The Poetry of Fashion Design: A Celebration of the World's Most Interesting Fashion Designers

382 Pages·2011·128.16 MB·English

by  Paz Diman

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Copyright © 2011 by mao mao publications
First published in 2011 in the United States of America by
Rockport Publishers, a member of Quayside Publishing Group
100 Cummings Center
Suite 406-L
Beverly, MA 01915-6101
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
www.rockpub.com
Digital edition: 978-1-61060-230-3
Softcover edition: 978-1-59253-715-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-59253-715-0
ISBN-10: 1-59253-715-4
10987654321
Publisher: Paco Asensio
Editorial coordination: Anja Llorella Oriol
Editor and texts: Paz Diman
Art director: Emma Termes Parera
Layout: Maira Purman
English translation: Cillero & de Motta
Editorial Project:
maomao publications
Via Laietana, 32 4th fl. of. 104
08003 Barcelona, Espana
Tel.: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
www.maomaopublications.com
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Whole or partial reproduction of this book without editor authorization infringes reserved rights; any utilization must
be previously requested.
7 Introduction 190 Katie Eary
10 8045 198 Khalid AI Qasimi
16 Aldo Lanzini 204 Kristofer Kongshaug
22 Alejandra Quesada 210 Ksubi
32 Andrea Cammarosano 216 Kumiko Watari
36 Andrea Llosa 224 Lino Villaventura
42 Antonio Azzuolo 230 Louisa Parris
46 Barbara f Gongini 240 Lucile Puton
54 Bibian Blue 246 Maison Martin Margiela
60 c.neeon 256 Mary Wing To
68 Capara 262 Matohu
76 Dassios 268 Maxjenny
82 Deryck Walker 272 Michael Sontag
86 Dino Alves 278 Miriam Ponsa
94 Dora Abodi 288 Moi Multiple
100 EI Delgado Buil 296 Natsumi Zama
106 Femme Maison 302 Poti Poti
114 Friederike von Wedel-Parlow 308 Robert Geller
120 Gareth Moody 314 Roberta Furnaletto
128 George Bezhanishvili 322 Saara Lepokorpi
136 Gudrun & Gudrun 332 Toga
142 Heidi Ackerman 340 Txell Miras
152 Hilda Maha 348 Ute Ploier
158 House of Diehl 356 Vladimir Karaleev
164 Ilaria Nistri 362 Walter Van Beirendonck
168 Iris van Herpen 370 Yiorgos Eleftheriades
176 Juan Antonio Avalos 376 Yong Kyun Shin
182 Karishma Shahani

"Eat, drink, swallow my letter, carry it, trans support. Cloth ing covers the certainty that we
port it in you, like the law of a writing become exist through a perfect machine wrapped in
your body ( ...) ." Jacques Derrida skin, in flesh.
The designers use the language, the sto
In The Fashion System, the French sem ioti ries they imagine for each collection as a start
cian Roland Barthes envisioned a three-pillar ing point and a practical ability to create life
structure that served to explain this phenom through patterns, seams and fabric. Playing
enon that is so elusive and difficult to charac with the meaning of words (feminine, ethe
terize. Barthes says there is always "image real, androgynous, magic, beauty) is implicit
clothing," captured in the photography, then in the garments through which the designers
a "written-garment," which responds to its speak to us about their feelings, in an eternal
description in words, and "real-clothing," battle between industry, trends, art and cre
which is the design that exists beyond the ation.
lighting of the photography, fashion design, This book is a selection of individual
the pose of the model and the language that worlds, the work of those designers who do
builds it with words. not create fashion, but poems that clothe the
Years later, this structural thinking was body, sometimes changing it and subverting
transformed with postmodernism. It was then, its shape. Gudrun & Gudrun's universe of deli
when Jacques Derrida proposed the decon cate wool, Heidi Ackerman's three-dimension
struction, disarming our images and beliefs al sculptures, Boas Kristjimsson and George
and uncovering the metaphorical construc Bezhanishvili's unintentional strength, color,
tions accumulated within the concept. and youth, Barbara f Gongini's commitment,
One of the writings of this second think Alejandra Quesada's fragile delicacy, the in
er is entitled "Che cos'e poetry?" And in it comparable Walter Van Beirendonck's loyalty
Derrida describes poetry as a hedgehog that to such an individual vision, who, in fact, uses
may seem helpless but, on the alert, it is real the slogan "Skin Poets Unite" in his Read My
ly powerful. Similarly, the poetic construction Skin collection ... And these are only a hand
shows its different meanings. The hedgehog's ful of names of those who are not resigned to
spines, whose tips point to the infinite, are be restricted by the market's limitations, but
like the power of words that flow through the play, imagine and create simply because they
heart, intimidate us and move us. cannot stop.
Today, the fashion industry moves between The transgression of the volume, the per
these two universes. Barthes' pillars put us in fection of the patterns, the beauty of what you
front of an industry that sometimes may seem cannot categorize, the strength of the poetry
frivolous, and the description of Derrida's po of fashion hastily infiltrates the pages of this
etry brings us closer to the private worlds of book.
the creators. In between lies the body, the
The Poetry of Fashion Design 7

Fashion Designers
www.i:?ristjansson-boas.com
B6as Kristjansson is the Icelandic designer who
gave life to 8045. He studied at the Academy
of Arts in his native country and in Antwerp.
His work is the result of different elements that
come together in the world of fashion, from
modeling and styling to photography and il
lustration.
His collections explore the color and the
creative process, in which a garment emerges
from the previous piece, linking each design
in a generational chain. In his luxury sports
wear collections, knitwear and radical cuts go
hand in hand that draw inspiration from futur
istic concepts.
Kristjansson has presented his clothes in
the men's fashion week in Paris and contin
ues to explore the possibilities of fashion and
collaborations with other disciplines from his
homeland.
10 The Poetry of Fashion Design
Pastel colors and
a careful visual
image that plays with
the lines of garments
complement the harmony
of the Kristjansson
collection.