Fashion: The Latest Architecture and News

When it comes to the modern-day fashion show, the internet has fundamentally changed the way audiences interact with models and designers, say OMA/AMO, arguing: "The assemblage of recorded impressions and digital reactions inserts itself into the once autonomous narrative of the fashion show. The statement of the collective spreads. The mass of fragmented instant data is uploaded and critiqued by a multitude of voices."

With their latest fashion show design for Prada, which was used to showcase the designer's upcoming fall/winter menswear collection in Milan yesterday, the firm sought to enhance this sense of public judgement. "This consumption of images is like a public trial, a contemporary transposition of the Auto-da-fé," explains their press release, referring to the ceremonies of public penance which took place in the Portuguese and Spanish Inquisitions in the 15th-17th centuries.

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“To me, light and space is the great luxury” - Calvin Klein

Like architecture, fashion is an art dealing with structure and shape, one that relates to the form and function of the human body. Oftentimes the introduction of a small element, such as a zipper or a doorknob, can completely alter the perception of a work. In the end, image is in the details. So it should come as no surprise that legendary designer Calvin Klein holds a strong relationship with architecture.

In his lecture earlier this month at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Klein describes how architecture has played a role in his designs and campaigns over his 40-plus year career. His self-proclaimed love of minimalism is displayed in photoshoots in locations ranging from the white walls of Satorini, to the earthen forms of Taos Pueblo, to Donald Judd’s Chinati Foundation, and his Madison Avenue store helped to accelerate the career of acclaimed minimalist architect John Pawson. Watch the video above for more of Klein thoughts on architectural fashion and designs for his own living spaces, and visit the Harvard Gazette here for more on his visit.

The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana (also known as the 'Square Colosseum') is perhaps the most emblematic architectural project realised during Benito Mussolini's Fascist dictatorship, which governed Italy between 1922 and 1943. Now, sixty years later and having never been used, Italian fashion house Fendi and architect Marco Costanzi have—amid controversy—renovated the historically charged building into their headquarters, with office space to accommodate around 450 employees. Having reportedly signed a fifteen year lease with the municipality of Rome, the haute fashion house will be paying around €240,000 ($265,000) in annual rent.

For this edition of The Urbanist, Monocle 24's weekly "guide to making better cities," the team examine how fashion is weaved into the very fabric of our cities. They visit New Delhi to explore the role of ethics within the industry, head to Paris to see how the French capital is benefitting from its status as the 'Fashion Capital', and spend time at the only Eco Fashion Week in Vancouver. The episode also asks whether it's possible to identify a city by what people wear.

A few months ago, fourteen 5th-year architecture students at the University of Southern California (USC) were given an unusual challenge: select two materials, and two only, to design and construct... a Mao jacket.

The results, exhibited at the university on March 7th, were fourteen fascinating experimentations with unusual materials - including everything from rubber erasers to acrylic paint to 5,500 metal Mao pins (shipped direct from China). 

As Lee Olvera, the studio lead, told USC News, “It’s an exploration of program and function. In architecture, we’re called upon to design the skins of buildings all the time. This project infuses our intuitive skills of artistry and aesthetics with the rigor of analytical and performance-based material experimentation to create innovative working solutions."

Check out more images from this unusual studio project, after the break.

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Fashion visionaries Tom Ford, Gianfranco Ferre, and Gianni Versace all began their design education in architecture. In the words of Coco Chanel, "fashion is architecture." It was likely with this in mind that the Architecture Foundation hosted it's annual John Edwards Lecture. The event, which was held at the Tate Modern's Starr Auditorium, was a discussion between designer Marc Jacobs and architect Peter Marino, who have frequently collaborated together on retail design.

Zaha Hadid is no stranger to the marriage of architecture and fashion. She’s designed runways for Chanel, shoes for Lacoste, and was even named Woman of the Year by Glamour Magazine in 2012. On her quest to feed a constant desire for experimentation and innovation, she has turned to the world of smaller-scale objects in order to work out new fabrication techniques and possibly even redefine formal relationships. Her latest foray into fashion—designing shoes in collaboration with Rem D. Koolhaas’s brand United Nude— brings her architectural style to the feet of ladies willing to shell out $2000 USD for a pair of daring, cantilevered heels.