Posted ByHussein Chalayan on July 24, 2001 at 12:19:43:
In Reply to: But Seriously...(Re: T-Shirts) posted byMaster Roshambollah on July 23, 2001 at 20:47:01:
"T" shirts will do, I imagine, for the masses. But I would like to call attention to several pieces that will be featured in my Fall Fashion Expo. To wit:
-An armless "barrel strap" dress design, based on Rock. This piece is sturdy due to titanium underwiring (a first for me!) yet remains light enough for evening wear. Thin pseudotransparent gauze in 18 shades of grey covers the titanium shell. This piece will retail for $10,000.
-A contemporary paper dress, suitable for office or evening wear. This will be the most pedestrian of RPS based pieces in my collection, and will be available in a variety of colors. Priced at $500-$1000, depending on desired length.
-Designing a piece based on scissors presented the most technical challenge of any of the designs. I ended up adopting a scissor-leg approach, with each leg representing a blade and covered in a shiny spun steel sheen. Each leg is connected to a delicate wing-like "handle" that emerges from the shoulder blade area, so that when the model puts a foot forward, the corresponding handle tilts back. The dress itself is a simple black shell with whalebone support. From the mid-thigh bottom of the dress are suspended a variety of scissors, shears, and other such tools, counterbalanced so as to not present difficulties in movement. The piece comes with a dada-inspired hat, with a curled-scissors motif curving back towards the wearers own eyes. Complete ensemble: $15,000.
These pieces bely an economy of vision and function. The motifs culled from RPS support the underlying artistic vision. As well, the armless nature of the Rock design, and the curved-towards-the-eyes design of the Scissors hat point to a common theme in my work: the needless social and cultural restrictions placed on women in my native culture. By extension, those same themes may be used to question the nature of the role of women in the WRPSS.
I welcome this recent uniting of the forces of haute couture with RPS, and look forward to much fertile cross-polination.
Hussein Chalayan
Designer