3. Sewing and architectural fashion Relationships between architecture and fashion are more tightly stitched. To pull a thread from the discourse, a symposium on architecture and fashion at Princeton University in 1991 (also a book, Architecture in Fashion 4 ) discussed fashion, gender, modernity and scenography as well as scaffolds and draperies. The year after the book was published, Mark Wigley published White Walls Designer Dresses: the Fashioning of Modern Architecture . 5 In 2000, Martin Pawley wrote Fashion + Architecture . 6 The relationship between fashion, architecture and commodity can be found in the work of Canadian designer Bruce Mau, whose book S,M,L,XL written with architect Rem Koolhaas, retails at $400 US. 7 Mau’s most recent book Life Style is equally controversial. 8 A review by Charles Decker on Amazon.com’s website says —
4. Domestic sewing — defining cultural space The problem with even thinking about the relationship between architecture and sewing is that few of us know very much about sewing. Some of us can sew on a button, or use a needle and thread to hem a sleeve; others may remember when a sewing machine sat in some corner of the house The fact is that sewing is a craft tradition which, for the most part, has been removed from our contemporary life. The fact is also that the place of sewing has shifted from the sewing room in the back of the house to the workshops of Asia and Latin America. Large chain stores in Canada and the United States sell extremely well made garments produced in Macau, Honduras, China and Turkey. While sewing was once, in Canada and in the States, the most economical way to clothe a family, cover a bed or drape a window, now it is much cheaper to buy than to make. In one sense, the relationship between architecture and sewing is pinned together in a memory of past domestic life. In another, the relationship between architec- ture and sewing is associated with the appropriation of personal and public space by multinational brand label companies which trade in fashion and exploit the only real experts in sewing these days — underpaid, underage, female factory workers in developing countries. *
All things considered, this major book will leave some read- ers furious at Bruce Mau’s audacity and others aghast at his cross-disciplinary influences. I doubt that there’s anyone working in design today who has had quite his impact. This book is a beautifully realized celebration of that impact, and very much worth the wait. By the way, Phaidon has produced this book with eight differ- ent and gorgeous fabric covers. Yours might differ from our rather inadequate representation on the site. As with S, M, L, XL, I predict that some day all of them will be (ahem) “cool- lectors’” items.
My sister and I are sewing a red shirt for my daughter. She pins, I hem, we pass the scissors back and forth across the table.
To crown the medley, last year Rem Koolhaus wrote an extremely slick book featuring equally slick store and factory projects designed for the fashion house Prada in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco,Tokyo,Terrauova, Arezzo and Milan. 9 It was published by Prada’s own publishing company Fondazione Prada Edizione and the publisher’s website highlights the work of OMA/AMO. 10 This linkage between clothing fashion and architecture is in some places, an increasingly tight fit.
Margaret Atwood from ‘A Red Shirt’ 11
Sewing has traditionally been woman’s work, not connected with architecture, which was, traditionally, a man’s profession. Sewing is an integral part the centuries- old tradition of quilt making, often a collective project, where quilts represent important events such as a marriage or the birth of a child. In the church in New Brunswick where I grew up, womens’ groups make quilts as beautiful artifacts which are sold as a way of raising funds. The other benefit comes in the sense of community — women working on a piece together. Sewing can be an act of endearment when women make clothing for their family. Judy Chicago, an American artist whose latest work is currently opening in four major galleries in the United States, has deliberately chosen sewing as a medium to define the cultural space of women. Sewing is usually associated both formally and informally with the education of females and it takes place in domestic space. It becomes tailoring when it moves into the public realm and is practiced by men. But who, in our culture, really knows how to sew? And does it matter?
4 Fausch, Deborah, Paulette Singley, Rodolphe El-Khoury and Zvi Efrat, eds. Architecture in Fashion . New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 1991. 5 Wigley, Mark. White Walls Designer Dresses: the Fashioning of Modern Architecture . Cambridge: MIT Press., c1995. 6 Pawley, Martin. Fashion + Architecture . New York: Wiley-Academy. Chichester, West Sussex :Wiley-Academy, 2001 7 Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Rem Koolhaas, and Bruce Mau / edited by Jennifer Sigler, S,M,L,XL . Koln, Germany : Benedikt Taschen verlag, 1997. 8 Mau, Bruce, Bart Testa and Kyo MacLear. Life Style . London : Phaidon, 2000. 9 Koolhaas, Rem. Projects for Prada Part 1 . Milan: Fondazione Prada Edizioni, 2001. 10 See www.fondazionepradaedizioni.com
11 Dunseath, Kirsty, editor. A Second Skin:Women Write About Clothes . London:The Women’s Press, 1998.
Spread in Life Style , by Bruce Mau, Kyo MacLear and Bart Testa, 2000.
Early twentieth century stone sculpture with drapery, Catholic Cemetery, Baton Rouge.
S ewing
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