Architects and Fashion?

[SomethingElse]

Power Couples: Day 6 19 September 2006

Alexander McQueen and Sir Norman Foster

Wallpaper*: How do you value the relationship between fashion and architecture?
Alexander McQueen: Architecture is paramount in inspiring fashion.

Wallpaper*: What sort of architecture do you think reflects your aesthetic?
AM: The work of Le Corbusier – my favourite building is the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp. I am drawn to its asymmetry and mysterious energy and aura.

W*: How can architecture help sell fashion?
AM: Just by being there.

W*: What are your reasons for selecting Lord Foster?
AM: His impressive body of work – I am particularly inspired by the Gherkin.

W*: Have you worked on any projects together or do you intend to?
AM: No, no plans at present.

W*: What is your favourite city and why?
AM: London, for its diversity.

W*: Which location or city do you think could most do with a makeover?
AM: Belfast.

W*: You and Alexander McQueen have not collaborated on a project, but generally speaking, how difficult is it, as an architect, to combine your vision with someone else whose vision can be equally strong?
Sir Norman Foster: I have never had difficulties working with artists who have strong personalities or convictions, quite the reverse!

W*: Are you surprised Alexander McQueen selected you as his architect of choice?
SNF: As one of his admirers from afar, I am absolutely delighted.

W*: You have worked on store design (Hamnett). How does an architect begin to turn the task of shopping into a memorable event?
SNF: In making places which are good places to be - destinations in their own right.

W*: Does fashion interest you?
SNF: Yes.

W*: Have many fashion ‘innovators’ helped advance public perception of architecture?
SNF: Not many numerically but the few that have done so have been positively influential.

wallpaper.com source link here.

 

[SomethingElse]

Power Couples: Day 7 20 September 2006

Paul Smith and John Pawson

Wallpaper*: What sort of architecture do you think reflects your aesthetic?
Paul Smith: This question is not easy for me to answer because I am dedicated to individuality, which means I try to make each new shop different and fit in with the character of the location and the spirit of the country. For instance, my Los Angeles shop is a simple, bright pink concrete rectangular building which works well in a city where everybody is driving not walking and looks amazing against the LA blue sky, whereas my Milan shop is in part of an old palace and its walls are in dusty pink reminiscent of the interior of a Italian church.

W*: How can architecture help sell fashion?
PS: Shop architecture of course can help present your image and help customers distinguish your aesthetic. My main concern with a lot of shops or public spaces designed by architects is that they are often too self- indulgent and the practical aspects required are not thought about.

W*: What are your reasons for selecting John Pawson?
PS: I admire John Pawson's work for its purity of scale and proportion, simplicity and quality. The bridge at Kew Gardens is so elegant and made with such quality that it will look good for many years.

W*: You have not worked on any projects together but would you/ do you intend to? PS: At the moment there is no opportunity to do so, but who knows what the future holds?

W*: Do you have a favourite building?
PS: I can never answers any questions about favourite buildings, music, designers etc. because I am so open to all aspects of life. Some buildings which really impress me are also inspirational to John: Le Thoronet Abbey, east of Provence, and the Tempietto of San Pietro in Montorio.

W*: What is your favorite city and why? PS: As I said earlier, favourite anything is difficult for me. I love the layout and scale of Paris, the energy of New York, the confusion of the skyline in Tokyo, but most of all I love London because it's my home.

W*: Which location or city do you think could most do with a makeover? PS: British provinces that were ruined in the 1960s and 1970s.

W*: How difficult is it to combine your vision with that of someone whose vision may be equally strong?
John Pawson: At its best collaboration, whether with architects, artists or designers of one sort or another, can be a very stimulating experience. At the Hotel Puerta America in Madrid, I was one of three architects working on the ground floor. My lobby was bookended by Marc Newson’s bar and Christian Liagre’s restaurant. We all had very strong visions and each was different, but I loved the finished sequence of spaces.

Last year, I finished a house for Fabien Baron in Sweden. He is another individual with a clear vision of how things should be, but he is also happy to trust, which made for a creative relationship.

I have tremendous respect for Paul and his work - which is always a good basis for working with someone. There is also the fact that we are both from the north of England - northern equals straightforward - and we have each experienced the passion of cycling.

W*: Are you surprised Paul Smith selected you as his architect of choice?
JP: Paul has come to see a number of projects over the last few years: he was at the consecration of the new Cistercian monastery in Bohemia a couple of years back, the opening of an exhibition at Le Thoronet Abbey in May of this year, and a few weeks later at the Sackler Crossing in Kew. I think that the work makes sense for him, but his approach is to look and listen rather than say very much, so his response always retains a little healthy mystery.

W*: How does an architect begin to turn the task of shopping into a memorable event?
JP: The whole point is to create an environment where the people, the clothes and the place look good.

W*: Does fashion interest you?
JP: I'm always interested in good design, whatever the field. My first job was working for my father who owned a textile company in Halifax. I even spent a short and not very successful spell there designing a line of women's clothes. In terms of being interested as a consumer, the answer is that I prefer to keep things simple. I have an unvarying uniform of white shirts worn with chinos in summer and dark grey wool trousers in winter. I do, however, have a made-to-measure Paul Smith suit which I enjoy every time I put it on.

W*: Have many fashion "innovators" helped advance public perception of architecture?
JP: There has always been a link between architecture and fashion ‘innovators’. I have worked extensively with Calvin Klein over the years and I think that he has had a tremendous impact in this respect. He was never interested in the impermanence of conventional store interiors. From the beginning he wanted to make authentic architecture – places with a real quality of space which people would feel as soon as they walked in. The flagship store in Manhattan has stayed pretty much as designed, more than a decade after it was finished and it is still having an impact on the way people commission and design stores.

wallpaper.com source link here.

 

[SomethingElse]

Power Couples: Day 8 21 September 2006

Donna Karan and Dominic Kozerski.

Wallpaper*: What is the relationship between architecture and fashion, for you?
Donna Karan: I love architecture – I feel so at home on building sites – so it was an incredibly important influence on me when I started both Donna Karan and DKNY. I wanted the stores to be industrial and raw-looking – like an undressed stage, or like a Robert Wilson blacked-out set. I wanted people to feel that they were outside even when they were inside. And, of course, architecture can work like fashion. Take Zaha Hadid, for example; her work has a real flow to it, as if it was a building cut on the bias.

W*: Do you have a favourite building?
DK: To be honest, I am not always very keen on the very modern. That is why I love buildings such as Dia:Beacon (by OpenOffice), with its mix of old and new.

W*: What sort of architecture do you think reflects your aesthetic?
DK: I love work that is organic and sensual. That is why I adore the stone sculptor Izumi Masatoshi. For similar reasons, an architect I am very impressed with at the moment is Shigeru-Ban. I adore his natural aesthetic.

W*: What were your reasons for selecting Dominic Kozerski?
DK: I met Dominic when he was working with Peter Merino, and our professional relationship rapidly became a partnership. When he was working with me on my apartment, he first built a full-scale model on site as a mock-up. It was so beautiful I wanted to move in and live in the model.

W*: Have you done any other projects together?
DK: He is currently working on the mini-compound I am building in Parrot Cay in the Turks and Caicos.

W*: What is your favourite city?
DK: Paris. It has such a feminine energy. I love the light, and light is so important to me. But then, of course, I will always love New York.

W*: How difficult is it to combine your vision with that of someone whose vision may be equally strong?
Dominic Kozerski: In our view, the architects’ vision is essential to any project, but the client’s primary insight is a fundamental basis for that vision. If that insight is strong, that usually develops the project into one that is intensely personal to and customized around the client. This is true also when we are collaborating with a designer from another field such as fashion; the starting point of view can differ so greatly but if the goal is the same, the results can be very inspiring and ultimately unique.

W*: Does fashion interest you?
Dominic Kozerski: Being ‘fashionable’ does not. However fashion and the fashion industry can be a fascinating blend of art and business that finds inspiration in many, sometimes unlikely, fields that in turn influence other design disciplines, including architecture.

W*: Have many fashion ‘innovators’ helped advance public perception of architecture?
Dominic Kozerski: Architecture has become part of the elements that significant fashion brands need to have to be validated. It can be used to promote and market a brand in terms of ‘buzz’ and image. However at the same time there can often be a struggle between the dominance of the design qualities of a space and the product that will be sold in the space. Some fashion innovators have allowed architects to develop concepts and ideas that would not be considered commercially viable or even possible for other types of public spaces. Perhaps ultimately stores will sell architecture?

wallpaper here.

 

[SomethingElse]

Power Couples: Day 9 22 September 2006

Patrick Thomas and Rena Dumas

Wallpaper*: How do you value the relationship between fashion and architecture and do you think architecture can reflect or inspire fashion?
Patrick Thomas: Fashion is the cloth of the body. Architecture is the cloth of the spirit, of the soul. Both express a person’s personality, body or soul. A person’s spirit, or attitude, is reflected in their home’s architecture. A company’s spirit is reflected in the architecture of its offices, stores, factories. In a way, a piece of fashion is an architectural creation. Doesn’t one speak of the ‘architecture’ of a cloth?

W*: What sort of architecture do you think reflects the Hermès aesthetic?
PT: Very diverse architecture that is respectful of the site, discreetly elegant, highly qualitative in materials, in constant evolution and full of sensuality.

W*: How can architecture help sell fashion?
PT: Successful architecture enhances fashion and gives it life.

W*: What is it about Rena Dumas’ work that appeals to you?
PT: Rena Dumas has gradually developed the Hermès architectural style jointly with Hermès. Once she has understood the brief, she delivers it in total harmony with her customers. She has an extraordinary sense of what Hermès wants to do to put its objects on stage.

W*: Which projects have you worked on together and do you intend to do more?
PT: We’ve worked together on our Hermès workshops in Pantin (suburb of Paris), on a massive extension project that is underway in Pantin and on a very daring Hermès House in Dosan Park in Seoul.

W*: Do you have a favourite building and why?
PT: The House of Lords in London, because its harmony is so great and the proportions so well balanced that it looks like a cottage.

W*: What is your favorite city and why?
PT: The Italian cities – they mix so well with the nature surrounding them. When you visit Florence or Tuscany, you hardly know if you are in a city or in its surroundings. My favourite cities are those that are discreetly integrated in the nature surrounding them.

W*: Which location or city do you think could most do with a makeover?
PT: Lake of Annecy, because the nature is so beautiful and the architecture almost destroys it.

W*: How difficult is it to combine your vision with that of someone else whose vision may be equally strong? Rena Dumas: I appreciate having a client with a strong vision. The rest is a matter of equal respect and complicity.

W*: How does an architect begin to turn the task of shopping into a memorable event?
RD: At Hermès there is a real preoccupation with innovation, which for RDAI means leaning upon the roots of tradition, to constantly rebound to a modern vocabulary. Our architecture plays constantly with natural light and sculpts, as a staircase does, being sometimes rectilinear, or sometimes opening out into the space like a huge shell. Each store conveys the genuine atmosphere and timelessness of Hermès. The Hermès product, in its perfection, finds its place naturally enhanced in this architecture. However, the product is always the king of the festivity: the goal is that the act of selling, the act of exchange, becomes a festive moment and the realisation of a dream for the person who acquires the product.

W*: In your opinion, have many fashion 'innovators' helped advance public perception of architecture?
RD: We could say that, today, architecture ‘innovators’ help advance the perception of some fashion brands. In the more and more visible marriage of architecture and fashion, architecture is providing a strong support to the visual identity of these brands. In the case of Hermès, the architectural codes were rooted from the very beginning in the culture of the House and were founded in the first shop at 24 Faubourg Saint Honoré, Paris in 1925. Since that date, every Hermès shop is linked to that store by a golden thread. In a wider reflection on innovation in architecture, I believe that public perception of architecture is advanced by all quality architectural projects conceived by quality architects. But I believe strongly that we are entering into an era where architects and builders in general should reconsider what a privilege and responsibility towards the mankind it is to build on earth.

W*: What is your favourite city and why?
RD: Undoubtedly Paris! It is a personal choice since I was 14 years old. There is a wonderful balance and harmony between the built parts of the city and the spaces between them.

wallpaper.com here.

 

[SomethingElse]

Power Couples: Day 10 23 September 2006

Karl Lagerfeld and Zaha Hadid.

Wallpaper*: How do you value the relationship between fashion and architecture and do you think architecture can reflect or inspire fashion?
Karl Lagerfeld: We need houses as we need clothes, but even more so and they have to last longer. That is why the cycles of architecture’s evolutions are so much longer. In the 18th century, fashion and architecture went hand in hand. This perfect marriage will never be repeated. We live in another world now where people are into ‘preserving’ houses and other older buildings. Nobody wanted a medieval house in the 18th century. The 17th and the 18th century were the best periods ever in the history of French architecture.

Wallpaper*: How can architecture help sell fashion?
KL: Architecture stimulates fashion. The systematic relations of both can last in time and space for quite a long period.

W*: What were your reasons for selecting Zaha Hadid?
KL: She is the first architect to find a way to part with the all-dominating post-Bauhaus aesthetic. The value of her designs is similar to that of great poetry. The potential of her imagination is enormous and people are only just beginning to realise how important her designs are.

W*: Are you working on a project together for the future?
KL: Yes, for Chanel, but it’s too early to talk about it. It is an idea she’d had when she was a student but nobody had approached her with a need for it. I would love her to build a house or a library for me, but where?

W*: Do you have a favorite building, any building and why? The Villa Malaparte is one of my favourite houses in the world as are the Palais Wittgenstein in Vienna and the Villa Savoy near Paris.

W*: What is your favorite city and why?
KL: New York for the moment, because the mix of people and architecture.

W*: How difficult is it to combine your vision with that of someone whose vision may be equally strong?
Zaha Hadid: Of course it can be difficult, but also very exciting. It's important to remain true to your own vision, but also open and receptive to new ideas. I think when you have two people with strong ideas collaborating on a project, amazing things can come out of that relationship.

W*: Are you surprised Karl Lagerfeld selected you as his architect of choice?
ZH: Karl and I have a long-standing respect for each other’s work, so no, I am not entirely surprised.

W*: How do you begin to help turn the display of fashion into a memorable event?
ZH: As in fashion, architects are now able to use the very latest 3D digital design and enhanced manufacturing processes to realize extremely complex geometries and merge unrelated forms and textures. This architecture translates the intellectual into the sensual by experimenting with completely unexpected immersive environments.

W*: Have many fashion ‘innovators’ helped advance public perception of architecture?
ZH: There is a long tradition of fashion's innovators commissioning architecture that is a revolutionary experimentation of what is possible.

wallpaper.com here.

 

[ilaughead]

Thank you for the articles, SomethingElse!

 

[Ceptuouse]

thanks for all this...karma

 

[~Fashionista~]

Thanx!!!

 

[gius]

Never saw these power couple articles before!^ Thank you SomethingElse

The process of designing is the same in most fields of design I presume (aesthetics, function, etc.).

This is what I've been thinking about lately..
For example I notice in graphic design/illustration we learn the same design theories as they do (I do Textiles). The design elements and principles. Shape, line texture, etc.
But I find what's taught in graphic design is so much stronger than in illustration and textiles, from what I've been reading through graphic design books.. Very strong conceptual element. Less decor, more about clear communication.

 

[apertures]

here is a fantastic design firm with a strong focus in architecture and fashion (and design in general)

http://www.ateliermanferdini.com/

 

[HOLLY ASTERA]

wow, great thread. I am doing an essay about architecture and fashion right now so this has helped me somewhat..

 

[tctra]

put it this way. An architect can be a fashion designer, but a fashion designer can't be an architect.

 

[Hanne]

Zaha Hadid
http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f48/melissa-zaha-hadid-collaboration-76485.html

 

[gius]

thank you^
i had a picture
very similar design.. taupe and black
but didn't know the designer

 

[b9409]

Gianfranco Ferre was an architect. Then he became one of the most important fashion designers of the fashion history. You could see landscapes/traces of architecture in his clothes.

His details were divine.

 

[b9409]

put it this way. An architect can be a fashion designer, but a fashion designer can't be an architect.

I think the same thing can be said about industrial designers as well. When you think of it, a lot of what fashion is, or what excites us, are products, like shoes, bags, jewelry etc. The brands that make the most money and recognition now, are the ones that push their leather goods/accessories to another level of fine execution, style and opulence.

Of course clothes do sell, and are very important, but accessories -or 'goods', in general- are just as important defining a look or silhouette as clothes themselves. In some ways, the collaboration or input of an industrial designer and architect may be beneficial to a fashion designer, than another fashion designer who just knows how to construct clothes.