Coco Chanel famously said that “fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.” As with most things the iconic designer said or did, it wasn’t long before the world followed her lead.
Text: Marilena Kalli
Classic designers like Versace, Balmain and Cardin all studied architecture before switching to fashion, while legendary architects like Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry have taken time off from designing buildings to work on jewelry, shoes and bags.
Valentino Fall 2011
Architecture is based on giving form and shape to different materials, putting them together in order to create something practical, unique and beautiful. These creations have been a big inspiration for numerous fashion designers, who recreate these architectural forms and turn them into fabric. Patterns, curves, angles and colors found in modern buildings or even in old classic churches are used as a food for thought by designers and lead to impressive and futuristic clothes, shoes and jewelry.
Valentin Yudashkin Spring 2014 – Pallais des Versailles inspired
Chloe Spring/ Summer 2016
Gareth Pugh Spring 2009 – inspired from Norman Foster’s Hearst building
Bianca Luini
Bianca Luini
Zaha Hadid – inspired by a building she designed
Chanel Fall 2014
Chinti&Parker an architecture inspired knit collection
Chinti&Parker an architecture inspired knit collection
Photoshoot editorials for famous magazines have been inspired from architectural forms. The one that really stood up through times and managed to impress was the shoot for Nomenus Quarterly magazine, with gothic architecture inspired hairstyles by Jean-Paul Gautier.
Jean-Paul Gautier
And it doesn’t stop there. Entire haute-couture collections have been launched, having an architectural theme as inspiration for their patterns, shapes, forms and color variety. Jean-Paul Gautier Fall 2009 and Valentino Fall 2011, two of the most impressive themed collections had as a common inspiration the medieval and gothic cathedrals.
Jean-Paul Gautier Fall 2009
Jean-Paul Gautier Fall 2009
Jean-Paul Gautier Fall 2009
