll reached almost 70,000, among them there were many schoolchildren and the papercut shows people amid the rubble, including a woman holding up a picture of her missing child, helpers and investigators trying to find victims and survivors.

As the Chinese government withheld information on the identities of the victims, Ai Weiwei organised a team of volunteers to investigate and compile a list of the deceased children - a project known as the "Citizens' Investigation". But the investigation discovered not just the number of child victism - 5,335 - with their name, age, gender, school, hometown, and family details, but also unveiled how corruption caused many of the schools to be constructed far below official safety standards, the final reason behind the disproportionate number of deaths.

For this project Ai Weiwei faced government retaliation: in 2009 he went to Chengdu to testify as a witness for Tan Zuoren, an activist who had also been investigating corruption-related issues around the earthquake and was facing trial for subversion of state power. The night before the trial, on August 12, Ai and his colleagues were assaulted in their hotel rooms and detained by police until the trial was over to prevent his testimony. The image in the centre of the papercut is based on a famous photograph that Ai took of his colleagues and himself in the elevator immediately after the assault. The artist suffered a brain hemorrhage as a result of the police beating, which is documented in the CAT scans at the bottom of the composition.

The bags are sold unframed in a passepartout and the scarves are packaged in a box and, while it is clear that the bags are not designed to carry much but to be framed, these pieces still try to combine art and fashion. Ordinary accessories are indeed given a new identity as the original function of bags and scarves is radically transformed to create intricate narrative inspired by Ai Weiwei's life and expressed through the language of art. 

The Salon as Art Gallery: Suite Caroline X Shoplifter

Months ago, when non-essential businesses were shut during the first Coronavirus lockdown (some countries, regions or cities all over the world are going through a second local lockdown as we write), many of us missed not being able to have a basic haircut and longed for a hair treatment or a scalp massage.

Even before the pandemic, Lena Ott founder and Editorial Color Director at the pioneering loft-style salon Suite Caroline, located in the heart of SoHo, New York, realised that, offering just new colors and styles to their clients wasn't enough. A makeover can definitely bring some joy, yet Ott was hoping to find a more innovative way to bring optimism and happiness not just on the head, but in the mind of their customers. Suite Caroline is well-known for its innovative and collaborative atmosphere, so Ott decided to come up with an arty collaboration.

Enter Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, better known as Shoplifter. Yes, you got it, the contemporary Icelandic artist that created last year a super soft and multi-coloured monster-like sensorial cave of joy for the Iceland Pavilion on the Giudecca Island at the 58th International Art Biennale in Venice. Arnardóttir mainly uses hair - both real and synthetic - as her primary material for her immersive environments and installations. Through them she tackles a variety of issues including consumer culture, the relationship between fashion and identity, and the fetishism of everyday objects.

Arnardóttir accepted Ott's commission, but then Covid-19 disrupted their plans and they had to wait till last month before finally unveiling the collaborative project. When "Sunny", "Party" and "Gothy", the three cute and surreal fuzzy stalactites or "Nervelings", as Arnardóttir calls them, were installed above the salon rinse station, they assumed an entirely new meaning.

The sculptural artworks energised the space and activated it: the "Nervelings" became therefore an invitation for Suite Caroline's clients to lean back, look up and dream through the playfulness and optimism of neon hues and prismatic textures. While the rainbow-colored synthetic hair installations created a moment of unexpected happiness, becoming an integral part of the salon architecture, they also prompted customers to think about a new possibility - being able to enjoy contemporary art in unusual places and spaces other than galleries and museums.

Were you familiar with the work of Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir before commissioning her? 
Lena Ott: I've known of Shoplifter for years because of our affinity for colorful hair, but I first experienced Shoplifter's work at Björk’s apartment. I was there to color her hair, and she took me on a tour. She has this incredible hallway that Shoplifter transformed into an otherworldly cave with colors chosen to represent the volcanic colors from Iceland. As I walked down the synthetic hair hallway to her daughter's room, the colors became more rainbow-nuanced and playful. I was in complete awe and wonder, wanting to keep walking the hallway back and forth.

What prompted you to commission her this installation for your salon?
Lena Ott: I reached out to Shoplifter before the pandemic to bring her colorful, signature art to Suite Caroline. Our team and clients relate to the daring playfulness and whimsy that Shoplifter does so well, and it felt so fitting to bring more of that spirit into our salon with a commissioned hair art installation. Commissioning the piece got put on pause when we temporarily closed due to Coronavirus, and when we reopened I was definitely subconsciously driven further to make it happen to amplify the feelings of optimism and joy that hair and art bring, especially when we need it most.

What was your reaction when you saw the pieces installed and what did your clients say about them?
Lena Ott: Sunny, Party, and Gothy are friends that you've known forever. The sculptures feel like they have always been here and really tie the loft space together, even peripherally. I sent photos of the salon to Shoplifter, and she did such an incredible job with the color palette. The pieces feel so appropriate for the space, bouncing off the station mirrors and keeping you company as you look up while getting a shampoo or hair treatment. Our clients have been commenting in wonderment, asking how the installation hasn't been here since the early days of the salon. The pieces have become living creatures, and I can't imagine the space without them.

Would you do this again with Shoplifter or with another artist?
Lena Ott: I can see Suite Caroline working with more artists in the future - whether that means participating in galleries or bringing art into the salon. I would absolutely do this again with Shoplifter, and I dream of having the whole salon turned into a Shoplifter world. I would transform the arch over my station and the entire ceiling. Shoplifter and I have also discussed collaborating in the future which is as exciting to me as Paris Fashion Week.

How did you feel when Lena contacted you about this installation?
Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir AKA Shoplifter: I was intrigued and inspired to create work that would hang in a hair salon, it is so fitting.

What inspired the "Nervelings" - "Sunny", "Party" and "Gothy"?
Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir AKA Shoplifter: I wanted to create three hanging sculptures that to me feel like characters and reference my series Imaginary Friends. Each of the three has its own color balance and combinations of shades to create one pastel colored then a colorful neon and the dark one. Each represents the atmosphere in the 3 caves that made up my installation "Chromo Sapiens", my contribution for the Icelancic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019.

Would you do it again for other types of shops and commercial spaces?
Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir AKA Shoplifter: This is not the first time I've collaborated with a company, brand or a commercial space, I enjoy making artwork that escapes the exclusivity of the gallery or museum and becomes relevant in the context of everyday life and pop culture in particular as is the core element represented in my signature medium, colorful hair extensions.

If you've been/are in lockdown, have you been creating all the same?
Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir AKA Shoplifter: Yes, making artwork is my personal meditation and antidote to boredom. I have been able to stay as productive as ever, especially since I can spend more time alone in the studio and develop new work.

Many museums and galleries are closing down in Europe as there is a second wave of Coronavirus, do you have any projects/exhibitions lined up for the future?
Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir AKA Shoplifter: Most exhibitions and projects that were on my calendar when Covid-19 took over our lives have been postponed to a future date, so I have some exciting exhibitions coming up next year. Now I have more time to contemplate each show and therefore the workload is the same, just less traveling for now and I welcome that!

All images in this post courtesy Suite Caroline/Shoplifter

Computational Fashion Design for Biomorphic Shapes: REPTILIAN_Post-Iconic Corset by Maria-Thala Al-Aswad

We live in challenging times and Coronavirus forced us to postpone some of our projects or change our plans. Yet there have also been quite a few creative minds who took this time to ponder about the future and create new narratives about human biological adaptability.

French-Lebanese architect Maria-Thala Al-Aswad has focused for example on a research on anatomy that led her to consider how the human body survived throughout the ages, passing through wars, regimes, revolutions and currently through a pandemic that has dramatically changed our lives.

These studies led her to develop a design - that she dubbed the "REPTILIAN_Post-Iconic Corset" - inspired by the power of transmutation. The corset fits into the slow and zero-waste fashion category as it is 3D printed by additive fabrication technology using biodegradable white Polylactic Acid PLA filament derived from cornstarch as a renewable resource.

The design brings back to mind modern reinterpretations of corsets developed with hard materials or incorporating geometrical forms, from Jean-Paul Gaultier's conic breasts corset and Thierry Mugler's robotic bustiers to Issey Miyake's striking breastplate or Alexander McQueen's transparent neck-to-hips bustier (S/S 1996 collection) or his moulded leather body corset (S/S 1999 collection).

Yet Maria-Thala Al-Aswad's design releases the human body rather than trapping it and mutates it. The body becomes part of the design, combining itself with the animal forms that inspired the surfaces of this highly complex 3D sculpted piece. Reuniting science and technology with fashion, the experimental corset makes you think about alien bodies and modern interpretations of legendary monsters à la Medusa, opening the path to Al-Aswad's pieces also to other applications and fields, including costume design. 

Can introduce yourself and your practice to our readers?
Maria-Thala Al-Aswad: I am an architect and I graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Malaquais in Paris. In 2013, I co-founded Les Architectes Workshop firm in Paris with Hicham Bou Akl. We work on architectural and urban planning projects in Switzerland, France and Lebanon. In parallel with my architectural career, I maintain a continuous production of computational fashion design. This discipline is a living and concrete laboratory of permanent reflection on matter and signs. It is there that I make all my wildest ideas and dreams come true and develop my conceptual experiments. Currently, I am preparing for a multidisciplinary course on digital garments and body spatial extensions for the Spring 2021 term in Beirut, targeting architecture, interior design and fashion design students.

How long have you been focusing on the fashion + architecture + technology connection and how many projects did you develop along these lines?
Maria-Thala Al-Aswad: I discovered computational design and digital fabrication techniques in 2009 in the "Digital Knowledge" program founded by Philippe Morel from EZCT and Christian Girard during my master's program in Malaquais. I worked on a project called "Blooming Surface", an installation of a parametric metallic surface. I started applying the process on fashion in 2011, after taking part in the "Building Fashion" workshop with my project "Play-Back" in which I used 3D-simulation combined with low-tech production, and the "Post-McQueen Embryos" workshop in 2012, with my project "K-Non", a combination between digital fabrication and traditional couture craftsmanship. Both workshops were organized by the Architectural Association, AA Visiting School at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. I recently worked on a project called "QubQab", in which I use 3D-printing and CNC manufacturing robots for the reproduction of the traditional handmade wooden clogs that date back to the time of the Ottoman Empire. I am currently working on a bags collection called "GooSooBaaG" combining techniques of manual wood sculpting and computational modeling.

Can you tell us more about the corset and what inspired it?
Maria-Thala Al-Aswad: The "REPTILIAN_Post-Iconic Corset" represents the transmutation of the human body. I wanted to reconsider the representation of human nature by exploring new technologies and new parameters of the "posthuman" mutation process. I have worked on superposing multiple biological layers of skins and shells, including the human body as an inseparable part of the design. The textures are transferred onto the body and sculpted in a complex 3D modeling process. The corset is 3D-printed by additive fabrication technology using biodegradable white Polylactic Acid PLA filament derived from cornstarch as a renewable resource. The design materializes the rigidity of PLA into an organic texture shaping the human female body in detail and highlights the properties of the object such as weight, opacity and fusion with the body, hinting also at Baroque sculptures.

Designers who became famous for their corsets or sculpted silhouettes, such as Jean-Paul Gaultier, but also Thierry Mugler, come to mind when I look at your corset. Which designers - or architects and architectural movements - have you been researching while working on this project? 
Maria-Thala Al-Aswad: I am fascinated by Jean-Paul Gaultier's iconic "Corset Conique" from the early '90s. I wanted to recapture the idea of releasing the female body, by bringing it back to its biological aesthetic combined with the ancestral culture of using other skin specimens to redefine visual or thermal properties. I have always loved the imbricated printed skins and leathers used by Alexander McQueen as 3D-reliefs. In general, I am inspired by the "Biomorphism" movement in Architecture and Art which, I believe, is the origin of the fusion between fashion design and architecture today.

Do you conceive the corset as a wearable piece or a sculpture or maybe as an armor, after all who doesn't need an armour these days...
Maria-Thala Al-Aswad: Yes, indeed, we do need armors and masks to survive 2020. Someone asked me if the design is related to the 4th of August blast in Beirut, since it looks like a ripped body and I have personally sustained wounds from that blast. While I developed this project before the event, I love the fact that people are connecting it with a traumatic experience and to a way to survive after it. I conceive the "REPTILIAN_Post-Iconic Corset" as a sort of Haute Couture wearable piece; the choice of the rigid material to amplify the body’s expression and hide its reality can be perceived as a Mannerist sculpture. The proportions of the corset were conceived to limit the movement and at the same time to maintain a certain flexibility of the body, this explains the reptilian body language of the model.

Technically speaking, which were the most challenging aspects of this piece?
Maria-Thala Al-Aswad: For the design part, I had a very specific vision of the result since the beginning; the variation was only in the computational solutions to reach this result. The most challenging part was the production. The constraints were the available materials and machines to 3D-print this very detailed design with undefined edges. There was a lot of back and forth with the FabLab, accompanied with printing of samples, digital modifications and a few concessions from both sides.

Is there a fashion designer you'd like to collaborate with one day? 
Maria-Thala Al-Aswad: For me as an architect, digital design and fabrication have no limits or scales; if you can model a pavilion, you can model a vase. I am open to all kinds of collaborations; I think multidisciplinary projects are the most innovative, especially when the contributors' visions match. I would love to collaborate with emergent fashion designers to develop a new way of thinking the garments of tomorrow.

Do you have any special plans for the future, for example will the corset be exhibited anywhere?
Maria-Thala Al-Aswad: I have many plans and projects for the future and the idea of an exhibition is not excluded, I am just waiting for the right moment and the right place!

Image credits for this post

Digital design: Maria-Thala AL-ASWAD

Photography: ©RainTree

Model: LeaTpole

In Search of Post-Pandemic Deals: Alibaba's Singles' Day 2020

China's annual Singles Day broke a new record yesterday, reaching 498.2 billion yuan (roughly $75 billion) worth of sales, marking the country's recovery and a return to purchase behaviour to pre-Covid-19 levels.

Held every year on 11th November, Singles' Day, 11.11 (so-called as the numerals resemble single individuals), Double Day or Guanggun Jie was first celebrated in the 1990s by young, single Chinese students as an anti-Valentine's Day and an excuse to buy themselves presents. 

In 2009, Alibaba co-opted the informal celebration and started using the date to offer 50% discounts at retailers on its e-commerce platform Taobao. As the years passed, Singles' Day transformed into a mighty shopathon, China's own celebration of consumerism with more power to shift goods than the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales days in the United States combined.

In 2016 Singles' Day sales reached $5 billion in an hour with a total of $17.73 billion worth of sales in one day; the following year Alibaba hit a new record reaching $5 billion in transactions in less than 15 minutes and closing with $25.3 billion of sales (a 39% increase compared to Singles' Day 2016) while in 2018 Singles' Day topped $5.3 billion in 12 minutes, closing at $30.8 billion in sales (an increase of about 27% compared to the previous year).

In 2019 total purchases for Singles Day passed the $56 billion and yesterday marked an increase of 26% with $75 billion. The total included an earlier three-day period (from 1st to 3rd November) that was added to boost post-pandemic sales. Results highlighted that Chinese consumers in general want to spend (and those who usually travel abroad and this year weren't able to do it and had therefore saved their travelling budgets, were keen to invest in luxury pieces), even though part of the consumer population was shaken by the pandemic that has brought a new variable in the spending equation - uncertainty about the future.

Livestreaming proved again to be a big driver and, as usual, the event was launched by the 11.11 Gala that this year also featured with a virtual show by headline performer Katy Perry.

This year Singles' Day kept on spreading to other Chinese e-commerce platforms like JD.com (JD), Pinduoduo (PDD) and Red, and brick-and-mortar stores (also outside China and based in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam) launched dedicated events linked with Singles' Day, so the online to offline model has gone from strength to strength. The event also registered an interest in brands of products like electronics and smartphones as quality and design are getting better (Huawei, Xiaomi, Haier, Suning, Midea were bestsellers; beauty brands were the second best-performing merchant category) while prices are still lower compared to more expensive and hip brands like Apple.

There seemed instead to be bad some news for Alibaba's billionaire founder Jack Ma: the highly anticipated initial public offering of Ant Group, Alibaba's financial subsidiary, was halted by Chinese regulators. Despite the Chinese government wants to encourage consumption, government groups criticise Singles' Day and the state-backed China Consumers Association urged consumers to be rational in their spending. Other concerns for this year's event were the labour conditions of couriers and the strikes at courier companies that work as contractors to the major e-commerce players. The number of packages naturally increase around this time of the year, but, unfortunately for the workers, wages remain low.

A Collective Call for the Mediterranean: "Mare Magnum Nostrum" by Gea Casolaro

Mention the word "sea" and we will all conjure up different images and visions in our minds: those of us in another Coronavirus lockdown will start longing for the freedom of the sea and of marine adventures under a warm sun; others, fashion designers included, will picture in their minds fascinating aquatic environments populated with inspiring beautiful, mysterious and fragile creatures; climate change researchers will instead focus on the ongoing rise in global sea levels, while for thousands of migrants who cross it, the sea is a vaste expanse of water that will hopefully lead to a happier and safer life.

The sea is also the protagonist of a project by visual artist Gea Casolaro entitled "Mare Magnum Nostrum". Casolaro is interested in the relationship between history and current events and this project, rather than just a photographic exhibition, is a dialogue told by multiple voices, a collective effort to chronicle life on the Mediterranean Sea, representing the pulsating heart of many civilisations.

The participatory exhibition linked to the project kicks off tomorrow in the South-Eastern Tower of Diocletian's Palace in Split, Croatia (through 26th November 2020). Here an immersive installation, created in collaboration with a group of students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Split and Fotoklub Split, pays homage to the Mediterranean through a series of photographs collected by Casolaro and chronicling the history of the Mediterranean Sea and of its coasts.

Some of the most poetic images are the ones in black and white or in sepia tinted tones and the pictures that fill our hearts with a deep sense of calmness: there's a grandmother lulling a sleeping child on a beach in Mondello in 1938; a woman on a boat in Viserba di Rimini in 1953 and a lonely fisherman on a rock on the Island of Milos in 2008. 

The images - taken in Italy, Croatia, Greece and Instanbul - tell stories of holidays, solitary adventures, religious ceremonies near the sea and quiet moments of reflection on a jetty, while an architectural shot of a ferry boat traces a perfect geometric composition with yellow plastic chairs, a neon light and the metallic structure of the ferry in the background forming an eye-pleasing juxtaposition of lines.

The images show us the Mediterranean Sea and its coasts as places where you can relax and have fun, but they also point at the multiple energies operating along the coast, with fishermen working and a beach cleaning volunteer revealing to the camera gloved hands holding plastic straws found on the sand.

The project will develop in the next few months: at the moment Casolaro has indeed launched a collective photographic archive that will keep on growing as the months pass.

Photographers - both professional and amateurs - will be able to upload on the Mare Magnum Nostrum website their pictures portraying the mighty Mediterranean and its coasts (through themes such as holidays, landscapes, news, rituals, arrivals and departures, to mention just a few) in the dedicated section of the website, indicating the place and year in which the photo was taken, adding an emotion or a thought connected to these pictures.

The photographs will be collected and published on the Mare Magnum Nostrum website (that will constantly be updated and will also be connected with a Facebook and Instagram page), but they will also be printed and employed in future installations to form a mosaic of lives lived on the coast. The digital archive, based on this public database, will allow to trace the transformations of the depicted areas and their different identities from the photographers' point of view. 

The final stage of the project - a final collective exhibition scheduled for next spring - will take place at the National Museum of Ravenna, the city that represented a bridge between two sides of the Mediterranean, its western and eastern soul.

Apart from focusing on the sea, pulsating with energy and life, this event celebrates people coming from different social and cultural backgrounds inviting them to come together in an itinerant participatory project that will allow participants and visitors to the site to travel coast to coast and sail around the Mediterranean even in lockdown. 

Image credits for this post

All images in this post are part of the event Mare Magnum Nostrum, 2020-2021, by Gea Casolaro.

1. Portovenere, 28th July 1957 © Archivio Albano

2. Mondello, 11th September 1938 © Archivio Albano

3. Viserba di Rimini, August 1953 © Archivio Albano

4. On a ferry from Naples to Palermo, 6th July 1961 © Gennaro Casolaro

5. Island of Milos, 12th September ‎2008 © Fulvio Naglieri

6. Brindisi, 2009 © Terasia Panagrosso

7. On the ferry from Hvar to Split, 2020 © Tina Božan

8. Udruga Sunce Split, Sakarun Beach, Dugi Otok 2020 © Fedra Dokoza

9. Istanbul Harbour, 2012 © Terasia Panagrosso