INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE: Studio Practice 1+2 DEVS 5201

UNITEC School of Design: Susan Hedges: FC2008

FASHION OR FETISH
Stitching Bodies

DESCRIPTION
Costume is a structure of many factors. It has components found in
works of art: it has form colour, and texture, it is symbolic, it serves
an important function in ritual and superstition, and it also
communicates. Costume can offer protection against the elements

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and physical enemies; it may be worn to ward off evil or to attract

good luck; it can confirm to standards of modesty and still be a
source of sexual attraction; it can denote rank, wealth of the
individual, or it can be an expression of one’s ego; it can be
considered the height of fashion and still be a source of great
discomfort. But costume can also afford pleasure, stimulation and
diversion.

Fashion in its broadest sense is not only a manner of dressing; it is

also a social expression of an age, a way of life that reflects man’s
cultural heritage and current ideals. Fashion in costume documents
the taste of its time in the same manner as do painting, sculpture
and other works of art. Fashion has its roots in the past and bears
the seeds of the future; its only constant is change.

This paper is concerned with the ability of materials to seduce,

entice and shock. Materials can not only be considered as a rich
assortment of colours, textures but they can also articulate the
relationship between the body and space and mark the shift from
the production of space to the performance of space. Materials can
also test, respect, suspect and violate space. It can blur the
differences between sculpture, furniture, space and the body.

‘Then her clothes began to twitch, move, and

reconfigure of their own accord. The mono-bosom top
opened, the jacket retreated, the hemline started to
rise, and—finally, amazingly—there she was, wearing a
crystal-beaded flapper dress: a woman propelled
through fashion history from 1895 to the twenties in
the space of a minute. This was one of six incredible
feats of technology and conceptual commentary at the
heart of Hussein Chalayan's show.’ 1

You have been asked by your client (a prominent fashion designer)

to come up with a unique design solution for displaying an item /
object / accessory. Your client wants you to step outside the
confines of conventional retail design, to produce a display that
captivates their buyers, AND encapsulates the design ideas,
inspiration and creativity of their work.

Duration 8 Weeks

COURSE AIM
• To interrogate a theoretical proposition in respect of materiality.
Research and analyse contextual issues and design precedents
• A demonstration of the understanding of fashion and the body
in relation to identity / commodity and display. Consider the
display of an object in relation to its context.
• To encourage the production of considered and skilful drawings
and models
• Throughout the programme to develop a spatial language that
integrates material, environmental, functional and conceptual
concerns.
• Imaginatively and effectively present the display of an object at
a 1:1 scale

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http://www.style.com/fashionshows/collections/S2007RTW/review/HCHALAYA
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• Understand the concept of spatial design through ‘craft’ and

‘making’. Where craft making becomes a fetish for the
designer.
• To engage in all class discussion and critiques.

RESEARCH MUST FORM THE BASIS OF YOUR

CONCEPTUAL IDEAS AND WILL INFORM YOUR
CHOICE OF MATERIALS AND OVERALL DESIGN
STRATEGY.

You must have a solid theoretical basis to your final design. You will
achieve this through theoretical readings and visual research.
Present to the class at least one article that you have read and
explain how it, has informed your ideas. Collect visual data by
ransacking magazines and books etc. For images of installation art,
fashion, sculpture, lighting, furniture design.....

PROJECT PROGRAMME: Semester 1, Weeks 1-8

Week 1: Monday 27th February

Studio Introduction.
Investigate notions of the body and fashion in relations to identity,
commodity and / or display.
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And

Choose an artist or fashion designer whose work interests you.

Investigate the design methodologies, principles, and conceptual
ideas underpinning their work.
Type a written page supported by visual research summarising your
findings.

Suggested DESIGNERS:
Vivien Westwood
Jean Paul Gaultier
Maison Margiela
Junya Watanabe
Bernhard Willhelm
Hussein Chalayan

Week 2: Monday 3rd March

Introduction to Modelling: Sean Flanagan

Create a document in the media of your choice (this can be a

painting, a model, a drawing, a sculpture, a costume) that
encapsulates your ideas with respect to the designers work

Show your ideas of the ability of material to seduce entice and

shock.

This document will address the formal issues of the project. You can
be as imaginative as you like.

WEEK 3: Monday 10th March

Choose an item / object / accessory and explore its meanings and
uses that are associated with this object. Choose two key
materials; one must be a conventional building material, while the
other must be a non-conventional material. Play with, manipulate
and investigate your materials. How can these materials be
combined, transformed and changed? What does it mean to work
with these materials and their meanings?
Make a series of investigation into your chosen materials.
Construct a series of 3 models to be a reflection of your original
document to be no bigger than the palm of your hand. Each model
is to be carefully constructed with a high level of craft.

Week 4: INTERIM CRIT / Monday 17th March

Design a display system to show your 3 jewel like models. The idea
is not to redesign your models but to design a system to display
them.

Week 5: EASTER BREAK / Monday 31st March

Self Directed Study
(No classes on Monday or Tuesday)

Week 6: Monday 31st March

Design a retail / exhibition space to showcase the clothes. Develop
a series of plans keeping in mind your original document, the
display system and the 3 jewel like models made in previous weeks.
Use the provided plans and sections of a shop in Ponsonby to
develop your ideas. Plans should be at 1:100.

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Week 7: Monday 7th April

Develop a series of sections keeping in mind your original
document, the display system and the 3 jewel like models made in
previous weeks. Use the provided plans and sections of a shop in
Ponsonby to develop your ideas. Sections should be at 1:50.

Week 8: FINAL CRIT / Monday 14th April

And: A workbook that includes all research, investigation, sketches

and working drawings is to be included

BASIS OF ASSESSMENT: Students are expected to present

work for discussion with the supervisor on a regular basis and to
submit work for review on time and to attend all reviews. Critical
work in multiple media is encouraged. A high level of craft and
design is expected.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA + WEIGHTING:

1. Analysis: 20%
Analysis involves initial evaluation of a brief for opportunities and
possibilities, i.e. the generation of ideas. It includes the
establishment of parameters/boundaries for operating within the
brief and the subsequent management of design process within
these parameters/boundaries. On-going analysis of both practical
work and theoretical research ensures that concepts are developed.
Analysis also ensures design process is productively shaped and
appropriately focused. Analysis of personal contexts, situational
contexts and cultural contexts surrounding the making and 'reading'
of work (i.e. of the implications of the work) will allow for strategic
exploration, synthesis and communication.
2. Exploration: 20%
The investigation and development of ideas through extensive
practical exploration (i.e. the making of work). The making of work
is a means to both explore and articulate the motivating concepts
or intentions. It is also a means to explore the mechanisms of
language, visual and other.
3. Research: 20%
Research is the process by which the factors influencing the
development of a design are identified, explored and framed within
the context of the design intent. Resulting information or material
gathered is used directly or indirectly to inform subsequent design
decision making. Links between research activities and subsequent
work need to be evident and justifiable in a form relevant to the
design activity. There should be a considered and strategic
approach to practical exploration and theoretical research with the
one informing the other.
4. Synthesis: 20%
The bringing together of all outcomes of practical exploration,
theoretical research, and analysis so that they can interact to form
an overall holistic entity. This whole may be complex or simple but
is variously informed and thus constitutes an enrichment of design
process and outcome. Synthesis is a key component in an on-going
feedback loop that helps the design process develop through
generation of new ideas, new explorations, new research, new
analysis and new synthesis.
5. Communication: 20%
Communication explicit and implicit means of all ideas, concepts

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and issues addressed within a brief including all aspects of the

design process. The selective and appropriate use of elements of
visual language as well as (where appropriate) verbal, written or
other means of communication. Communication is affected through
the process of making work (i.e. making ideas manifest through
process and product) as well as by means of presentation.
Communication strategies should be evident and appropriate. There
should be, either explicitly or implicitly, a rationale for the
communication strategies used to match perception (audience's
'reading') with concept (maker's intention).

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READING LIST:

Diana Agrest, Patricia Conway, Leslie Kanes Weisman. , Ed. (1996).

The sex of architecture, New York: Harry N. Abrams.

Norman Bryson, Michael Ann Holly, Keith Moxey, Ed. (1994). Visual
culture: images and interpretations, Hanover, NH: University Press
of New England.

Beatriz Colomina, Ed. (1992). Sexuality and space, New York, N.Y.:
Princeton Architectural Press.

Barbara Creed, (1993). The monstrous-feminine: film, feminism,

psychoanalysis’. London; New York: Routledge, 1993.

George Dodds, R. Tavernor, Ed. (2002). Body and building: essays

on the changing relation of body and architecture, Cambridge,
Mass.: MIT Press.

Elizabeth Diller, ‘Bad Press’ sited in:

Hughes, Francesca, Ed. (1996). The architect: reconstructing her
practice, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Scott Drake, (2004). 'Monstrous Bodies: Architecture and the play of

appearance.' Architectural Theory Review 6(April): 117-133.

Deborah Fausch, Ed. (1994). Architecture, in fashion, New York:

Princeton Architectural Press.

Elaine L. Graham, (2002). Representations of the post/human:

monsters, aliens and others in popular culture Manchester:
Manchester University Press.

Bruce Grenville, Ed. (2001). The uncanny: experiments in cyborg

culture, Vancouver, B.C.: Vancouver Art Gallery: Arsenal Pulp Press.

Francesca Hughes, Ed. (1996). The architect: reconstructing her

practice, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Leila Kinney, (Sept, 1999). 'Fashion and Fabrication in Modern

Architecture.' Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
58(3). Pg 472-481

Harold Koda, (2001). Extreme beauty: the body transformed, New

York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Rosalind Krauss, (1985). 'Corpus Delicti.' October 33(Summer): 31-

72.
Quinn, Bradley. (2002). Techno fashion, Oxford; New York : BERG.

Nicholas Royle, (2002). The Uncanny, Manchester: Manchester

University Press.

Ralph Rugoff, Susan Stewart (1997). At the threshold of the visible:

miniscule and small-scale art 1964-1996 / essays by guest curator
Ralph Rugoff and Susan Stewart. , New York: Independent Curators
Incorporated.

Naomi Schor, (1987). Reading in detail: aesthetics and the

feminine. New York: Methuen.

Jenni Sorkin, (2000). 'Stain: On Cloth, Stigma, and Shame.' Third

Text 52: 77-80.

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Susan Stewart, (1993). On longing: narratives of the miniature, the

gigantic, the souvenir, the collection, Durham: Duke University
Press.

Anthony Vidler, (1992). The architectural uncanny: essays in the

modern unhomely Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Mark Wigley, (1995). White walls, designer dresses: the fashioning

of modern architecture, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Elizabeth Wilson, (1985). Adorned in dreams, London: Virago.

Catherine Zegher, Mark Wigley, (2001). Paper, Scissors, Blur. New

York, The Drawing Centre.

Catherine Zegher Ed. (2003). The stage of drawing--gesture and

act: selected from the Tate collection by Avis Newman; curated by
Catherine de Zegher; organized by The Drawing Centre, Tate.
London: Tate Pub.; New York: Drawing Centre.