Fashion in Film Festival, Take Two!

Chop Suey, dir. Bruce Weber, USA 2001, copyright Bruce Weber

This is a rather belated announcement, but don’t forget to attend the second weekend of the Fashion in Film Festival at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. Curated by Marketa Uhlirova and Christel Tsilibaris (and shown in London last year), it spans the history of film from the silents to the present day and shows more traditional features alongside experimantal shorts, documentaries, and video art. It is appropriately running concomitantly with a series of 16mm films by Andy Warhol—all starring Edie Sedgwick—any of which is sure to make for a more intersting viewing experience than the recently released film!

For more information, visit fashioninfilm.com

Skin + Bones: An Interview with Brooke Hodge

Shigeru Ban, Curtain Wall House, 1995. Shigeru Ban Architects, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan Photo © Hiroyuki Hirai

Unfortunately, the groundbreaking exhibition “Skin and Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles is now over. Thus, this post is dedicated to those who were not lucky enough (like me) to have had the opportunity to experience the visual discourse between fashion and architecture as developed by MOCA's Curator of Architecture & Design, Brooke Hodge.

Brooke graciously took a moment to talk to Fashion Projects about the relationship between these two disciplines and her inspirations in developing the exhibition. After reading this brief interview, head to FIT on April 18th to hear a panel discussion featuring Brooke Hodge, Patricia Mears (Deputy Director of the Museum at FIT and contributor to the Skin and Bones catalog) and others discuss fashion and architecture. More information follows this interview. FP: You write that you explicitly realized the connections between fashion and architecture when you were curating a show on Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. What was it about her designs that got you thinking of the parallels between these two disciplines? In general, how important do you think the Japanese designers (Miyake, Yamamoto, Watanabe, etc.) are to this concept?

BH: When I was working on the Comme des Garçons show, I started to notice that the clothes were described using terms usually applied to architecture—structural, constructed, architectonic, sculptural, etc. This got me curious about other parallels.

I think the work of the Japanese designers, especially Yamamoto, Kawakubo, and Miyake, is very important to the idea that there are parallels between fashion and architecture. Yamamoto and Kawakubo were the first designers to explore ideas of deconstruction in their garments (in 1982) and to create clothes that were radically different from what we had been accustomed to and from what other designers were doing at the time. Miyake’s sculptural shapes and innovations with pleating have also been very influential for architects, especially Frank Gehry. Junya Watanabe’s influence is more recent but still very important.

While it is true that the point of origin for both fashion and architecture is the three-dimensional body, do you think that the vastly different scales and sense of permanence make for an antagonistic relationship?

I think that for many years architects considered fashion to be frivolous and superficial. However, with the rise to prominence of more intellectual designers like the Japanese designers mentioned above, I think architects have more respect for fashion and realize that there is inspiration to be gleaned from it. Both use flat materials to make volumetric forms. With the increased potential to make more complex curved forms in architecture, thanks to computer-aided design, architects are looking more to fashion for construction techniques that will enable them create more interesting surfaces and to shape more complex forms. I think there is still a little snobbery on the part of architects toward fashion because architecture is much more monumental and meant to last many years and fashion is still seen as something that changes every season. It’s interesting that several architects have experimented with ideas on the scale of clothing (Diller + Scofidio, J. Meejin Yoon, Elena Manferdini, to name a few) because it is an easier scale to work with and quicker and less expensive to complete something. In the case of Manferdini, these experiments in the area of fashion have been important for her architecture practice. The pavilion she designed for the Beijing Biennale incorporated the process, tools, and motifs she has worked with in her clothing designs.

You state that the two main characteristics that fashion and architecture share are minimalism and deconstruction? In your mind, which characteristic bears the most fruitful dialogue?

Minimalism and deconstruction are two main STYLISTIC characteristics that fashion and architecture share but there are other important parallels. Deconstruction created the most important dialogue in terms of “style” since it had more impact in terms of creating potential for new forms of expression in both and was a much more radical shift in both fields. They both address basic human needs such as shelter and identity. I think the most fruitful dialogue is in the area of techniques of construction that are being adopted and adapted across the two disciplines.

The parallels between fashion and architecture are easily accepted by fashion scholars, perhaps in part because it lends a sophisticated legitimacy to a field known for its whims. However, do you think that the links between these two fields are as readily accepted (and desired) by architects and their critics?

I get the feeling that architecture critics (and some architects) are not yet ready to accept that there may be parallels between the two fields. This may be due to the snobbery toward fashion mentioned above. Also those who are less visually inclined may not be able to discern visual similarities between the two. None of the architects I contacted for the exhibition were reluctant to include their work in the show and most were very enthusiastic and mentioned their interest in fashion. “Skin and Bones” is not the first exhibition to highlight the connections between fashion and architecture. In 1982 there was a groundbreaking exhibition at MIT titled “Intimate Architecture: Contemporary Clothing Design” curated by Susan Sidlauska. And this past year at the Center for Architecture in New York there was an exhibition titled “The Fashion of Architecture: Constructing the Architecture of Fashion," curated by Bradley Quinn. How is “Skin and Bones” different from these past exhibtions?

Intimate Architecture was a definite inspiration for me. However, it did not include architecture—only garments that are architectural. The Fashion of Architecture was interesting in terms of the fashion it included but it too did not include much architecture at all. It also had an emphasis on fashion created by artists as well as some examples of clothes created by architects or by architects in collaboration with fashion designers. Skin + Bones is the first exhibition to examine the relationship between fashion and architecture in great depth with numerous examples from both fields.

A more recent connection between fashion and architecture is in the area of sustainability. Many fashion designers are following the lead of architects by attempting to use more ecological materials and processes. What do you think of this emerging parallel? Are there any other areas that you see emerging as a new dialectic between these two disciplines?

It would be great to see both fashion designers and architects truly use sustainable materials in a meaningful way that is accepted by the public. I think Testa & Weiser’s work with architectural applications for carbon fiber has a lot of potential for the future. I think architects are currently looking more at fashion and maybe we will see fashion begin to look at architecture more for inspiration.

Interview by Sarah Scaturro

Visit www.moca.org to download the Skin and Bones Gallery Guide, featuring photos of the objects as well as the didactic material appearing in the exhibition. Unfortunately, the gorgeous hardcover catalog accompanying the exhibition is sold out in many major online retail shops. If you see it, snatch it up quickly.

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“SKIN + BONES: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture”

Panel Discussion

Wednesday, April 18
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Fashion Institute of Technology, 27th St. at 7th Avenue, NYC
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center (D building), 1st floor
$25 general admission, $17 for students and seniors. Free to FIT students, faculty, and staff.

Belgian Fashion

Last week I went to Belgium, mainly to visit the collection of the Mode Museum in Antwerp. It’s one of the most interesting places for fashion exhibits thanks to their innovative installation practices, as well as their penchant for exhibitions which contextualize the designers’ aesthetics by showing how they’re articulated across a number of media and not exclusively within the garments themselves.

The exhibit that’s currently up is meant as an introduction to the MoMu collection, which has great pieces of contemporary experimental fashion alongside historical ones. And the juxtaposition of historical and contemporary garments, at times within the same mannequin, was perhaps the most interesting part of the show. In July, the museum will organize a show of Bernhard Willhelm’s work in collaboration with the designer himself, which promises to be quite comprehensive as Willhelm donated the entirety of his archives to the museum

MoMu also organized an exhibit on Belgian Fashion at the Flemish Parliament in Brussels. Called “Antwerp Six,” the exhibit is structured in four separate parts. The first is dedicated to the work of the Antwerp Academy and shows students’ work starting from the academy’s beginnings in the 1960s to the present. The subsequent section is dedicated to the Antwerp Six, as well as Martin Margiela. The third shows the work of more contemporary Belgian (or rather Belgian-trained) designers, from Raf Simons to A.F. Vandevorst to Bruno Pieters. Probably the most interesting section, it contains hard-to-find shows and garments by the now retired designer Jurgi Persoons, as well as a video of A.F. Vandevorst Spring/Summer 1999 show. Starting with models sleeping in what appear to be hospital beds, the AFV show must be one of the most lyrical fashion shows ever staged. While the fourth and final section is dedicated to the future of Belgian fashion. What was also interesting about the exhibit was its installation, as each section was made of a free-standing modular cube (whose surface was covered with press clippings about Belgian fashion). It constituted a smart way to exhibit both the garments and the fashion shows in a choesive manner, while sidestepping the fact that the room itself wasn’t quite meant as a traditional exhibition space.

Francesca Granata

Ann-Sofie Back Autumn/Winter 2007

Ann-Sofie Back, AW 2007

Ann-Sofie Back showed an interesting collection employing scotch tape, plastic, and fastening mechanisms (normally associated with cheap luggage and backpacks) to underscore “a sketchy, spontaneous look,” what Back describes as “two minute garments.” Some of the looks, particularly the see-through plastic garments held together with scotch tape are reminiscent of Margiela’s early 1990s work. While others materials, such as neoprene and velcro, what Back refers to as “faux functional,” seem to pervert the late 90s early 00s functional aesthetic and its penchant for high-tech fabric. A subversion of these themes is further highlighted by the fact that most of the pieces, despite being made of “high-tech” or “faux high-tech” material (which one generally relates with “technical sportswear”) often hang awkwardly on the body, most of which remains exposed thanks to mini-skirts and short dresses. At times, particularly with the looks, in which heavy wool or down are “sketchily” and precariously wrapped around the body, one can’t help but picking up a reference (intentional or not) to the ways these fabrics are down-cycled and used by homeless people to shield themselves from the cold—a sight which is certainly more common in New York than in London.

Ultimately, these references coexist with a number of body-hugging silhouettes, where wide elastic straps wrap around the body rather tightly to create dresses and skirts. What is perhaps most interesting about the collection is that while the London runways abound with 1980s reference—a rather tired look at this point—Back seems to be revisiting and commenting on 1990s fashion—hopefully a sign for things to come!

Francesca Granata

Peter Jensen and Emma Cook Autumn/Winter 2007

Peter Jensen AW2007. Photo: Marcio Madeira (from style.com)

(Yesterday morning, I took some time off my teaching schedule to attend a couple of London shows...Below are my findings!)

Emma Cook produced a film installation “Screen Test Suzie” in lieu of a traditional fashion show, where the model’s jerky movement reminded one of stop motion animation. In its refreshing simplicity and offbeat tempo, It looked a bit like a student’s animation short or an early film shown at the wrong speed…The model jumped around in quite a cute manner and some of the clothes-particularly the 20s-looking cloches, the wide pants and the Charleston-like dresses (some of which in feathers) gave the film a rather chaplinesque character.

Peter Jensen’s presentation was also humorous in a subtle way.One of the model wore a paper crown—which read as a reference to the Emperor’s new clothes. (Most likely it had to do with the show’s inspiration—a northern Renaissance princess, Christina of Denmark.) There were jackets, skirts, trenches, and dresses made of rubberized black and dark green nylon—the latter were gathered in front rendering a voluminous silhouette reminiscent of bygone eras. A “rubber” trench was placed on top of a an ensemble whose grey fabric made of interlocking rings was reminiscent of chainmail, thus juxtaposing a medieval reference to a rather “futuristic” fabric and giving the impression of a contemporary Joan of Arc of sorts. Another futuristic reference was hinted at by a hooded sweater from which little “prosthetic” horns peeked out. Ultimately, these disparate elements were well integrated and made for subtly funny and pretty garments.

Francesca Granata