Outfitting Textiles, Fashion and Architecture: the Convergence and Interplay of Construction and Engineering for the Human Form

Links between textiles, fashion and architecture are examined in terms of their visual aesthetics and methods of realization. Both garments and buildings touch our everyday lives and can be seen as similar types of “outfits.” Pragmatic and expressive they provide protection and shelter while also reflecting taste and identity. As ever-new textiles and technologies are emerging these are infiltrating both the world of fashion, and that of architecture. Fashion references architecture, and architecture references fashion in human scale/proportions and harmony/balance of forms, while the correct choice of textile is crucial to their realization. Fashion is traditionally seen as being ephemeral and temporal and architecture as monumental and permanent but these notions are rapidly changing. Fashion is slowing down to embrace issues of sustainability, timelessness and longevity while architecture is speeding up to take on aspects of flexibility, mobility and change. It is proposed that the future will move towards a convergence that includes the bespoke where new textiles and technologies enable “outfits” to be made for wearing and for living in that are intimate and individual - tailored to suit and responsive to need