There was actually something of that Sanders mood in Undercover's menswear A/W 21 collection. Jun Takahashi included in his collection everyday wear, technical jackets covered in an Aran knit print with inbuilt glovelets, knitted jumpers with jacquard motifs that looked more sci-fi than folk and rustic and a selection of comforting knitwear with separates in coordinated patterns (Prada went instead for long johns as you may remember) that seemed to conform with the trend Bernie inadvertently launched.
Some garments evoked a relaxed domestic coziness rather than the neglected look of lockdown times, but the designer added an arty layer and his signature dark and disquieting twist via Markus Åkesson's works.
Photorealistic hyperreal paintings by the Swedish artist portraying a boy poetically covered in butterflies among the other subjects, were indeed reproduced on voluminous puffer jackets.
Åkesson is a neofigurative painter known for recreating painstakingly detailed textiles and subjects covered in elaborately patterned silks and satins. In some cases his models are not just enveloped in textiles, but they seem to drown in them.
Takahashi took inspiration from Åkesson's obsession of wrapping his subjects in fabrics to create illusions: the hood of a satin quilted parka became a quintessential three-dimensional addition to the painting printed on the back of the jacket portraying a girl wrapped up in fabrics; fabric snoods and scarves framed instead delicate images of young boys.
There was also another collaboration in this collection - less arty and more functional - with bag and luggage company Eastpak: coats and jackets integrated rucksacks (an idea reminiscent of the sofa with pockets fromQuinze & Milan x Eastpak's "Built to Resi(s)t" collection), playing with the concept of the wearer carrying something or being carried by the bag, becoming part of the bag and emphasising the idea of protection.
There was a final dichotomy between technology and romance: the former was explored via technical fabrics, topcoats and duffle coats with shiny metallic, vinyl or glossy pockets; the latter was represented by an accessory - scarves made of knitted white, red and pink roses. It was almost a hidden message telling us that we want a high-tech future, but we want roses too.
People who love looking for symbolisms in fashion were able to find many at yesterday's Inauguration Day ceremony in Washington, DC. While President-elect Joe Biden went for a sober navy blue suit and topcoat by iconic American designer Ralph Lauren, his wife, Incoming First lady Dr. Jill Biden, opted for up-and-coming (it was founded in 2017) New York-based American label, Markarian by Alexandra O'Neill.
The designer created for her a custom-made wool tweed coat and dress in ocean blue, a colour pointing at peace, trust and stability, trimmed with a dark blue velvet collar and cuffs and decorated with Swarovski pearls and crystals embellishments around the neckline. She also wore a matching face-mask as protection from Coronavirus.
The look was made in the Garment District in Manhattan and O'Neill's team – comprising six people – worked on it since late December (the label also made some of the designs donned by Biden's grandchildren). By choosing the label Dr. Biden honoured the New York manufacturing industry, remembering in this way also those businesses that were hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic.
This quiet moment was conceived as a tribute to the 400,000 Americans who died of COVID-19 and was a simple yet due ceremony to remember and mourn.
For the occasion Vice President-elect Kamala Harris wore a coat by Pyer Moss with an Oscar de la Renta dress and Dr. Jill Biden a purple ensemble from Jonathan Cohen.
Michelle Obama often chose to wear young designers during her time at the White House and yesterday the Former First Lady continued this tradition wearing a Sergio Hudson burgundy coat, turtleneck and trousers (the Black American designer also created a sequin cocktail dress with a floor-length silk tuxedo overcoat as the evening look Kamala Harris wore at yesterday's concert View this photo).
In all these looks there was an emphasis on coats. Now, while it is January and it's cold, so coats come as a natural choice, in this case they seemed to channel feelings of protection and warm comfort after very controversial and difficult times.
Besides, most of the prominent figures and guests (from the President and Vice-President to Biden's grandchildren) went for monochromatic looks that seemed to emphasise unity and inclusivity. Inclusion was cleverly represented also by the first Black female Fire Captain in the U.S., Andrea Hall who delivered the Pledge of Allegiance in American Sign Language as well.
Unity was a theme of Biden's speech - "Without unity, there is no peace; only bitterness and fury," he said. "No progress; only exhausting outrage. No nation; only a state of chaos. This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge" - and of Amanda Gorman's poem.
Los Angeles-based 22-year-old award-winning poet Gorman actually stole the show. Named Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles at the age of 16, Gorman earned the (first) title of National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017 and she became the youngest inaugural poet yesterday (she follows in the steps of some of the greatest, among them Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Alexander and Robert Frost) after she caught the eye of Dr. Jill Biden a few years ago.
Gorman recited her powerful poem "The Hill We Climb" in a sunny yellow coat (this is one of the shades of the year according to Pantone, but in this case it was a reference to Dr. Jill Biden who once saw Gorman reading one of her poems in a yellow dress), white blouse and simple black pencil skirt.
She accessorised her look with a thick bright red satin headband with a triangular logo that revealed that this was a Prada ensemble, but Prada fans easily guessed it as the young poet admires Miuccia and has also collaborated with the brand in the past (she starred in the final episode of "What We Carry", a video series centered around Prada's efforts to go sustainable, and she travelled to Slovenia with Arthur Huang of National Geographic to learn more about the recycled nylon used in Prada's Re-Nylon bags).
Other symbolic touches included a ring with a caged bird, a nod to Maya Angelou's autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", and earrings gifted to her by Oprah Winfrey (a personal inaugural tradition she started with Angelou herself to whom Winfrey gifted the Chanel coat and gloves that Maya Angelou wore when she recited her inaugural poem in 1993).
Gorman was the perfect choice to give voice to the younger generations and she also made a sort of indirect fashion statement with some political connections: younger guests at the Inauguration mixed indeed in their looks American and European designers, almost to hint at more relaxed relations between the US and EU after the tensions of the last four years.
Harris' stepdaughter Ella Emhoff, who studies design at Parsons (and went for a Thom Browne ensemble on the previous day) wore a Miu Miu tartan coat with crystal-encrusted shoulders in the '40s style (a silhouette favoured by Miu Miu) over a burgundy dress by New York label Batsheva.
Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez also opted for European fashion houses: Lady Gaga sang the National Anthem in a grand Schiaparelli by Daniel Roseberry gown with a voluminous bright red silk faille skirt, fitted cashmere navy blue jacket and an oversized golden dove with a branch of olive in its beak, a symbol of peace, pinned on her jacket; Jennifer Lopez glowed instead in a white Chanel ensemble, a combination of designs from the A/W 19 (silk ruffled high-neck blouse and sequinned wide-leg pants) and A/W 2020 collections (long tweed coat).
Last but not least, photographers spotted among the guests somebody who, in a matter of minutes, became an unlikely fashion icon - Bernie Sanders. Socially distancing, sitting alone and looking unfazed the Senator from Vermont sported a functional jacket from Burlington-based snowboarding company Burton (that he often wore on his campaign) and knitted mitten made by Jen Ellis, a teacher from Essex Junction, Vermont. Ellis gifted them to the Senator a couple of years ago and in a tweet she stated they were made of repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles (you can contact her in case you want a pair: jsellis21@gmail.com - or follow her on Twitter). So Sanders was probably the best champion of sustainable fashion at the ceremony.
Social media users incorporated the image of Sanders in the most hilarious pictures and collages, and he ended up becoming the protagonist of hilarious memes that saw him featured in works of art, animated films, video games, pictures from the Yalta Conference or iconic photographs like the famous picture portraying New York construction workers lunching atop a skyscraper. Guess that's what happens when you say you don't care about fashion - you end up becoming an accidental icon.
Inauguration Day has gone, but now comes the real deal for Biden and Harris and there are some hard challanges ahead, from tackling the Coronavirs pandemic to unemployment, homelessness, hunger and the recent attacks on American democracy.
On his first day in office Biden signed 17 executive actions - 15 will be executive orders - including halting the travel ban from Muslim-majority countries, rejoning the Paris climate agreement and making mask wearing and social distancing mandatory in federal buildings and lands. Looks like Gorman was right then when she stated in her poem " (...) while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated."
In the latest posts we talked about architecture and fashion and sustainability. There's currently a project by Mario Cucinella Architects that reunites these three concepts. The Italian architectural studio launched indeed bags made with materials upcycled from the Italian Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Biennale in Venice.
Archipelago Italia, the theme of the Pavilion curated by Mario Cucinella, shifted the attention away from major cities and raised awareness about Italy, inviting visitors to consider remote areas, spatially and temporally distant from urban spaces, to learn more about their cultural heritage, while realising their richest potential and beauty. The diversification of the landscape, vast expanse and distance from essential services of these areas also prompted visitors to wonder what the future may held for these territories.
The installation featured seventy projects grouped into eight itineraries (Western Alps, Eastern Alps, Northern Apennines, Central Apennines, Samnite - Campanian - Lucanian Apennines, Daunia - Alta Murgia - Salento Sub-Apennines, Calabrian-Sicilian Apennines and Sardinia) presented as eight large books, a sort of tourist guide that introduced visitors to contemporary architecture projects, historical villages, paths, landscapes and natural parks.
The work of Mario Cucinella deals with very current issues - sustainability and the environment; social inclusion and sharing of intangible heritage; earthquakes and collective memory; work and health; regeneration and contemporary creativity - and Cucinella feels the work of the architect must reclaim a role of social responsibility.
Three years after the 16th International Architecture Biennale in Venice and with the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, Cucinella realised that the role of architecture has also radically changed and this discipline is now called to help finding key solutions for what regards health (think about temporary hospitals and vaccine facilities), education (consider students unable to go back to school because of Covid-10 and following their classes online), work (will we ever go back to offices or will smartworking take over?) and society in general (ponder a bit about the various lockdowns and how they have transformed our lives, domestic spaces and needs). So the architect decided to start finding sustainable and useful solutions with a commercial line of functional products called "MC D for Recycling".
The first product is the Archipelago bag made (in Italy and available in two versions, a tote and a shoulder strap bag) with the fabric panels of the tourist guide-like books in the main hall of the Italian Pavilion in Venice.
In the first itinerary, Western Alps, visitors were invited to discover rural residences where local materials were used in a contemporary way, and in the fourth itinerary, Central Apennines, they learnt how new production spaces are harmoniously linked to the territory, through a skilful use of materials and surfaces. This emphasis on materials as explored by some of the project in that pavilion, inspired the design for the bags.
Apart from being made with upcycled materials and therefore looking different one from the other, the bags tell a story, representing a fragment of a pavilion, and invite us to start looking not just at the contents of the various installations when we visit an exhibition or an event, but also at the materials employed in the various displays and consider how we may reuse them in future to create garments and accessories or interior design products (think about how Prada pledged it will recycle the sets for its latest menswear show).
Democratising fashion is one of those definitions that has been used and abused by many in the last 15 years or so. Mainly employed in connection with fast fashion retailers mass producing trendy garments and accessories cheap enough that high numbers of consumers can buy them, democratisation has its dark sides, since it exploits the people who make these garments and contributes to pollution as well.
Angela Luna and Loulwa Al Saad from New York-based ADIFF have been working instead on democratising fashion from a sustainable and ethical point of view since they founded their label. Their clothes and accessories are made with upcycled materials (on their site you will find for example bags made with UNHCR tents and upcycled life vests that were collected on the shores of Lesbos).
Among their most ingenious design there are a trench and a bomber jacket - upcycled in the label's own resettled-refugee operated facility- that could be considered as commercial versions of Studio Orta's "Refuge Wear" habitats and installations. These pieces can indeed be turned into a tent once you add a base and poles (sold separately on ADIFF's site). Besides, some of their designs are buy-one-give-one products: when you purchase a jacket, they donate a tent jacket to a displaced person; for every face mask purchased, the designers will donate one to a hospital.
Last year the brand was planning to work on several designer collaborations, but they didn't happen because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Luna and Al Saad focused therefore on making face masks for New York hospitals and took part in Black Lives Matter protests. It was then that they had an epiphany and realised that the world was changing, but fashion was not evolving and it was definitely not responding to the needs of many.
So they started working on finding new ways to engage people and tackle sustainability. The result was the Open Source Fashion Cookbook - the volume is supposed to help each and everyone of us, especially those ones who can't afford to shop in a responsible way, to participate in responsible consumption.
The book features indeed a series of what the authors called "recipes", that is instructions to create designs by ADIFF and other contemporary fashion brands including BrownMill, Chromat, Christopher Raebur, and Zero Waste Wardrobe.
The book features step-by-step assembling instructions using existing materials readily available at home. Difficulty varies to allow people with different sewing skills to enjoy the projects, so you can try your hand at making a Perspex pocket from a shower curtain, a bucket hat from a broken umbrella, opt for Chromat's bodysuit or choose more complex projects, from a blanket coat to Raeburn's shark cross-body bag (that you can stuff with scraps accumulated from other projects).
The recipes are featured in the book that is printed on demand and can be bought from ADIFF's site and on Amazon for $60 ($30 for the e-book version; a breakdown of the cost is also clearly explained on the label's site, Amazon takes a 40% royalty; printing is $20 per book; and ADIFF is sharing part of the profit with the designers who lent their patterns. That means ADIFF will make $10 per sale), but the patterns can also be downloaded for free on ADIFF's site, while you can find further inspirations on the label's Instagram page and YouTube channel.
While the main point of the project is making more people realise how to transform scraps or assorted deadstock materials into wearable pieces, Luna and Al Saad also hope that the Cookbook will spark an interest in the fundamentals of fashion and convince more designers to share some of their patterns.
This was actually pretty popular a few decades ago when ready-to-wear fashion wasn't available yet. For example from the '50s until the mid-'70s, quite a few fashion Italian designers created special garments for women's magazines and published in their pages sketches of the pattern cuttings for those garments. Readers who were interested in making those designs could also buy the pattern cutting from the magazine. At the time a few publications even had their own Pattern Cutting Department that dealt with such orders.
While there may be some designers concerned about copyright issues when it comes to releasing their original patterns, the possibility of allowing people to come up with their own version of an iconic creation from their collections seems intriguing for those designers who firmly believe in genuinely transforming fashion into a more inclusive industry that can have a positive impact on people's lives and on the environment.
In normal times people working in the fashion industry would have been very busy with menswear fairs such as Pitti Uomo at the beginning of January. Milan's menswear shows would have followed, leading up to the couture runways and the womenswear collections. But, almost a year ago, Coronavirus radically changed the rhythms of the industry; fairs moved to digital platforms and shows also switched to other formats, with fashion houses promoting collections with livestream shows and films or more innovative ways including video games.
Their first womenswear collection, unveiled in September 2020, debuted without an audience but was livestreamed and it was also followed by a creative conversation with Simons and Prada who answered selected questions submitted on Prada's site.
The formula proved refreshing for everybody involved: there were no more front rows, no more official press conferences or quick questions and conceptual explanations in the backstage where we all tried to read the most bizarre meanings in Miuccia's cryptic answers.
Prada and Simons' first menswear runway (A/W 21) was also livestreamed without an audience: the event took place yesterday afternoon and it was followed by a Q&A by students from selected institutions all over the world, including New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, Beijing's Tsinghua University, School of Architecture, Tokyo's Bunka Fashion College, the International Design School for Advanced Studies at Seoul's Hongik University and London's Central Saint Martins. It was refreshing hearing the questions coming from the students, but also seeing the two designers getting interested in their careers and asking them if they are enjoying their courses.
The dominating theme of this collection was the absence of a storyline and the focus instead on the desire to inspire sensations (the title of the collection was "Possible Feelings"). The collection featured one garment that was supposed to inspire such sensations - a pair of knitted and patterned long johns.
In other times such a design may have been considered out of fashion or as childish as the baby romper suit in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but, with the various lockdowns and smartworking, the design assumed in Prada and Simons' mind a new meaning, inspired by architecture. Apart from being a way to reconnect with domestic spaces, the garment was indeed conceived as a foundation.
The long johns were indeed matched with ample coats, oversized re-nylon bombers and parkas with jacquard linings, sculptural lapel-less peacoats, and cocooning leather or teddy bear coats. So long johns became versatile pieces that could be used to relax, or create a series of mix'n'match layered looks.
There was a balance between the two souls of this new Prada vision: styling (check out the coats and blazers worn with the sleeves shoved up over the elbow) was borrowed from Simons' S/S 21 runway, while the accessories such as the large backpacks, leather pouches and gloves with attached purses were definitely Prada. There was also another balance between the desire to create luxury, but also the need to provide a no-nonsense collection that spoke to consumers about calmness in very difficult times rather than about extreme fashion excesses.
Rem Koolhaas and AMO's set went well with the purpose of the collection: the interconnected rooms had floors or curved walls covered in different textures, such as soft and fluffy faux fur (the invitation was also a faux fur package with delicacies by the Prada owned Marchesi Pastry shop) juxtaposed with smooth marble floors and in a combination of clashing colours, such as purple, pink, red and pale green. These materials that will be upcycled within the fashion house spaces and pop-ups around the world and then donated to Meta, a circular economy project based in Milan, which offers sustainable solutions to waste disposal within ephemeral events by collecting and recovering materials for selling and rentals (Meta works in collaboration with La Réserve des arts, an association offering a service of collection and recovery of raw materials and decoration waste from fashion shows, making them available to professionals and students in the cultural sector).
This abstract yet cozy dimension was directly linked to an architectural group admired by Koolhaas, Superstudio. In 1968, Superstudio designed the "Bazaar" sofa for Giovanetti. The latter consisted in a series of modular question mark-shaped polyurethane foam armchairs covered in faux fur fabric that, combined together, formed a pumpkin-like structure, a cocooning environment that had a smooth and hard external surface made of polyester resin reinforced with glass fibers, but that featured inside a warm and soft nest-like space.
This bubble-like secluded shape from the late '60s was reinvented for the runway and extended to occupy the entire space that, from physical turned into an abstract location, maybe even a state of mind suspended in a lockdown phase. So, once again there was a sort of correspondence in this collection not just between fashion and architecture, but also between fashion and interior design, a link that Prada celebrated in previous collections, and there was a hint as well at the power of the tactile sense, something that we have forgotten because of Coronavirus restrictions.
Talking about Coronavirus, the dilemma remains at the end of this show: what will happen in a post-pandemic world to fashion weeks and in particular to Prada's presentations? Miuccia seems to like the new format chosen that has maybe prompted her to realise there's life beyond the front row and there are clever questions to answer from people who may not necessarily be your favourite influencers.
While probably the fashion industry can't wait to leave behind Covid-19 and go back to crowded events, the vast digital world may prove much more alluring not just for designers looking for new and younger consumers, but especially for people like Prada and Simons who seem to be able to unwind more in informal conversations like the one they had with the students than in official press conferences. In a nutshell, the pandemic may have broken the industry, but something better and more inclusive may come out of its ashes.
Most countries all over the world are still dealing with the Coronavirus emergency, so fashion weeks will be mostly digital events or will take place without an audience.
Since the beginning of the emergency last year different fashion houses tried to come up with new and original ways to present their shows and some of them turned to the popular Nintendo videogame Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
But, while the title has been an intriguing way to recreate designer clothes and interior designs fans have been enjoying it to come up with fun spaces and incredibly detailed environments, professional architectural studios or interior designers haven't really used the vide ogame to launch or promote any of their products. Yet, at the same time, the video game contains some products that can be easily compared with real interior design pieces.
Take the palm lamp: you can make it with the dedicated recipe (coconuts, clay and wood) and also customise it in three versions - natural, tropical, cute and cool. Yet this piece is not just an irresistible kitsch lamp.
The design can be indeed traced back to Mario Lopez Torres, a renowned mid-century modern Mexican artist known for unique sculptures and lamps made with rattan. In the 1970s he created a wicker floor lamp in the shape of a swaying palm tree. The lamp had a round stable base and bulbs placed in the coconuts.
Los Angeles-based artist Christopher Kreiling reinvented in more recent years this piece conceiving it more like a sculpture, with a body made of stacked saddle leather and polished brass with handcrafted metal fronds and coconuts housing medium bulb sockets.
The Animal Crossing palm lamp is actually more similar to this one than to the one created by Torres (now, while the similarities between the AC lamp and the designer lamps in this post may pose a question of copyright, at the same time, the video game lamp should be considered a tribute). I'm featuring in this post some screens of the four versions of the lamp in my humble abode on my island. In the house you can see wallpaper and cushions inspired by Cinzia Ruggeri's "Homage to Lévi-Strauss" dress and by her ziggurat designs (downstairs the house has got a yellow and emerald motif inspired by the colour combination on the cover of Matia Bazar's single "Aristocratica" that featured Ruggeri's dress; upstairs I used a pink variation of the same wallpaper for my atelier).
Maybe creating more interior design pieces for Animal Crossing could be an idea also for interior design museums hoping to attract younger visitors: last year the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci in Milan released for example for the International Museum Day a series of QR codes downloadable for free on the museum site, reproducing canvases with some of the works from its collection, including Leonardo Da Vinci's machines and paintings by Giuseppe Raggio and Silvestro Lega. In this way the museum hoped gamers would organise open air exhibitions on their islands or use the motifs make special garments.
Looking forward to seeing more interior designer pieces this year - possibly launched by architects or designers and inspired by real ones - on Animal Crossing: New Horizons (what about some Memphis Milano designs or Gae Aulenti's Pipistrello or King Sun lamps?)
Safety (FBI confirmed there are still threats of attacks against federal institutions as Trump vowed never to concede defeat) and the Coronavirus emergency prompted organisers to opt for a scaled-down event.
Inauguration will take place on 20th January at 11am ET (4pm GMT) on the US Capitol grounds and it will mainly be an online event (it will be livestreamed on the Presidential Inaugural Commitee social media channels), while anyone participating will have to wear masks, respect social distancing and go through temperature checks. Trump confirmed he will not be attending the Inauguration (he is the first president in more than 150 years to do so; the fourth in American history); the outgoing vice-president Pence will instead attend. Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez are expected to perform and the event will be followed by a prime-time program featuring Ant Clemons, Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Lovato and Justin Timberlake among the others. The theme of the event, according to the Presidential Inaugural Committee, centers on "America United". Biden won the November presidential election, but, in accordance with the 20th amendment of the US constitution, the terms of the sitting president and vice-president end at noon on the 20th day of January. This period of time allows the previous president to complete remaining administrative tasks and prepare the transition. The inaugural oath taking ceremony marks the official beginning of the new presidency. This year the inauguration will also be anticipated by a nationwide Covid memorial for the victims of Coronavirus (over 385,000 died in America at the time of writing this post) and cities and towns will light up their buildings and ring church bells on 19 January in remembrance.
Quite a few designers representing the American fashion scene already produced signature merchandise in support of the Biden-Harris ticket in September.
At the time these items invited people to vote, but now the "Believe in Better" collection (made entirely in unionized American factories) features items, among them Gabriela Hearst's tie-dye sweatshirt, Proenza Schouler's American flag T-shirt, and Thom Browne's scarf, that prompt people to be optimistic and hopeful.
In quite a few cases the designers opted for messages of unity: Roxanne Assoulin beaded bracelets spell out "Come Together"; Joseph Altuzarra and Thakoon chose the "Unity over division" motto for T-shirts and scarves, while Prabal Gurung celebrated diversity in his "Future Stronger in Color" T-shirt. Other designers such as Aurora James of Brother Vellies printed or embroidered on their garments and accessories the number 46 - in honour of Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States. Sure, a T-shirt or a pair of socks may not change the world or our collective mood in very difficult times for the entire world, but maybe one day they will be used as special pieces, mementoes marking a moment of transition for America from darkness into a brighter future.
In recent posts we focused on architecture, but, as seen in multiple features in the past years, there are obvious links between this discipline and fashion.
These links and connections can be spotted not just in the actual finished clothes, but first and foremost in the fundamentals of fashion, that is the construction techniques and, to get inspired by this aspect, in the last few months we posted a pattern a month.
We are restarting posting patterns from today with images dedicated to architecture for the feet. The photographs in this post relate indeed to paper patterns for tabi socks.
These vintage patterns are available for sale on the Tatami Antiques site, an independent online marketplace for Japanese antiquities that offers great inspirations. Some of these patterns come in thin washi paper and they are accompanied by a booklet on how to make tabi published in Showa 16 (1941).
The patterns are sold by titcoret ($180 for the complete set of 25 patterns, including the booklet), a seller that often offers special items like kimonos and mini-kimonos for dolls.
Tabi socks became a fixation of many fashionistas after Belgian designer Martin Margiela, inspired by a trip to Japan that prompted him to think about a soft tabi shoe on a high heel, transformed this hybrid design he had imagined into his iconic split-toed tabi boots (in the documentary "Martin Margiela: In His Own Words" by Reiner Holzemer, the director films Margiela's hands as they show a wooden mould for tabi shoes and then a pair of his boots).
Margiela's fans may be interested in discovering how to make tabi socks or they could use the patterns for creative and conceptual projects.
A few days ago it was announced that Margiela will make a comeback as an artist in April, with an exhibition that will take place at the Lafayette Anticipations Fallery in Paris. The event will include his sculptures, photographs and installations, all previously unseen in public, so studying the construction techniques behind his designs may be a great way to keep ourselves busy as we wait for his artworks to be unveiled.
Architectural features such as staircases and walls often appear as backgrounds in the shoots for United Nude's shoes. So it was only natural for the company to push things a bit further and come up with a unique interior design piece. The company recently unveiled the VX Bench, the result of a collaborative project with Cassius Castings.
Rem D. Koolhaas, founder of United Nude, and Thomas Musca from Cassius Castings, share a common ground and a passion for design and architecture and decided to come up with a special project.
Musca has so far designed several pieces of concrete furniture that show craftsmanship and design, Cassius Castings manufactures indeed premium concrete furniture by hand. All its pieces are extremely solid, weather-proof, maintenance free and virtually indestructible, they are therefore ideal for both private and public spaces.
Together with United Nude Cassius Castings designed a bench based on mathematical and geometrical principles and in particular on two segments, a longer and a shorter one. Each segment is divided in five parts, the points of the parts are then united to create vertical line segments.
Subtle variations are then added to the basic structure of the bench, so, rather than following the sequence 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, for example, the last two points are mixed with 4 uniting with 5 and 5 with 4. Multiple variations are then developed, but the bench remains solid yet its structure gives it a sense of lightness.
It will be intriguing to see if the bench - that can also be used as a coffeee table - will appear in some special installations in future. It would for example be interesting to see it becoming the integral part of a dynamic chroreography inspired by architectural moods, as suggested by the photos posted on Cassius Castings' Instagram page.
In the previous post we looked at Medieval fashion reminding readers that there are echoes of garments from those times also in contemporary designs. If you think about it, you will realise that even sci-fi stories borrow elements from the Middle Ages, think for example about armors.
The latest sci-fi series in which we have seen an armor as a key narrative element is Disney's "The Mandalorian", created by Jon Favreau.
In the first live-action series in the Star Wars franchise, Mando's full-body armor with its distinctive helmet - pieces entirely made in the almost indestructible Mandalorian iron called beskar - is a sort of co-protagonist. The armor is indeed a way of life for Mandalorians, something that provides protection and a visual identity, regardless of species or gender.
Yet, rather than links between the future and the Middle Ages, when we watch sci-fi films like the ones from the Star Wars saga, most of us are maybe more intrigued by the settings and the architectures.
There are plenty of intriguing shots in The Mandalorian and Oppenheim Architecture, an award-winning architecture, planning, and interior design firm specialising in hospitality, tried to create comparisons between some of their designs and the buildings, locations and architectural moods seen on the Season 2 of this series, while Mando and The Child, or better Grogu, continue the journey that started in the first season.
For example, in the first episode of the second series, The Mandalorian returns to Tatooine, a beloved planet for Star Wars fans.
This sandy planet, with its buildings emerging from the dunes and blending in with their surroundings, is echoed in Oppenheim Architecture's Ayla Golf Academy and Clubhouse.
The structure, located in Aqaba, Jordan, is inspired by the natural dunescapes and magnificent mountains of the Jordanian desert as well as the architectural heritage of the ancient Bedouin.
The structure consists in a massive shotcrete shell curving and creating organic unadorned and minimalist shapes in earthy colours that evoke the tones and nuances of the surrounding mountains.
The third episode takes mainly place on board of Mando's ship, with a brief interlude on an icy planet where his passenger, the frog lady, has a bath in a natural spring to keep her eggs warm.
The space-age design of the vessels seen in this episode, but also the water element can be linked with Oppenheim Architecture's futuristic concept proposal for a spa and resort in the Barooq Peninsula of Qatar, combining natural and high tech materials.
In the fifth episode Mando tries to reunite the child with a Jedi master reaching the forests of Calodan where he meets Ahsoka Tano.
In this episode the forests are juxtaposed to the luxury house, built in a futuristic Oriental style, where the evil magistrate who oppresses the people in the local village, lives.
Oppenheim Architecture linked the forest surrounding the city, accessed through a solid and severe walled gate, to the Muttenz Water Treatment Plant, located in Switzerland, the city's new municipal water purification plant.
The plant is designed to blend into its natural habitat without disrupting the landscape and it is inspired by the principles of sustainability. Coated in natural stone and clay, the plant calls to mind a rock configuration touched by water, even though the inspiration for this design was actually a futuristic space base.
In the sixth episode, Mando takes the child to the Jedi Temple on Tython to try and connect Grogu to other Jedis. The Temple features towering rock formations that surround a sunny stone at its center.
This desert tower is reminiscent of a proposed series of lodges in Wadi Rum, Jordan. Inspired by primordial moods and the tectonic and geological histories of the region, this project combines natural beauty with a luxury vision, with lodges carved directly into the sandstone cliff face, blurring in this way the line between the interior and the exterior.
Building elements in this project are made with rammed earth and cement mixed with local red sand. Harmony is created by taking full advantage of the natural cooling effect of the rocks, and the proper positioning allows the project to minimize energy consumption.
The season's penultimate episode takes Mando and the rest of his team to the jungles of the Morak forest where they must penetrate an Imperial base.
Oppenheim Architecture's aptly named House in a Jungle in Caracas, Venezuela, displays a similar setting to the one in which the characters move at the beginning of the episode to prepare their attack.
The solid concrete building clad in local stone characterised by a natural palette, with its wood floors and large windows opens onto a large and calm courtyard with lush and verdant gardens with palm trees and other tropical plants calling to mind the jungle.
There are obviously further intriguing buildings and structures featured in this series and, if you like the comparisons, you can discover more links between films and architectures in the volume "Lair: Radical Homes and Hideouts of Movie Villains" (2019), written by Oppenheim Architecture's founder and Principal Chad Oppenheim. The book also features a chapter on the architecture of the Death Star, so it's a must-have for Star Wars fans.
