From Club to Catwalk: 80s Fashion

Another exhibition I was very lucky to see in London this past January was one in V&A (it ended in February), dedicated to 80s Fashion. From Club To Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s explored the creative explosion of London fashion in that decade. Through more than 85 outfits, the exhibition showcased the bold and exciting new looks by the most experimental (and then young) designers of the decade, including Betty Jackson, Katharine Hamnett, Wendy Dagworthy and John Galliano. The exhibition traced the emerging theatricality in British fashion as the capital’s vibrant and eclectic club scene influenced a new generation of designers. Also celebrating iconic styles such as New Romantic and High Camp, and featuring outfits worn by Adam Ant and Leigh Bowery, the exhibition explored how the creative relationship between catwalk and club wear helped reinvent fashion, as reflected in magazines such as i-D and Blitz and venues including Heaven and Taboo.

For me it was like travelling back in time, re-living my teens, remembering things I had completely forgotten, identifying stuff I used to pore over in 80s magazines, seeing amazing clothes and remembering songs and events that marked my adolescence. Then it suddenly dawned on me: my teen years were encapsulated in a museum exhibition! I felt really old and odd at the same time. Luckily that feeling passed by quickly as I thoroughly enjoyed the outfits and photos, the texts and layout of the exhibition, which was minimal but thoroughly into the spirit of the decade with the bold graphics and colours. One of the best parts was a dark room with small screens all over, playing a slide show of photos from the clubs of that era, accompanied by the appropriate soundtrack. One could recognise all the famous (and not so famous) people of 80s London, even seeing together people one would not imagine had met. Below you can read about the concept of the exhibition.

The ’80s saw the explosion of the London club scene. Specialist club ‘nights’ offered opportunities for dressing up in the company of a like-minded crowd. Stevie Stewart of Body Map explained that ‘each group of people, whether they were fashion designers, musicians or dancers, filmmakers, living together and going out together had a passion for creating something new that was almost infectious’. Early clubs such as Billy’s, Blitz and the Club for Heroes were small and attracted a selective crowd. As the decade progressed, venues such as the Camden Palace and one-off warehouse parties began to attract much larger audiences. Although less intimate, they perpetuated the creative link between music, club and catwalk. This symbiotic relationship remained the defining characteristic of 1980s style.

In the early ’80s, London fashion began to create a stir internationally. Fashion shows took place in New York and Japan. One breakthrough event, titled ‘London Goes to Tokyo’, included many of the designers featured here and in the upstairs gallery. The inventiveness of London design owed much to the excellence of the city’s arts education. Colleges such as St Martin’s, the Royal College of Art and Hornsey College of Art offered advanced training in the fundamentals of fashion design, while also encouraging individuality. At night, young designers’ imaginations were sparked by a vibrant London club scene. John Galliano recalled, ‘Thursday and Friday at St Martin’s, the college was almost deserted. Everybody was at home working on their costumes for the weekend’. Designer Georgina Godley remembers, 'Young London was all about taking risks and creating something out of nothing through passion and ambition'.

Amidst the colourful extravagance of 1980s fashion, one label in particular stood out thanks to their pioneering approach to making and showing their creations: Body Map. The exhibition looked back at the DIY origins of the label with its two founders, Stevie Stewart and David Holah, and of collaborations with a young Mario Testino, Michael Clark and David LaChapelle, among others.

In July 1986, era-defining style magazine BLITZ published an issue featuring images of 22 Levi’s denim jackets that had been customised by some of the world’s most lauded designers – Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano and Katherine Hamnett among them. The jackets went on to be worn during a special evening of performance, and were displayed at the V&A. Apart from some of the outfits, there was a video of the show presenting the fashions, with each ensemble presented by a model and a group/singer. Patsy Kensit was one of the models! Below is Leigh Bowery's entry.

The variety of styles exhibited are credit to the diverse background and aesthetic of the designers back then and it also chronicles the transformation of British fashion from small, local and self-centred to large, international and global.

I am sorry for the quality of my photos but they were taken with my iPhone without flash and in a hurry until a kind lady from the museum stopped me! The catalogue accompanying the exhibition is a must for every fashion enthusiast and designer, with rare material inside.

Information Centre for Lake Pamvotis, Nissi, Ioannina

The Information Centre for Lake Pamvotis opened last May in the Nissi village on the sole island of the lake, near Ioannina in Greece. It is housed in a traditional old building that was renovated for the purpose. The Centre is providing visitors with information about the lake and the surrounding area. Its design, the museological and museographic planning is by Tetragon Ltd. (the company I work for). Official contractors for this project are Tetragon Ltd, OIKOM Environmental Studies and OIKOS Nature Management, with the invaluable cooperation of the Management Authority of Lake Pamvotis.

When going through the main entrance, one can see the reception area while on the right is the room dedicated to traditional fishing. The permanent exhibition about the lake is located on the first floor. Going up the stairs and exactly opposite them is a segment that has extensive information about lake Pamvotis - the environment, the area in which it lies, its long geological history. On the left you can see a large model of the lake that attracts the attention of visitors. Near it, and following from the previous section, the visitor can discover, through text and a smaller model, information about how the system of the lake operates: the origin of the water, how it was created and the movement of water into the lake.

 

On the far left wall are three bright diagrams showing the shape of the lake in its long life. The large and impressive model of the lake reflects its current form. Pressing the buttons light up lights for points of interest. Right next to the window is a table shaped like a water-lilly leave with a pair of headphones. Wearing them, the visitor can hear various myths and old stories about the lake and the surrounding area (the voice doing the English narrative is by yours truly). And right after this is the section dedicated to the lake ecosystems. Here the influence of water on vegetation in the area is examined. The section continues to the other side of the stairs, where plexiglass lecterns emerge from brightly lit blue floor. Each of these provides information about the main lake plants, reeds and water lilies, but also how they form peatlands. Above the desks and at eye level is a large screen, which displays a slideshow about Pamvotis. It is extremely interesting and does not last long (I made this!). 

 

To the left of the screen and into the blue lit floor that resembles the water of the lake, visitors can see the types of fish that live in it. Carp, Eels, butterfly fish, cut in natural size, are "swimming" in the blue-green "water," while on the back plate you can read more about them. On the floor, you can see the grypos fishing tool and hung from the ceiling is another one named pezovolos: two traditional ways of fishing here. At the back of the room, one can observe different species of birds and animals that live in the lake and around it. The impressive composition suspended from the roof, makes it easy to identify the characteristics of the local fauna species: crayfish, ducks, egrets, frogs etc.

 

At the end of the hall there is a large section informing the visitor about the human impact on the lake and the ecosystem. Also you can see how locals live from the Ioannina lake - fishermen, craftsmen, merchants and all people are affected directly or indirectly from it, while in turn they affect it too. Towards the end of the exhibition, the visitor can read the corresponding panels about how the lake has been a refuge since prehistoric times for humans and animals, something that continues to the present day. The lake was also a natural crossroads for shepherds, armies, merchants.

 

In the last section you read that the future of the lake is in our hands and how its management affects the surrounding area. Just before the staircase is a beautiful structure with a screen where you can see suggested routes for small excursions, to get a more complete picture of the lake and its surrounding area. If you happen to visit Ioannina, do not miss it!

Information Centre for Lake Pamvotis in Greece panorama by Kostas Vassis

Photos by Dinos Michail, courtesy of Tetragon Ltd except the last one by Alexios Pissaridis.

Museo Ferrari in Modena, Italy by Future Systems/Shiro Studio

Mention Ferrari to anyone and they get dreamy eyed, mention their favourite model immediately and usually comment on the latest travails of their Formula One team. Even though it is a rarefied brand with cars made in very limited numbers and for a very specific clientele, everyone in the world knows who they are, what they do and feels it is a special kind of car. Enzo Ferrari surely did not even think that the firm he started way back in 1929 in Modena, Italy, would become such a prominent global brand.

Such a storied and legendary car (and fantasy) maker could not stay long without a museum. A place where the visitor could embrace the brand’s story and ethos, admire the exquisite cars that make up it’s glorious history and maybe get a piece of it for himself. Built around an existing building in Modena, an early 19th century house restored to its original condition, the building reminds one of a classic Ferrari engine hood, with the curved shape, the vents and the bright Ferrari yellow (contrary to what most people believe, the brand’s colour is yellow as you can see in their logo, and is also Modena’s).

The building was not finished without trouble. Future Systems, the architectural practice that won the 2004 competition for the museum was dissolved in 2009, as the construction was about to start, due to the demise of Jan Kaplicky, the head architect. Andrea Morgante, his former associate and director of this project, was appointed by Ferrari to finish the task. With the help of his new studio, Shiro, he made it.

The total area encompassed by the museum is 5,000 square meters for both buildings. The old one, build in 1830, having been the house and workshop of Enzo Ferrari, now houses the history of the firm, in an interior construction designed by Andrea Morgante, to remind one of a book’s pages, fluttering open to give a glimpse of its contents. Te construction, which keeps each further chapter a secret until the visitor advances to it, runs the whole length of the 40m workshop, while the house encompasses two smaller exhibitions and administrative offices.

The new building, sloping gently to embrace the old, much like the new technology of Ferrari embraces it’s long history, has on display the main exhibition of Ferrari cars, including the most prestigious ones: about 40 models, selected on a rotating basis from amongst all of Ferrari cars ever, based on the company’s own specimens and the collaboration with many Italian and international car museums and collectors around the world.

Apart from the impressive curved aluminium roof, the building has a double curved structural glass facade that filters sunlight in the vast, almost continuous interior. Thermo sensors, photovoltaic technology, water recycling and the use of geothermal energy (a very sensible move since half the permanent exhibition space is below ground level), make the building almost unique in Italy for employing energy saving systems that are environmentally friendly in a museum.

Article written by Stratos Bacalis for The 6 Million Dollar Story

Photos courtesy of Cento29 and Andrea Morgante

Prostho Museum Research Centre by Kengo Kuma

Kengo Kuma - with offices in both Japan and Paris - is not your regular architect. His work with wood is very idiosyncratic and gives a particular architectural identity that makes his buildings stand out. He has a unique way of designing and constructing with wood, honouring the Japanese tradition, but with his look firmly turned to the future.

Prostho Museum Research is a characteristic sample of Kuma's oeuvre. The inspiration for its design was an old Japanese game called cidori. In it, one puts together wooden sticks with joints of a unique shape. The shapes you achieve just change by rotating the wood, without any nails or other metal. This game's tradition passes from one generation to the next in the small mountain city of Hida Takayama, where there are still many skilled craftsmen.

The building is in Aichi of central Japan and was designed by Kuma, while it was constructed with the help of engineer Jun Sato and craftsmen from Hida Takayama, applying the cidori principles. The game has as it's basic element a wooden stick with a cross section side of 12 mm. That was translated with a variety of sizes into the building, with a cross section side of 60mm and basic lengths of 2 or 4 meters. The grid of the structure is 50 cm. The same grid is also used inside the museum for its permanent exhibition.

The wooden structure of the building is not only a decorative element, but also makes up its basic structural frame. The architect believes that modern buildings with shells that simply cover their structural frame are useless. For him, there is no element of the building that is simply decorative - all play a major part in its construction.

The core of the structure, behind the exhibition space, supports all the wooden construction. By placing sheets of glass to fill the grid, the architect managed to give the impression of a wooden grid running through the building in all its length, uniting the interior with the exterior space. The museum is basically a showroom for the GC dental hygiene company and was first presented in the Milano Salone in 2007. Visitors are probably in a dilemma between the permanent exhibition with the history of artificial dentures and the building that houses it.

The architect likens a walk inside the building with a walk in a deciduous tree forest, where one can enjoy the sunlight through the branches. His repulsion towards the use of concrete and metal led him to redefine the use of wood through a traditional Japanese game. Building with wood from the surrounding area, with the cidori system, he also suggests an alternative solution to modern architecture: the building as a result of human labour instead of mechanical perfection. A look to the future with the feet firmly planted in a centuries old tradition.

Article first published in The Six Million Dollar Story

Zaha indeed

The Iranian architect Zaha Hadid is an infamous figure, talked about both for her innovative, uncompromising work, and the fact that she is the only famous woman architect in an art still dominated by men. Her buildings are symbols of both talent and technological developments, causing both positive and negative comments. Which makes one realise that she has never gone for a typical project.

The Riverside Museum in Glasgow would not be an exception. Built to replace the old Museum of Transport on the banks of the city's river, Clive, it attracts the passers-by with the lines, the zigzag roof and its incredible curves. The metal construction lined with sheets of zinc, was designed to resemble sheds that house trains, buses, planes - namely those which it will host inside. The wavy curves allow the frame to support the whole structure without many internal columns, leaving plenty of space for exhibits.

 Open from two sides, towards the river and the city, it manages to attract the public and emphasises the relationship of the building with the city and the environment. It unites the river with the city, forming a link that, depending on the configuration of internal partitions, may be more open or closed. The zigzag of the plan forces the showroom to be clearer towards the visitor. The unusual lime green colour of the interior walls helps achieve this, selected by Hadid in collaboration with the company Event Communication Ltd. who developed and studied the museum's permanent exhibition.

Beyond its 7500 sq.m. exhibition space, the museum also has a real sailing ship moored at a special pier in front of it: the Tall Ship Glenlee. The cafe of the museum has excellent views over the River Clyde and the Kelvin, which joins the Clyde just below the site. Thus Glasgow acquires a museum that is expected to attract numerous visitors from around the world for its architectural value - the wonderful exhibits (trains, planes, cars etc.) are the icing on the proverbial cake.

Article originally written in Greek for The 6 Million Dollar Story magazine.

Historical Museum of Alexandroupolis

Alexandroupolis is one of the newest cities of Greece. Created in late 19th century from the settlements of French and Turks employees of their respective railroad companies. It was first known as Dedeagatch based on a local tradition of a wise dervish having spent much of his time in the shade of a local tree and being eventually buried beside it.

The city went through a varied and tumultuous history, renamed Alexandroupolis in honour of King Alexander I of Greece in 1920 (not Alexander the Great of course). A port and the last Greek city before the Turkish borders, situated near the Evros river delta, it is a city filled with life. Tetragon has special ties to it, having already had lots of projects done there (the Natural History Museum in the delta, the Lighthouse square) and was picked to design and construct the city's history museum, established through a local association of history buffs and collectors. 

The Historical Museum of Alexandroupolis' permanent exhibit takes up a whole floor of the building in which the museum is housed. It guides the visitor through the area's and city's history, from ancient times till now. With the help of interactive displays, audiovisual equipment and the incredible archive it houses, it helps one learn many things about the city and its history, particularly learn about its people.

The museum is situated on the city's main street, right across the city hall. I am proud to have taken part into making its main exhibit a reality. (Photos courtesy of Stratos Bacalis)