California born fashion designer, Rick Owens is set to showcase his furniture for the first time in Berlin beginning May 30th, in a show entitled ‘To Pop a Boner’. The show will be curated by publisher Angelika Taschen for Gallery weekend in Berlin running until May 2nd. Owens’ furniture collection was developed originally for the raw space of his Paris headquarters, made predominantly of plywood, and resin on fiberglass.
Apartment Alexanderplatz
Memhardstr. 8
10178 Berlin
Hey all, sorry I’ve away for a few days things got kinda hectic, but now I’m back! Earlier this month my dear architecture friends at USC had the opportunity to show their first collection at the Fashion Industry Association Fashion Show at USC this year, and it was quite the hit. Sorry I couldn’t be there, my darlings, believe me I would have been hoot n’ holerin for you! Their fashion objective is dear to our hearts here at THE MOD ONE, the marrying of the mediums of architecture & fashion. The two disciplines parallel each other so closely, but rarely successfully meet in the middle. But now, FORMATIVE has taken it upon themselves to accomplish this much needed task….
Pronunciation: \ˈfȯr-mə-tiv\
1 a : giving or capable of giving form
To get a better understanding, let’s hear it in thier own words…
“And we as formative are solely existent to give form and shelter to the body. The Spring 2010 line consists of 8 pieces that transition from the hard masculine and geometric ’side’ of architecture to the classical feminine draping nature of fabric.”
FORMATIVE: spring 2010 collection
“What happens when the worlds of fashion and architecture collide? How much does the role of visual pleasure play into this hybridized design discipline? Or are we simply building pragmatic structures that house the body?
Faced with this challenge, we as Formative underwent an extended period of tortured existential wondering about the characteristics of the body and various explorations of the essence of fabric materials.
Ultimately we accepted the difference between fashion and architecture and used the irony of the relationship as a driving force. As sculptural assemblages, the Formative collection is a play of the distinctions between modern sculpture and technology versus drapery. Or even the structural and masculine sleekness of architecture versus the classical femininity which is found simply in the nature of fabric.
The Formative collection is the resulting pearl in the oyster of our creative expression and design. We humbly thank all of those who have been there to contribute to the show as well as those who have watched Formative to grow from an idea to our first show. Thanks again and enjoy.”
France’s favorite woman Madame Simone Veil was inducted into the Académie Française as the 6th woman to ever hold a position at the Académie for upholding the French Language. And, for such an occasion Chanel Couture is a must. Uncle Karl designed this dignified and elegant ansemble which required nearly 1500 hours of work. The blouse and skirt of silk crepe took 210 and 180 house each, respectively. The suit jacket totaled 250 hours and another 850 hours for the embroidery by Maison Lesage. I know how hard it can be to find Lagerfeld sketches so I thought I should post it, enjoy!
Via: Associated Press + Soblacktie.com
Industrial designer Jae Kim took a mechanical approach to designing a skirt. Instead of the fabric moving in a conventional fashion he mechanized it, check out the video below… At first I was flabbergasted, then after the video demonstrated the same thing in an excess of 100 times, the awe factor wore off rather quickly…
Kinetic Mechanical Skirt from Cooperjay Kim on Vimeo.
I can’t get enough of Felipe Oliveira Baptist; his last collection for A.W. 2010/2011 was one of my absolute favorites of the season, but I just can’t quite put our finger on why. I think it was because it was so refreshing. It’s been way too long since the concept of futurism was so eloquently presented. It’s 2010, and it’s as if we stopped looking towards the future, the exploration of space and imaging pop-art-like minimalist fashions. It was as if for a moment Pierre Cardin and André Courrèges were showing again, but in a contemporary context, and it was outstanding. Felipe Oliveira Baptist’s collection was inventive and future thinking. The inspiration came from the idea of a woman’s pioneering spirit and was carried home by abstracting form and layering typographies. And, For the first time this season we also had a bit of a look into Baptiste’s own creative process on his facebook fan page, he uses his wall as a literall inspiration board, with the ability of fans to comment and contribute. Make sure to become a fan and watch him carry out future collections. I think his is definitely the hot seat at Paris Fashion week, now I can’t wait until his next show!
Paris Fashion Week AW-2010-2011 – Felipe Oliveira Baptista from le modalogue on Vimeo.
Via: Dazed Digital + Le Modalogue
Paco Rabanne, École des Beauxs-Arts trained architect turned fashion designer and famed couturier. Enthralled with the contemporary modernist movement in both architecture and the arts and with new innovation of materials, Rabanne decided to debut a new haute couture collection of his own in 1966 labeled ” 12 unwearable dresses in contemporary materials” which caused quite a stir. He implemented materials that to date weren’t used in fashion, including metals, plastics paper, rubber and cardboard. He originally worked with refashioned sheet metals until he collaborated with his dealers to create rhodoïd plastics, which immediately became the designer’s signature. He, also, later became credited with the innovations of fur knit wear and aluminum jersey, both introduced in 1968. “In fashion you have every liberty except one, don’t ever undermine a woman’s beauty”, those are words by Paco’s mother that stuck with him as he created. Granted his fashions may have appeared rather avant garde and wild, but women embraced his garments because of his doby consciousnessand his never imposing of fashion upon them. As an architect by training, consistent themes of light, clean lines and form were consistent in all of his work. Luminescence was always reoccurring, inspired by the fluidity of sequined gowns of the women of the 1930’s, so light would radiate from all of his models. He even went so far as to actually illuminate a fiberglass dress once.
In 1969 he released his first fragrance “Calandre” later followed by Paco Rabanne Pour Homme in 1973. Both became immediate sensations, but it was the bottle design that he took the most pleasure in, taking direct inspiration from architecture; Calandre being a literal interpertioon of the UN in New York City. He was the first to make molded dresses that were seamless and disposable paper clothing created with only one seam, but by 2000 he decided to stop doing couture, believing it to be irrelevant within our modern society. In 2003 Rosemary Rodriguez began to show the collections for the Paco Robanne label in Paris and in 2005 Patrick Robinson became artistic director. He showed in Paris until the Fall 2006 collection when he went to become artistic director of Gap, Inc. Since then the label has been at an apparent stand still. Owned by Puig, the label now only produces accessories, watches, sunglasses, and over 36 fragrances, with a new one being released this summer.But what happened to the label? From what I can gather it sounds like it’s Robanne himself is doing the accessories, but I am unsure. On the Paco Robanne site there is a mens Fall 2009 collection, but now that’s outdated, who designed that? I loved it though I want every single piece form it, but I can’t even find where to buy anything except the frangrances. It just appears that they stopped designing one day. Maybe since the economic downturn they are just focusing on Paco’s most successful sector, fragrance. Where is Paco Robanne and what is he oing these days, painting? I know him and Patrick Robinson did not get along, with his refusing to work with Robanne with the conscious decision of not honoring the labels past, ignoring the archives and putting up a complete wall between him and history. I want the house of Paco Rabanne to re-emerge. I believe there is still a lot of room in fashion to work with unconventional materials and Rabanne would be the perfect brand to do that under. Will you return Rabanne? If you’re looking for an artistic director, I’m available, just throwing that out there…
Enjoy a physcadelic preview of one of his 1969 collection…
Viktor & Rolf did it again this year, making their audience all googly eyed over their FW 2010 collection. V&R’s long term relationship with Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel of Studio Job has proved to be a rather successful with past collaborations for jewelery, prints and furniture. So when Studio Job premiered themselves as the scenographers for V&R’s SS 2010 collection it was no surprise that it was a wild success. The Recent Fall/ Winter collection showcased once again the close collaborative effort of the two design teams. The show labeled as ‘Glamour Factory’ was an imaginative display of Studio Job’s aesthetics which was composed of an elaborate scene of layered industrial patter. Studio Job described:
“The base of the scenery is a pattern we originally composed for a series of marquetry objects, titled ‘Industry’ (2008). Specially for the occasion Nynke transformed the pattern into a more theatrical, 3D form that reminded us slightly of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.
Together with Viktor & Rolf we decided to totally wrap the giant catwalk backdrops with 1000 m2 ‘Industry’! It was pleasant to see how naturally this architectural scene was absorbed by the glamour and fashion industry.”
The pattern above is an example of Studio Job’s previous project of 50 ornamental concrete reliefs for a new builing project in Amsterdam called ‘ iconic facades’. Their dexterity for working with iconographic and symbolic form is truly impressive because they have such a great comprehension of how to communicate their concepts effectively with their diverse audiences.
The V&R collection, itself, seamlessly coincided with the scenography, as it should. They did so by playing out, theatrically, the dressing and undressing of models upon a rotating stage, mimicking the concept of factory and industrialization. It’s not the first time that V&R has done the layering idea, remember the ninth prepartaion dress that was featured at MOCA’s skin and bones exhibit?
Enjoy part 1 of the great duo, V&R’s most recent show below…
via: Dezeen.com and Wallpaper.com
It seems like since Avatar, everything is 3D. TVs with 3D can’t stay on the shelves and I think i saw a new 3D Macbook somewhere, we’re inundated. And like everything current, fashion will play out its commentary upon the subject of three dimensions. Burberry already jumped on the bandwagon with their last FW 2010 show that they available to watch live in 3D. But, I see this playing out much – much further….I can imagine three dimensional prints walking down the runway to a large interactive back drop, also in 3d, interacting with the collection before it. If anyone could have done it, it would have been Alexander McQueen. I can’t imagine any other designer working through the intricacy of figuring out designing such a difficult and complicated pattern that could work beautifully both with 3D glasses or with the human eye and then finishing and composing perfectly. Or, I could see Maison Martin and Margiela doing a 3D garment in juxtaposition to a faceless stocking covered model, that could really pop. Maybe, Marc Jacobs will put little 3D avatars or Mirikami on the next Louis Vuitton bags, or Prada will do their next plaid-like patterned dresses in 3 dimensions, the possibilities are endless…
3D Chanel Plaid!! Now that would be something, wouldn’t it?
What I really want to know is: When and where can I buy myself a pair of designer 3D glasses,? I’m sure Linda Farrow has it under control…
Photos via: Coutorture and style.com – 3dimensionalized by THE MOD ONE
I’ve seen it , and you probably have too, ” Architectural Balenciaga FW 2010 Shoes”. Yeah, not convinced, I honestly I wasn’t convinced when I first saw the collection, there was a bit of a disconnect. Nicolas Ghesquière’s part was, as always, outstanding, the shoes were fantastic in their own right, but not completely cohesive. After further reading (because I could never get past the title before) Pierre Hardy did the shoes to coincide with the looks. Alright makes a bit more sense, but it’s the “architectural” bit I really have a problem with. Every design blog I’ve come across has covered the shoes, most doting the term ‘architectural’ within its title. Like I said, I’m not compelled to describe them as either deserving or worthy of the term ‘architectural’. At best they remind more of furniture or interior design touches and finishes. They aren’t defining any new space in an innovative way and the structure of the shoe is rather typical, besides the block heel. They are, however, making use of the collaged materials to a great extent, but I don’t think it necessarily the material defining the shoe, just an application upon it. What I can point out is that the platform which is composed of plastics and molded to the base of the foot does accomplish a sort of plinth, but recently nearly every shoe has a sort of platform. Perhaps if the whole of the shoe was made of the barrage of materials and the loafer/ brogue/ leather bit was left out, then maybe it would conceive a whole new form, unique and, dare I say almost ‘architectural’. Out of the lot of them, the most persuading were probably the ones with wooden front shields.
Don’t you think it takes a bit more for something to be considered or compared to ‘architecture’? Architecture isn’t like all other art mediums, it necessitates professionalism, expertise and years of schooled training to accomplish. I think too many people call themselves artists these days, I think just about everyone thinks of themselves as one lately, and I suppose it makes sense because it is in our human nature to create. But art doesn’t have the boundaries and rules that the discipline of architecture does have. Honestly, i think we all get a bit over excited when the mediums of architecture and fashion appear to intermingle, I know I do, that’s what I’m passionate about. But why don’t we see more of it? From what I’ve found from extensive research, it’s designers with a background in architecture that accomplish it best, and sadly (except the rare exception) not vice versa…
Photos Via: Style.com
I was going through a Japanese blog and I came across these photos from Alexander McQueen’s sublime last collection, FW 2010. We know the collection was unfinished so perhaps these two were edited out of the private salon showing. Finally, a close up of some of the outstanding shoes from the collection. The white and gold feathered ones I believe were hidden within the golden feather piece. Soooo happy I found these photos!!!
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