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Constructing Similarities

Constructing Fashion
Coco Chanel once said: Fashion is architecture. Its a matter of proportions. With this in mind, T Emirates set out to discover the relationship between the two fields, talking to fashion designers and architects across the world.
By Orna Ballout

According to Anas Younis Shanaah, founder of the eponymous shoe label Aennis Eunis, who graduated with a degree in Architecture before making his foray into the fashion field, architecture is the mother of all design. So by default, any design process becomes similar to architecture in one way or another. Shanaah says that in his lustworthy shoe line Aennis Eunis, references to his architectural background can be seen in details of arabesque patterns that could be a decorative application. He further elaborates that there are less obvious approaches that are present as a feeling lines intersectingthe use of layering and contrasting, blocks of color working against patterns These are ways architects think of a problem. Recognizing her work as mini-sculptures, Farah Nasri, a qualified architect and founder of contemporary 3-D printed jewelry line HKD (Hooked), says that jewelry design allows her to fuse her architecture and fashion knowledge to develop something avant-garde formally and conceptually. Nasri believes that the processes of architecture and jewelry design are similar, since the fingers are my site and I design the jewelry to sit perfectly around them hugging them, sculpting them, just like a building would sculpt its site. Comparing the two creative undertakings is difficult, as one can argue for and against similarities, says award-winning architect Andr C. Meyerhans, the man behind both the design of Dubais Al Garhoud Bridge and jewelry brand Mario Uboldi. While jewelry usually focuses on pure decorative aspects, architecture needs to fulfil many purposes of use, to acknowledge structural limitations and to respect its context. Meyerhans, however, translates his architectural ideas into his own collection and trusts that crossing the borders between the trades helps to push boundaries.
Clockwise from top: Anas Younis Shanaah, founder of Aennis Eunis, references his architecture background in his shoe designs; Andr C. Meyerhans, the man behind the design of Dubais Al Garhoud Bridge, has channeled his creativity into his jewelry brand, Mario Uboldi; 3-D printed jewelry line HKD founder Farah Nasri refers to her pieces as mini sculptures.

Architecture is a significant source of inspiration for many fashion designers,

Clockwise from above left: OMA Associate Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli has worked with Prada on the design of its fashion show sets; Architect Zaha Hadid has collaborated with many fashion brands, including Lacoste and Swarovski.

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T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine

Design July - August, 2013

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Images courtesy clockwise from top right: Aennis Eunis; Mario Uboldi; HKD.

clockwise from top: Images courtesy of Prada; Lacoste and Swarovski.

who deliver innovative collections based on avant-garde building design. Similarly, fashion plays an important role for architects, with many industry experts channeling their knowhow into an array of fashion projects. It has been common practice for fashion houses to seek the expertise of renowned architects to help them design their stores. For instance, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas developed the flagship store for Prada in New York, and his company, OMA, has built a strong relationship with the Italian fashion house as it continues to design its fashion show sets. The stage sets for the shows are the purest form of collaboration between OMA and Prada. They are designed in tandem with the creation of the collection. The two disciplines come together in an intense osmosis to generate surprise and emotion in the audience, while staging the values of the brand, season after season. With fashion-show set design, we submit to the process and logic of fashion and adapt to its

vitality and speed. Its a great enrichment, says Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, an OMA associate who works on Pradas projects. Architects can learn a lot from the fashion process. Too often we tend towards an excessive refinement and order. Fashion can be liberating, he adds. As well as designing fashion stores, IraqiBritish architect Zaha Hadid has established an in-depth association with fashion, having teamed up with Louis Vuitton on bag design, Swarovski on jewelry, and Melissa and Lacoste on shoes. There is a lot of fluidity now, Hadid says, between fashion, architecture and art a lot more cross-pollination in the disciplines. Out of all her design projects to date, Hadid has found the shoe collaborations the most fascinating. Our 2009 design for Lacoste adapted the dynamic fluid grids of our architectural work. When wrapped around the shape of a foot, these grids expand and contract to undulate and radiate as they merge seamlessly with the body.

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Adapting Skills

For Emirati architect and jewelry designer Rasha Alkhatib, problems in the construction industry meant that she, along with many other architecture graduates, experienced unemployment after graduation. I wanted to engage myself with a project that was fun and motivating till I found a job, Alkhatib says. And in 2011, the creation of Studio Roar allowed her to do just that. Inspiration for her jewelry pieces are sources from the 19th-century Persian Mirza Akbar Architectural Scrolls and the French architect Jules Bourgoins Arabic Geometrical Pattern and Design. Historical inspiration also plays a key role in Thhaba Jewelry, the brainchild of Kuwaiti architect and designer Abrar Alebrahim, who says that jewelry is simply another scale of architectural design, one you can wear on your body and ornament yourself with. For the love of Kuwait: Reminisce, Alebrahims most recent collection, has been developed as an abstract of the Nolli plan of Kuwait City in the 1950s.

Fashion designer Dina JSRs collection Poetical Movement explores Spanish architect Santiago Calatravas most successful works.

Dubai-based designer Shrekahnths Autumn/Winter collection pays tribute to some of Pariss most iconic landmarks.

Architectural Inspirations
Images courtesy clockwise from top: Studio Roar; Thhaba Jewelry.

Abrar Alebrahim, founder of Thhaba Jewelry, says the latest collection has been created as an abstract of the Nolli plan of Kuwait City in the 1950s.

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T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine

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Images courtesy TOP: Dina JSR; ABOVE: Shrekahnth.

Rasha Alkhatibs jewelry brand, Studio Roar, comprises pieces that gather inspiration from the 19th-century Persian Mirza Akbar Architectural Scrolls.

When constructing her fashion collections, architecture is a key source of inspiration for fashion designer Dina JSR and has even become a signature staple of her work. In her collection Poetical Movement the designer explores Spanish architect Santiago Calatravas most successful works. Ive always been impressed with the art of architecture and its beauty, so I found combining fashion with architecture quite interesting, because the dresses that I design are quite structured, detailed and geometric, she reveals. Another fashion designer to draw inspiration from the beauty of buildings is Dubai-based Shrekahnth. His recent work pays homage to some of Pariss iconic landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame and the Arc de Triomphe. Shrekahnth points out that architecture inspires and helps to build unique ideas, textures and moods. Whether its architects stepping into the world of fashion to work with its key players, or fashion designers building impressive collections inspired by architecture, its apparent that both fields work harmoniously together to produce cutting-edge and unique results that ultimately embody the essence of design.