Redressing architecture : the architecture of a fashion work/shop

Thesis (M.Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-95).At this moment in the twentieth century the discussions about architecture and fashion have suddenly become "in fashion". To many the topic seems suddenly timely or trendy, but unlike theories comparing the artificial construct of the surface of clothes and the surface of buildings, writings about the fashionable in architecture,and the architectonics of clothing and styles of architecture, my inclusion of these two seemingly disparate topics will try to begin beyond the obvious parallels into ideas of construction, production and consumption. Where as fashion has always been criticized by those with little to do as an artificial and superficial construct of vanity, architecture has had some measure of respect both as a pursuit of beauty and an expression of our culture. But while in the process of researching of the topics, the similarities and overlaps between the two began to resonate more and more loudly. Many obvious parallels exist (metaphor of skin/surface, issues of identity/time, methods of construction/production) ... It however begins with their similarities as industries- "both are situated (in) between economic and symbolic / artistic fields (;) they have similar conditions of production -team work, use of model, etc. - and similar conditions of consumption, in which the distinctiveness of the original product is wasted away through diffusion." But to the untrained eye (namely mine) the fashion industry appears more resilient and more resistant to the economic forces whose mechanisms conspire to control it. Or perhaps fashion seems more capable of using the mechanisms of capitalism (production, marketing, and distribution) for its growth and evolution. My interest, therefore, was partly a desire to establish a new paradigm with which to evaluate the industry of architecture. In fashion, in the condition of "between" perhaps architecture can find new strategies to resist the crises - in new methods of construction, production, distribution, and advertisement. ReDressing Architecture: (the Architecture of a Fashion WORK/shop), will somehow refer to the conditions of "betweeness." In between the production and the commodification of fashion and architecture,in between the concrete presence of the body and its more elusive containers, clothing skin/building surface, in between the industrial and technological era, in-between the individual and his/her relationship to a building and a building's relationship to the city. By using the methodologies of fashion and architecture as a vehicle, I propose a new paradigm with which to evaluate the industry of architecture and fashion, through the condition of "between" perhaps architecture can find new strategies in methods of construction, production, and commodification ....by Lena Mathew.M.Arch