Archinect - News

Issey Miyake, the feted 'architect' of high fashion, has passed away in Tokyo aged 84

2022-08-09T21:10:00-04:00

A remarkable intellectual titan of contemporary fashion and high culture has passed away as multiple outlets are reporting the death of iconic Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake on Friday, August 5th after a battle with cancer.

A pioneer of the pleat and use of technologically-driven design, Miyake became a symbol of radical interventions in fashion. He was championed by photographer Irving Penn, Artforum, and many other art world mainstays who formed his early client base, which would later famously include Apple founder Steve Jobs.

In an industry ruled by form, proportion, and silhouette, Miyake used a complex understanding of architectural concepts to design garments that were sculptural in structure and unrepeatable in their unique ability to convey movement and the fluid body. Noted as the first Asian designer to "storm Paris runways in the '70s," his work continues to transcend contemporary fashion. His research-based Pleats Please and later Homme Plissé Issey Miyake lin...

What if Zaha Hadid had designed a pair of YEEZYs?

2019-09-23T15:00:00-04:00

What we have here is a seamless, one-piece, alabaster molded slip-on, punctured by organic-shaped holes and replete with the sort of bulges, curves, and shapes that, for the design inclined, should conjure not only connections to modern automotive design, but thoughts of the late Zaha Hadid’s oeuvre as well. It’s perhaps reductive to say, as we have, that this is a Hadid version of a Croc, but it’s also accurate and curious.

Surface magazine commends West for his study and reference to design and architecture, reporting on his personal acquaintance with Hadid and his positive remarks on the work of Rem Koolhaas and Herzog & de Meuron. It is only natural, the publication reports, that West's fashion would show his architectural influences. The new Yeezy Foam Runners will drop in 2020.

COS pays homage to the Bauhaus with their remastered capsule collection

2019-09-13T19:30:00-04:00

Architects are known for their distinct fashion sense. From the clean, minimalistic look to the striking and avant-garde, fashion's relationship with architecture is close and personal.

Popular clothing brand COS is paying tribute to its Bauhaus-inspired design principles with a unique capsule collection for those who wish to embody the iconic design school's aesthetic.

Image © COS

COS designer Christophe Copin shares with Wallpaper, "We really wanted to work around form and function this time." Copin continues, "You need a coat to protect you from the cold, but maybe you don't need all its additional detail [...] We were focusing on the art of closure."

Image © COS

While some might view fashion trends unimportant and trivial, for those who appreciate the design history of popular fashion trends, COS' new collection could be a good fit, however. The attention to the Bauhaus school's geometric forms and monochromatic color palette make this collection simple and a basic in design and ...

AMO designs Virgil Abloh exhibition for the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

2019-05-16T14:11:00-04:00

As an architecture student-turn-fashion designer, Virgil Abloh has famously straddled the line between the two professions. An exhibition of his work, which has been described as 'ultramodern' and 'genre-bending,' will highlight this Interdisciplinarity at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), starting June 10th.

Off-White™ c/o Virgil Abloh, Spring/Summer 2017, Look 30; Courtesy of Off-White™ c/o Virgil Abloh. Photo: Fabien Montique.

The exhibition will be designed in part by Samir Bantal, the director of AMO, OMA’s research wing, and curated by Michael Darling. Bantal has expressed that the exhibition will focus on the different worlds Virgil moves in: Architecture, Fashion, Design, Music and Art. After the show's opening, there are plans for it to travel internationally and become part of an ongoing collaboration between AMO and Abloh.

Virgil Abloh, “Material Table,“ 2016. Courtesy of the artist.

AMO has previously provided creative input for exhibitions on fashion, includin...

Architect Julia Koerner blends design, technology, and fashion to help Black Panther win an Oscar in best costume design

2019-02-25T14:43:00-05:00

Beyond the silver screen buzz and Hollywood glam, the Oscars highlight professionals in non-acting categories like best original soundtrack, set design, and costume design. This year, a film, which received several awards and nominations, shined through its use of 3D printing and architectural design concepts. In the film Black Panther, architect Julia Koerner used traditional techniques combined with digital technologies to create the intricate accessories worn by Queen Ramonda.

Left, a Zulu woman in the traditional headdress of a married woman; center, a conceptual costume sketch by Ms. Carter (design) and Ryan Meinerding and his team (concept artists); and right, the headdress as worn by Angela Bassett designed by Julia Koerner and Ruth Carter. Credit Getty Images; Marvel; Marvel/Disney

Inspired by African patterns presented in the initial design sketches of Ruth Carter, Koerner's Zulu hat and shoulder mantle were designed to look as though it were created by technology from the f...

Zaha Hadid Design steps into fashion for Odlo

2019-02-01T14:05:00-05:00

The Zaha Hadid name has been behind, in its storied past, many products outside of architectural design, including chairs, tables, and even a cheese grater for Alessi.

ZAHA Parka. Photo courtesy of Odlo

But the Zaha Hadid Design branch of the firm has recently turned its sights towards fashion. Odlo, the Swiss sports performance brand commissioned the architecture firm to design the 'Zaha Line,' a clothing line for its spring/summer 2019 Women’s Activewear collection, includes a parka, tights and a bralette.

ZAHA Warpknit Tights and ZAHA Warpknit Bralette. Courtesy of Odlo

According to the company, the Zaha line "adapt[s] to the anatomy and physiology of the human body, [and] incorporates layering techniques to give optimum performance and design." The parka's flock-print increases comfort during strenuous exercise, the tights use 'warp knit technology' to provide full freedom of movement, and the bralette features 'bio-centric body-mapping' to provide climate control and flexibility....

Zaha Hadid Architects design H-Line hat for Friends of the High Line fundraiser

2018-06-12T15:26:00-04:00

It's only been a few months since Zaha Hadid Architects' 520 West 28th development officially opened in Manhattan, and with its photogenic steel-and-glass split level facade, the 11-story condo mid-rise has quickly become a popular landmark of the adjacent High Line park.

520 West 28th, ZHA's first project in New York City. Photo: Hufton+Crow.

For an upcoming Hat Party-themed fundraiser event, hosted by Friends of the High Line, Patrik Schumacher and his team have fired up the parametric design engines one more time and created the head covering complimenting the building, the H-Line.

Photo: Luke Hayes

"The fluid chevrons of 520 West 28th’s façade weave up the building, conveying its split levels and demarcating each residence within," explains the design description. "The H-Line hat echoes these chevrons, weaving around the wearer with open and closed forms."

Photo: Luke Hayes

Project Details:
Designer: Zaha Hadid Architects
Design: Patrik Schumacher
De...

Eames office partners with clothing company Uniqlo

2017-09-25T13:27:00-04:00

In collaboration with the Eames Office, UNIQLO will launch its SPRZ NY EAMES Collection starting September 25, 2017. This collection will celebrate the groundbreaking contributions of Charles and Ray Eames to modern design, art, and culture.

The Japanese clothing company creates collaborations with famous fashion designers, museums and artists, and now also with architects. If you have always wanted a t-shirt with the image of a piece of modern furniture on it, this is your chance!

Courtesy of Eames Office

Architecture in fashion design

2015-08-20T17:01:00-04:00

Although fashion magnate Tom Ford does not make much of the fact that he studied architecture at Parsons The New School for Design, that early influence can still be felt in his body of work, as it can with Daniel DuGoff, an architectural alum of Washington University in St. Louis turned fashionista who has recently been attracting press attention for his technically exquisite yet stylish clothing line DDUGOFF. However, the industry has also been venturing into other traditionally architectural realms. In May, the Shining 3D Fashion Show Design Contest invited participants to submit 3D printed clothing options:

The aesthetic structural sensibility of fashion, while obviously existing in a different material realm, shares much with the most visually engaging and relevant architecture.

This structural appreciation extends beyond clothing into film. When Tom Ford directed the adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's "A Single Man," he had the principal character live in John Lautner's Schaf...