Tada! That’s Ellen Sampson‘ s conceptual footwear design. This object looks more like a sculpture, but, in fact, it’s a design object. The shape recalls the human element – you need to put your foot inside in order to be finally completed. I think that’s a wonderful work!
Tze Goh is a designer whose (quality of) work is hard to ignore. It wouldn’t be appropriate to call him just “minimal”. His singular design esthetics is merely pure and somehow sensual. Clean surfaces, flawless look, light structure, sculptural functionality, innovative materials – it’s not easy to get so many qualities together in a single garment, huh? That’s pretty close to perfection. Tze Goh’s dresses are from another world.
I’m sure that everybody remembers Hussein Chalayan’s stunning “Inertia” collection (spring/summer 2009). The collaboration between the designer and Puma, reveals a bright continuity for Chalayan’s futuristic idea.
Puma’s fall/winter 2011 collection contains several pieces grouped under the banner ‘urban swift’. I think Chalayan’s collaboration with Puma is a fruitful one, and the extraordinary fact behind it is that the visionary designs of the maestro finally can reach the mass market. This time, the concept of urban mobility is translated into these wonderful products, and the Urban Swift incorporates a distinct element of speed and grace through a 3D series of spikes on the heel. I’d really like a white pair!
chekout urbanmobilty
images via bpuma.com, designboom.com
If you like sensitive prints, graphics, hand-made effects, black & white exercises, camouflage… Here’s an image from Remix Magazine (Journey Home) versus a full-covered outfit by Teodora Baciu, a fresh graduate of UAD, Cluj. I love the fabrics and the mood.
We’re already in August, and I forgot to talk about beachwear, swimwear and related stuff. I also forgot to mention my favorite (beach)suit for summer 2011, which is, of course, Lanvin.
This gorgeous drape reminds me the art of Madame Gres, and, besides, I love the costume’s ambiguity – being something between underwear, beachwear and outwear.
*I’d like to see these costumes a little mis-worn, to look even more charming.
images via vogue.com
I’ve already talked about the art of Alex Mirutziu on Fashion Salad, I love his projects – exquisite performances with a fashion touch. I mean, have you ever thought about wearing a suit that works as a punching bag (love the concept!), or putting yourself helpless in the middle of a boxing match? The theme of Mirutziu’s performance – “Action is Guilt – Method to Rourke” is a subtle dialog between some antagonistic entities… passive/ aggressive, fragile/ tough, slim fit/ raw muscles, etc.
“In the materiality of action each gesture loses up its energy, and meaning; the dispersion of muscular functions, what is too obvious open up into series of faults, into a terrain of particles with their own void.
When action becomes problematic the focus is on what is not happening that is less happening; it becomes a sign of absence, punctuating moments of failed communication, mobilising silence, homelessness and exploitability.”
Alex Mirutziu is a Romanian artist, whose practice extends over a wide range of media and activities, including: writing, photography, media-critical video installations and performance as well as various critical and curatorial projects. His work endows social processes with ephemeral emergence as main constructs in an attempt to reconfigure the relation between information and form, psychophysical language and content, challenging origins and meaning. His most recent work implies a recuperation of the subject between structured death and migration of suffering.
Alex Mirutziu – Action Is Guilt/Method to Rourke
Performed with guest appearance of professional bodybuilder Paolo Iannettone
Costume: Alexandru Nicolae
“Food, clothing, and shelter” are the essentials of life. Issey Miyake, one of the 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT directors has organized an exhibition that focuses upon “clothing” and some of the many essential articles produced by the Tohoku Region, Japan. The 21_21 Design Sight research centre is holding a six day celebration of Tohoku culture and craftsmanship (July 26- july 31), featuring Myiake’s own work, and some of the many essential articles produced by the Tohoku region.
Following the disaster that has struck the area, “Clothing” is an exhibition dedicated to traditional Japanese textile techniques, already famous on European catwalks. Much of them, as Myiake’s, Yamamoto’s , Kawakubo’s designs are often derived from the old traditions of the Tohoku region, commonly viewed as the creative heartland of Japan.
“The Spirit of Tohoku“exhibition shows that “Clothing” goes beyond fashion, and it’s all about humanity facing a crisis, living in harmony with nature, putting creativity to use, making beautiful and powerful items for daily use.
Muneyoshi Yanagi once described the Tohoku region as, “a land of handmade work that continues to preserve a wealth of things only possible in Japan.” The knowledge of craftsmanship and techniques of traditional handmade crafts passed down and refined for generations, have paved the way for technologies that now support our society today… This “spirit” is something we must cherish; and yet is also something from which we have detached ourselves in an era of excessive consumption. It lives on in the energy and rich history of craftsmanship of this region. It also may prove to be the spark of hope that will guide us all, going forward.
