Monday, September 26, 2011

Concrete and Fashion

Airi Isoda likes to pull architectural influences into her fashion designs. Using materials commonly found in the construction industry, such as Tyvek and industrial-grade felt, she designs minimalist clothing. And yes, there is concrete in her work, such as this necklace of beads. Isoda has a degree in architecture and works in both Los Angeles and Tokyo.
cotton silk shirting / silk charmeuse / concrete
(all images used with permission)

But more surprising is her use of fabric dipped in concrete. To give the fabric flexibility, the concrete surface is intentionally broken. I have seen fabric dipped in concrete before, for sculptural purposes –  but not for clothes that could actually be worn.
felted wool / silk charmeuse lining / cotton / concrete

concrete dip shift dress + polka dot romper

Isoda is part of wrk-shp, a multi-disciplinary design collective working in the fields of architecture and fashion.

This work shows off one of concrete's greatest strengths: its ability to remain neutral, to be simply a functional material. It is down-to-earth, and without pretension. And yet it can be used as a metaphor for "material" and encourage the viewer to think about what material means.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. This is some impressive stuff. I never would have imagined that concrete could be used in this way. My first reaction: are the clothes heavy?

Unknown said...

Those are really cool! Thanks for sharing those thing. But Honestly never thought concrete could be used like this. It's really cool.

Anonymous said...

Great post on concrete. I will for sure pick the right one.

nomzam said...

Am totally amaze with this creativity of concrete.