Where:  Sanlitun Village is a “shopping village” located in Beijing, China.  This large village is home to the Japanese based retailer Uniqlo, Adidas, and many, many other retail stores.  Designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.  When I first saw the glittering, multi-colored, facade I thought about all the clothing with the large, flat beads layered like fish scales.  

Wear:  For  Miuccia Prada’s Fall 2011 collection, many of the models walked down the runway while the lights reflected brilliantly on the large paillettes sewn onto the skirts, jackets, and dresses.  All of beads where a vibrant shades of oranges, yellows, and reds. So in honor of November, I had to blog about these two designers.

Outfit:  So, you’re lucky enough to shop at a Uniqlo?  Or perhaps browse the largest Adidas store in the world? Keeping with the fall theme, throw on some colorful pants, comfortable wedge boots, and top it off with a cozy waistcoat.

McQ Tartan wool pants, Gucci embellished cotton shirt, Karl Donogue waistcoat, Alaia curved wedge boots

Photo credits:   vogue, net-a-porter

Where:  In a previous post of the Salk Institute, I mentioned that Luis Khan was advised by this Pritzker Prize winner to leave the courtyard empty.  Born in Mexico City, Luis Barragan was one of Mexico’s most influential 20th Century architects.    After graduating from university as an engineer, his parents took him on a trip to Europe. Here he attended lectures by Le Corbusier and saw much of the Modernism Movement.  A self taught architect,  his work was heavily influenced by the clean lines of European Modernism. However,  he did not believe that homes were purely functional and felt that architecture should be emotional too, adding much warmth and vibrance to his spaces.  He often used raw materials, bright colors (color blocking in architectural form) and extremely creative uses of natural light in his designs.  

Wear:  For Gucci’s Spring 2011 collection, Frida Giannini created bold, glamorous  looks using bright colors and sensuous fabrics.  The colors and the warmth reminded me of many of Barragon’s works.

Outfit:  Keep cool while visiting Mexico City and touring many of the homes and the surrounding grounds designed by Barragan.  Mike Gonzalez’s Summer 2011 line had some great colors and graphic prints that would fit right in with Barragan’s homes.

Photo Credits:  Designinspiration, Vogue, Mike Gonzalez

Where:  The Casa Batllo in Barcelona was designed by Antonio Gaudi and the construction was completed in 1877.  This building is one of four located on the  Illa de la Discòrdia, the Block of Discord.  This particular street was named because of the four very distinct buildings designed by four of Spain’s famous Modernista style architects.  It was originally designed for a middle class family and like many of Gaudi’s designs inspiration was derived from nature and religion.  Locally, the building is known as “Casa dels Ossos,” (House of Bones) for its organic and skeletal forms.  Another design theory is that the curved roof form that ends at the top of the turret and cross represents the lance of Saint George as it plunged into the dragon’s back.  Saint George was the patron saint of Gaudi’s beloved homeland, Catalonia.

Wear:   Turkish-born designer (studio based in London) Bora Aksu, found inspiration in the curved and complex body shape of ants.  While visiting Istanbul he was watching ants crawl on the wall and noticed the organized paths of the ants and how they moved.

Having coffee at a cafe near the Illa de la Discòrdia?  Wear something that will keep you cool during the warm, humid summer while you wander around and visit the four different buildings.

Outfit:  A.P.L. abstract print skirt, L’Agence strapless top, Jimmy Choo Ellie sandals

Photo Credits:  Cursos.org, Elle, Net-a-porter

Where:  The New Academic Building at Cooper Union in New York.  This building was designed by Tom Mayne, who serves as design director at Morphosis.  Located in Los Angeles, the work of Morphosis usually consists of layering and very sculptural shapes, many times pushing the capabilities of the technical programs to help communicate the complex shapes.  At the New Academic Building, the spaces are centered around the main staircase that also acts as a “vertical piazza.”  This staircase is the main circulation space for the building’s users and visitors thus many interactions and informal learning occur on these steps.  The large vertical space is further articulated with a grid structure that twists up and around the stairs.  

Wear: ThreeasFour’s Fall 2011 collection reminded me of the twisted and torqued grid piece of the staircase, even though the design inspiration for Threeasfour came from musical instructions.  The tension of the outfits and how it set away from the body was further accented by the unbroken length of black leather underneath.  Threeasfour like to push the boundaries with their designs and in their shows.  In the past they’ve worked with their friends who are architects, musicians, and artists to help build and create their fashion shows.   

While visiting the Cooper Union for an architecture student’s crit, something with pops of color to complement the white interiors would be nice.  I thought that the laser cut leather skirt by Christopher Kane displays the use of today’s technology and computer aided design to help create the intricate cuts.

Outfit:  Christopher Kane laser cut skirt, Theyskens’ Theory silk blouse, J Crew lace up hoodie, Chloe sandals

Image Credits:  Morphosis, Threeasfour, Net-a-Porter, Jcrew

Where:  Located in Nakanoshima Park, Japan, the plaza was designed by Ryuichi Ashizawa Architects in 2009 as a temporay structure for the Aqua Metropolis Osaka.  The Plaza consisted of a covered outdoor performance space inspired by the art of Origami and canopies of tree structures constructed out of bamboo.  The performace space consited of folded wood panels creating a pleated profile that cantilevered over the waterfront.

Wear:  For his last collection for Issey Miyake,  Dai Fujiwara had his models walk out wearing black underclothes.   His assistants demonstarted on the catwalk the folding and taping method of the collection using sheets of paper to create several key pieces.  The paper clad models were follwed by models wearing fabric versions inspired by the paper garments. 

Many of Issey Miyake’s designs are created and inspired by how the garments are constructed.  Miyake’s well known Pleats Please collection consisted of a new way to construct the garment, placing sheets of paper between the fabric and then using a hot iron to press the fabric into pleats.  The fabric retained its memory to hold the pleats in place.  He also explored the concept of garments created out of one single piece of cloth (A-Poc Collection), in which very little seams and fasteners are used.  Which sort of reminds me of the famous Japanese Shinto Shrine…but thats for another post…

Wear:  Vivienne Westwood Gold Label Asymmetric top, A.L.C. striped stretch jersey skirt, Raphael Young Wedges

Images:  PleatFarm, Style.com, Net-a-Porter

Where:  The Wedding Tower  was designed by the Austrian architect Joseph Maria Olbrich. It is located next to the Artists’ Colony in Darmstadt, Germany.  This colony was founded in 1899 by Ernest Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse.  He brought together several artists and architects to create and build exhibit spaces and temporary structures.  Amongst these artists was Olbrich.  The Duke’s first marriage was not a successful marriage and ended with a divorce.  Four years later, the Grand Duke married Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich.  It is said that originally, the city’s wedding gift was going to be a wedding chest, however Olbrich persuaded the authorities to build a tower instead.  The tower has a unique top consisting of five arches, based on an outstretched  hand.  It has since become an iconic landmark for the city.  

Olbrich died of leukemia at the young age of 40.  However, in his brief tenure as an architect he was extremely active and well-known.  He was a  founding member of the Vienna Secession Movement (which included Gustav Klimt) and one of the  founding member of the Deutscher Werkbund (incluiding Peter Behrens).  The Werkbund would later include several famous architects such as Eliel Saarinen, and Mies Van der Rohe. The Werkbund  played a significant role to the development of the Bauhaus school of design.  

Wear:  This is the first post that I found the fashion designer before the building.  In this case it is really obvious.  Albert Kriemler’s fall collection for Akris literally had the Wedding Tower  printed on the fabric of several of his dresses, very large, both in color and black and white.  He took a more subtle approach to the design concept in his other pieces by creating a blocky knit weave and geometric metallic lace reminiscent to the brick work of the building.  The rich fall colors, such as the copper, deep blues, and brick red were also seemed similar to the building’s material palette.  

Visiting the Wedding Tower, with all of artist colony history and Ludwig’s support of the arts, I thought that a pair of black leather skinny pants, ankle boots, and decorative print cape would be a great outfit.

Outfit:  Gucci leather pants, Alexander McQueen silk cape, Vivienne Westwood ankle boots.

Images:  The World Fact Book, Vogue, Net-a-Porter

Where:  John Lautner designed the Sheats/Goldstein Residence in Beverly Hills, Califorina.  Originally built for Paul and Helen Sheats in 1963, Paul told Lautner how Helen had many fond memories of running through the forest and looking at the canopies of the trees above her.  Lautner explored this idea and thought about the effect of the sunlight, filtered through the leaves.  He placed hundreds of drinking glasses in the formwork of the concrete waffle slab.  This created skylights that allowed the natural sunlight to trickle through the thick slab, creating a dappled light affect in the interior spaces.  Later, several remodels and repairs were made by James Goldstein who bought the residence in 1972.  Goldstein hired Lautner for the remodel, Goldstein and Lautner  worked on “perfecting” the design of the home until Lautner’s death in 1994.  

Wear:  In 2007 Swedish designer, Sandra Backlund won the top price at the international Fashion Festival at Hyeres, France.  Her collection was inspired by the symmetrical patterns of  the Rorschach Inkblot test and was aptly named Inkblot Test.  Backlund is known for her avant garde designs created out of intricate wool knits.  

Going to a cocktail party at the Sheats/Goldstein Residence?  Wear a dress from Halston, an iconic designer from the 1970s, well loved by the likes of Liz Taylor and Bianca Jagger.

Outfit:  Halston Heritage dress, Jimmy Choo Ontario platforms, Dannijo Gatson Sweeper earrings

Images:  Dwell Magazine, Sandra Backlund, Net-a-Porter, Shopbop