Braided hair decorated with ribbons and flowers, supple fringed shawls atop colourful embroidered blouses, generous A-lined skirts with ruffled hems… The look of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, often inspired by traditional Mexican dress, is recognisable around the world. A new exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, on display until November 4th, explores the complexity of Kahlo and her elaborate outfits …read more
Fashioned from Nature attempts to address the aesthetic and material relationship fashion has with nature whilst exploring broader concepts such as ethical consumption, textile innovation and design thinking in creating a sustainable future between the two. Natalia Romagosa visited the display in London …read more
Fashion continues its flirtation with art. Young and up-and-coming brands particularly are occupying galleries, often exhibiting things far removed from the body. Is it that creatives feel the need to and are expected to master multiple disciplines or just an evolution of fashion communication utilised by fashion brands? Address contributor Abi Buller considers this, following her visit to fashion designer Charles Jeffrey exhibition at London’s NOW Gallery …read more
Body, one of the central elements in fashion, has always been a site of fascination and intrigue but also controversy and debate. In order to continue this deeply rooted dialogue that manifests in imagery, Shonagh Marshall and Holly Hay co-curated a photography exhibition titled Posturing: Photographing the Body in Fashion that was on display at 10 Thurloe Place in London earlier this November. Abi Buller visited the exhibition for Address …read more
New York based design laboratory Ab[Screenwear] attempts to extend the dialogue between technology, body and garments. Recently, the fashion label took over a gallery space to display their wears in an installation-cum-fashion-retail set up. Alexis Romano went to see the presentation titled Get a Room at the Postmasters Gallery in New York …read more
In 1944, New York’s Museum of Modern Art staged its first and up until recently, the only exhibition dedicated to the things we wear on our bodies titled Are Clothes Modern? Responding to this seminal exhibition, curated by writer and architect Bernard Rudofsky, MoMA’s Architecture and Design Curator Paola Antonelli has staged a show titled Item: Is Fashion Modern? After visiting the exhibition, Address contributor Kate Sekules asks: is this a modern exhibition, and is it about fashion? …read more
At first glance, The Art of In-Between (May 4 – September 4, 2017) exhibition, curated by Andrew Bolton, celebrates Comme des Garçons’ designer Rei Kawakubo for challenging western ideas of beauty. Yet, at second glance, a number of problems arise from the way in which the show relies on colonial references. Address contributor Emily McGuire visited the exhibition in New York …read more
Fashion system is in flux and many are announcing it as ‘broken’ but what does this mean for design? Address contributor Jacob Rosengren considers the aesthetics of fashion during a time of transition …read more
New York based design duo Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta are challenging traditional notions of design by privileging materiality over aesthetics. Address resident fashion critic Jacob Rosengren attempts to unpack the significance of this changing approach to thinking about garments …read more
Red carpet dresses are anything but innovative but occasionally, someone takes a risk and helps this tried and tested dressing-up formula move forward. Address contributor Jacob Rosengren returns with his series of essays exploring individual dresses from the catwalk by considering the impact of look 43 from Proenza Schouler a/w 2015 collection …read more
The relationship between fashion and architecture is in constant dialogue as both disciplines echo each other’s design vocabulary. Nowhere is this more present that at the biannual catwalk shows, where clothing is made to fit the space, or more often, vice versa. Jacob Rosengren considers three case studies from recent spring summer 2015 shows where fashion entered into conversation with the space in which it was presented. …read more
Cross-breed clothing, mash-up messages and portmanteau phases: fashion is currently keen on combinations whether physical, metaphorical and linguistic. Scholar and Address contributor Rachel Matthews considers the meaning of frankenstein fashions that affect not just world of style, but food, business and even dogs …read more