Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture

15 Jun 2007 Category: Architecture, Events & Exhibitions, Fashion, Features, Worldwide

Fashion and architecture - how does this couple fit together? Firstly, it is not only the field of fashion that likes to walk hand in hand with technology towards a high-tech sun. Moreover, this couple likes to use the same terms of affection. Now, Skin + Bones is actually only the third exhibition within the last 20 years to tackles this entangled relationship. After being initiated at Los Angeles’ MOCA last winter, the Skin + Bones makes its next stop right now in Tokyo. MOCA curator Brooke Hodge came over for the opening at the National Art Center in Roppongi [info below]. So, PingMag went with Brooke for a walk through her exhibition…

Written by Verena

I once read that you got your initial ideas for your current project while working on an exhibition for Comme des Garçons? Please explain…

The Comme des Garçons’ exhibition at Harvard in 2000 was the first time I did any kind of project with a fashion designer — and that is I when started to think about the connections between fashion and architecture. Shortly after that, I went in for a job interview at MOCA in Los Angeles; and I proposed to do something about these parallels. In terms of fashion shows, in some cases I knew which designers’ work to select right away. In other cases, it was after I developed the thematic structure of the exhibition. For example, the area that deals with techniques and printing: With pleating, Issey Miyake was important because he is such an innovator; as for printing, Dries van Noten became a crucial element. Apart from that, I would read about or visit a building that just made sense to include, like the Santa Caterina market in Barcelona: It looks like a printed skirt draped over the top of the building. [pict below]

What an amazing mosaic! So, at the starting point were the linguistic similarities that existed among these fields – or that the same vocabulary were used to describe surfaces, such as folding, pleating, wrapping, etc…?

I thought that in addition to the vocabulary there must be other similarities: There are kind of broad connections where fashion and architecture are both addressing our basic human needs like, for example, shelter. Also, it is their mutual way to express identity. Moreover, both architects and fashion designers use quite a similar process to design something. A fashion designer would prepare a pattern in a detailed way, as an architect would a building plan, showing all the elements of a building.

But an obvious difference would be their flexible / inflexible structures, I guess…

You’re right — and the scale, of course. However, the starting point is very similar.

Both fields deal with the outer surface and inner structure. Also, both try to integrate technology a lot…

Right. Now that architects have the capability to make more complex curved forms, they start to look at how fashion designers take something flat and shape it to become a curved structure of the human body. I noticed that some architects observe the construction of the clothes and how the fabric goes together to make a volumetric form. It was quite interesting for me to discover that, for example, architects like Diller Scofidio + Renfro transform dressmaking techniques.

Where do you see the overlapping of the space around the body and the architectural space?

Both provide a structure that houses the body, but on different scales. A lot of fashion designers, particularly Japanese like Comme des Garçons’ and Yohji Yamamoto, are interested in the space between the body and the dress. I would say that this is the same way an architect could be interested in the interior space of a building and not just the surface. There seems to be a connection that a lot of us don’t really think about…

Where, for example, is this space between the body and the dress addressed here?

Look at the Comme des Garçons collection towards the last room of the exhibition, where the body meets dress with the bump: That is a line where Rei Kawakubo was really concentrating on the space between the body and the garment and deforming that space and creating these new forms.

Right now we are standing in this room with several architectural models next to those of fashion. Can you please explain to us about this structure?

This room here is all about designers and architects using geometry to generate forms. Over here is the area for constructing volume. The next room deals with structural skin, after that it gets more into pleating, draping, wrapping and folding…

Interesting to see an architectural model placed next to a dress which creates a kind of dynamic relationship between the two…

While architecture is a way of designing something huge, you can only see its tiny representation at the exhibition. On the other hand, fashion is life-size, creating a kind of an opposite problem. We didn’t want the models to look like toys in comparison to these tall mannequins.

I’m curious: What is your favourite piece in here?

I really like Preston Scott Cohen’s complex ideas starting from geometry, like his museum project in Tel Aviv. It is exciting, as this will be his first major building and they just started construction this month. And I really love the Junya Watanabe pieces that are in the next room. A lot of the fashion has been more of a discovery for me, because my background is in architecture.

Back to theory! If clothes express the cultural identity of people, in what ways does architecture do so?

Think of the Venice Biennale: There are pavilions to represent all the different countries, with each pavilion trying to have their own national identity. So, the American pavilion looks like a Jeffersonian building in Monticello, Virginia; and the Canadian pavilion is made to look like a native Canadian structure, a tepee…

But these are rather limiting countries to their stereotypes…

Yes, an Italian architect came up with the same argument… As a result, you end up with something like a bank…a historically a very serious looking classical building that would let the customers know that it’s solid and secure.

So, fashion and architecture both demonstrate the social background of its inhabitants?

A lot took place over history, than in recent contemporary architecture. Most of the time, form was based on function so the appearance of a building would let people know or reflect what its purpose was. For example, this explains the forbidding aspect of our prisons.

…and a building would show people their limits or would try to intimidate them, too…

It is true that a building is used as a kind of status symbol. For example, Prada working with well known contemporary architects shows that they always want to be at the cutting edge of design - not just in fashion but also regarding their shops and business…

As you can see, big brands are doing something similar all over Tokyo, like the new Swatch building in Ginza. Why do they choose Tokyo in particular for their high-profile architecture?

One reason could be, that the level of construction is much higher and more refined here — and the overall quality is better. I don’t you could construct a building in America that elegant or well made. like Toyo Ito’s Tod’s and Mikimoto.

Please explain…

You can see what I mean, even with Yoshio Taniguchi’s new MoMA building in New York — it’s just not well made. The construction industry overseas just doesn’t care as much about their craft as the Japanese. Here, there is more of a crafting tradition, as you can see in Tadao Ando’s concrete work.

So this is connected to tradition a lot, too?

In Japan, there has always been a tradition of creativity. Also, some of the designers like Comme des Garçons take a very conceptual approach with their work — it’s not so much about the idea than the image for them. You don’t see this with many of the prestigious luxury labels like Dior or Chanel: Their work might have a relationship to architecture, but they are not necessarily driven by the ideas in the same way. I know that in the early 80s, people in Paris were just shocked at what the Japanese designers were presenting. Maybe because Japan sealed itself off for so long, their shows seemed so radical. People in Paris had no idea what was going on in Japan at the time, except for its more traditional costumes and fabrics.

And some Japanese fashion designers are also quite engaged in technology. Why?

I think that in Japan, fashion designers often work with textile producers to develop new textiles for the purpose of creating a brand new material. European or American designers would source textiles that already exist. I might say that they are not really developing products as much as the Japanese.

After Skin + Bones, we are curious to hear about your next projects…?

I’m always interested in how architecture relates to different fields, and blurring the boundaries even with art. Right now, I’m thinking about an exhibition on landscape architecture using landscape as a medium for design: An exhibition in which you would actually have full-scale real objects instead of just photographs. It is always so hard to make architecture exciting for people.

Yes! More, please…

I think landscape architects are influenced quite a lot by other disciplines, and they are doing many new things within this field. It’s not just about a garden anymore but includes a planted wall or artificial materials.

Like the vertical gardens of Patrick Blanc? Interesting! Looking forward to see your next exhibition. Thank you, Brooke Hodge!

Exhibition info:
Skin + Bones at the National Art Center Tokyo
Running through August 13, 2007
Open everyday (except Tue): 10am to 6pm, Fri until 8pm
Address: 7-22-2 Roppongi, Tokyo. Map.

25 Comments

1. Brilliant stuff .. would love for this exhbition to travel .

   Posted by: fooch on June 16th, 2007 at 3:53 am

2. Hi! No War Make Peace!s

   Posted by: Elvis on June 16th, 2007 at 7:11 am

3. I still haven’t been down to the  National Art Center in Roppongi, now i have a nice excuse to go. I really like the sound of outer surface and inner structure… Its something that has a billion possibilities! Nice!

   Posted by: SHANTELL MARTIN on June 16th, 2007 at 9:00 am

4. [...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » Skin + Bones: … (tags: architecture art design japan) [...]

   Posted by: mobmash blog » Blog Archive » links for 2007-06-16 on June 16th, 2007 at 9:27 am

5. awesome! definitely heading down to the NAC in Roppongi!

   Thanks.

   Posted by: Tobias Funke on June 16th, 2007 at 10:25 am

6. [...] text/images via pingmag.jp [...]

   Posted by: Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture at dérive on June 16th, 2007 at 5:25 pm

7. This exhibition looks amazing…. I am glad such an exhibition has arrived in Tokyo… Perfect!

   Posted by: Nana on June 16th, 2007 at 8:31 pm

8. nice designer clothes. Specially the girl wearing that folds. Look Good.

   Posted by: Indian Wedding on June 16th, 2007 at 9:30 pm

9. I would love to see this exhibition if I had a chance.

   Posted by: mimiko on June 16th, 2007 at 11:01 pm

10. i love it

    Posted by: kreame on June 17th, 2007 at 4:18 pm

11. “Both fields deal with the outer surface and inner structure. Also, both try to integrate technology a lot…” - yes, but with the intention to make our lives easier, along with educating

    Posted by: trendoffice on June 17th, 2007 at 6:40 pm

12. omg~
    actually, my academic design topic is textile . it almost makes me crazy cos it is difficult to find the deeper relationship of the textile itself .
    anyway. thx for this fantastic article

    Posted by: kimkei on June 18th, 2007 at 3:51 am

13. This was in MOCA last winter?? I missed it! :(

    Posted by: Kristine on June 18th, 2007 at 7:44 pm

14. As a publisher of http://www.egodesign.ca, the first Web Magazine (canadian & international) on global design, I would just say that this exhibition on Fashion and Architecture presented by Ms. Brooke Hodge pf MOCA is just fantastic ! We wrote a great and lonf article on it in http://www.egodesign.ca (see our Fashion Section)

    Posted by: Bia Domingo on June 20th, 2007 at 3:57 am

15. As a publisher of http://www.egodesign.ca, the first Web Magazine (canadian & international) on global design, I would just say that this exhibition on Fashion and Architecture presented by Ms. Brooke Hodge pf MOCA is just fantastic ! We wrote a great and long article on it in http://www.egodesign.ca (see our Fashion Section)

    Posted by: Bia Domingo on June 20th, 2007 at 3:59 am

16. I am an architecture student form newcastle university, writing my dissertation on such a link between fashion and architecture, any information that anyone thinks i may find helpful would be greatly appreciated. My email adress is shevaughngill@hotmail.co.uk.
    Thanks

    Posted by: Shevaughn Gill on August 12th, 2007 at 2:20 am

17. For the ultimate connection between fashion and architecture see my friend’s collection UnitedNude by Rem_D Koolhaas.

    Posted by: neville on November 18th, 2007 at 6:49 pm

18. [...] this interview, curator Brooke Hodges says “I’m always interested in how architecture relates to different [...]

    Posted by: skin+bones at the map village street editors on February 7th, 2008 at 10:18 pm

19. the wooden dress idea is simply fantastic

    Posted by: Joanne on February 20th, 2008 at 11:42 pm

20. [...] + Bones has come to London after traveling through Los Angeles and Tokyo where also it saw a huge [...]

    Posted by: Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture « Shape of Now on April 29th, 2008 at 7:17 am

21. seen it

    it was brilant
    i;m an art student and went there for a college trip

    it was very very good

    and helped alot with my studies

    its mainly fashion though, so if ur a big architecture fan it hasnt got as much in there

    Posted by: Jade on May 21st, 2008 at 10:56 pm

22. Really interisting this article, i have reed about architecture an fashion, and i love both,

    Posted by: TWONE on June 14th, 2008 at 1:48 am

23. I am a fashion student writing my dissertation on the connections between fashion and architecture. Any interesting opinions or info anyone has would be brilliant.

    Email- vickymynkx@hotmail.com

    Posted by: Vicky on August 1st, 2008 at 10:55 pm

24. On Scott cohen’s design in the Ordos House: http://klaustoon.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/p-design-strategies-cohen-def.jpg?w=1024

    Posted by: klaus on March 27th, 2009 at 1:13 am

25. [...] was so much discussions on the idea of ’skins’, reminded me of this exhibition - ‘skins and bones‘ which I had attended a few years back. Really inspired me a fair bit; the relation between [...]

    Posted by: Plastic Futures | skin & bones on April 6th, 2009 at 11:33 pm

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