Threeasfour S/S 2014 New York

[Bernadette]

Photos courtesy of style.com

 

[Bernadette]

Photos courtesy of style.com

 

[Bernadette]

Photos courtesy of style.com

 

[Bernadette]

Photos courtesy of style.com

 

[Bernadette]

September 08, 2013 New York
By Lauren Sherman

Threeasfour's Spring runway show took place in a room at the Jewish Museum on New York's Upper East Side, where the design trio is staging an exhibition opening September 15. The multimedia show, titled Mer Ka Ba, is an attempt to promote "cross-cultural unity" among religions, particularly Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Gabriel Asfour was born in Lebanon but has Palestinian roots. Angela Donhauser was born in Tajikistan, and Adi Gil in Israel—their disparate backgrounds consistently inform the work they do together. "We want to inspire others to do the same," explained Gil the day before the show.

For the exhibit itself, Threeasfour worked with architect Christian Wassmann to create a temple made to look like a 3-D six-point star. Video projections of the five platonic solids, created by animator Alex Czetwertynski, dot the exterior of the installation. "We were fascinated by the geometry of the different tiling systems in mosques, churches, and synagogues," Gil said. "They actually make a lot of sense next to each other, so we chose to mix them together—it's a way to create and express unity."

Looks from the Spring collection will also be displayed during the five-month museum show, and they reflect the unification idea through and through. The first number, a short dress with puffed sleeves that looked like molded butterfly wings, featured the three tiling systems laser-cut into white and off-white silk, layered upon each other to create an almost-3-D effect.

Other pieces were truly three-dimensional: The designers worked with another architect, Bradley Rothenberg, to design 3-D textiles in ivory resin. These two showpieces were even more sculptural than Threeasfour's typical work. The finale, a white minidress, was adorned with those five platonic solids: Cubes and octahedrons sprouted from the fabric.

Instead of creating shoes, the designers made weblike covers out of the same resin, further unifying the collection. But while every detail was quite obviously belabored over to create a successful, cohesive runway show, what the designers seemed most excited about was the fact that other people—not just fashion's elite—would be able to see the collection up close. "A runway show is only fifteen minutes," said Gil. "This time, everyone who comes into the museum can spend as much time with it as they want."

Source: style.com

 

[Pricciao]

that's so cool

 

[elle_gb]

Very intriguing collection.

 

[christian zh]

Iris van Herpen RTW

 

[Not Plain Jane]

I love it.

 

[Koibito]

the final look reminds me of the bubble dress of Chalayan

style

 

[Scott]

erm....these guys have been employing textile elements and volume in their work since they originally started way back in 98.

it's so great to see they not caving or compromising to the environment they're in....they continue to push the boundaries. i really enjoy it.

 

[MulletProof]

^ For some reason I don't find their work as interesting as I did some years ago but I still love checking out their collections precisely for how consistent they are... you still see the same geometrical shapes, circular cuts, volumes, textures, it's definitely not a seasonal experiment or diving into some trend, even if it always looks a bit on these lines or played out due to not adhering to the rhythm of time that strictly...

I didn't know about their cultural backgrounds, crazy.. you can definitely see the inspiration for the exhibition in the collection, especially in the fabrics with the cutouts, and the Alhambra-esque shapes in the black dresses towards the end.

Thanks for sharing, Bernadette.

 

[Bernadette]

You're welcome.

The collection, which is tied to an exhibition at the Jewish Museum, explored the 3-D printing possibilities through a collaboration with architect Bradley Rothenberg.

The result was a fascinating proposition of black-and-white sculptural shapes in geometric and tile patterns found in synagogues, churches and mosques around the world. The looks ranged widely in form and cut, from short dresses with folds and voluminous skirts to skinny pants worn with maxi coats, to an intricate plastic-like webby short dress that feautured a 3-D texture. Wearable? No. Exhibition and runway worthy? For sure.

Source: wwd.com

 

[Scott]

you know,it was kind of the opposite for me,i respected what they did always but their style didn't always appeal to me but ever since kai left and it evolved into threeasfour i think they did start to find that right balance between creativity and wearability. and they never once lost a single shred of their identity in the process. it's really admirable in this day and age especially for designers based in NY. i wish more designers,even certain european designers,had taken some cues from them...