SUCCESS IN THE ARQ + FASHION EVENT, COMMON PATTERNS.
«Fashion is like architecture: it is a question of proportions», Coco Chanel

Juan-Luis Grafulla, Managing Director of Matimex, opened the event by thanking all the speakers and guests for their assistance, and gave a brief explanation of the development of the day that explored the relationship between fashion and architecture from different perspectives. The event was conducted and moderated by José Antonio Granero, architect, founding partner of CGR architects and Parallel 39.

We started the first conference with Marta Blanco, PhD in Literature and Fashion and fashion consultant. Marta delved into the different phases of the history of the costume as if it were an inexhaustible artistic discipline, from the roughly worked skins of the Paleolithic to the sophisticated fashion of the 21st century. It is in these last stages where the art of dress acquires a purely social meaning beyond the motives of modesty, adornment and protection, as Honoré Balzac, French dramatist of the s. XIX said: "Clothing is the expression of society." He ended his speech alluding to the exciting moment in which we live, with the changes and synergies between culture, society, trends and the fashion industry.

In second place, Duccio Grassi, founding architect of Duccio Grassi Architects, presented his most representative retail projects carried out for prestigious brands such as: Canali, Max Mara or Ray-Ban, analyzing the dialogue of the architectural work with the environment in which find. He made reference to the challenges posed in the design of some projects such as the historic Victorian building of Max Mara in New York, which in 1994 was adapted for commercial use, restoring its neoclassical façade and which was finally awarded as the best renovation of the year in the Upper East Side.

Then Manuel Blanco Lage, architect, director of ETSAM and director of contents of the Center for Fashion Design in Madrid, contextualized architecture and fashion in each of the phases of the history of humanity. He made a conceptual parallelism between architecture and fashion as he exhibited through examples, how movement, color, texture, volume or transparency are understood in a similar way. He explained how both disciplines are constantly related to each other, contributing together to the construction of the identity of society.

The morning was closed with Pepa Bueno, Art Historian and Executive Director of ACME (Association Creators of Fashion of Spain). In his presentation he showed us the importance that set design and the creation of fictitious architectures have for fashion. We were able to see iconic parades such as those of Chanel at the Grand Palais in Paris or the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. He showed, among others, the fashion show of the designer Juanjo Oliva as the best thermometer of the aesthetics of the moment that lives fashion. He highlighted how the scenography used in the parades uses architecture to complement a spectacular staging. He did not stop referring to the fashion designers Coco Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld considered one of the most influential of the second half of the twentieth century.

In the second block of the day we learned that there is a new way of seeing and understanding fashion and this is how we lived with Elena Zapico & Raquel Buj, architects and founders of ZAP & BUJ Fashion and architecture in her lecture "Experimental Skin. From architecture to the body ». Both showed how they work with different materials and their textures to create amazing proposals that leave no one indifferent. Garments that dispense with wool and other conventional materials to be made with purely technological materials such as shape memory polymers, plastic PLA, silicones or PVC pipes.

The technology was also very present in the last presentation of the afternoon with Amabel García, architect and creative partner of the fashion firm Amabel García. In his presentation «A discourse between envelopes» he presented us his prêt-à-porter creations, and explained how he uses engineering to manufacture his garments. Designs that are conceived in a multidisciplinary way combining: architecture, fashion, digital manufacturing and parametric design.

The day ended with a discussion table among the speakers in which the public participated by asking interesting questions.

Gemma Vidal, architect and head of MAE, calls the day a success. Explain that we have once again covered the expectations of the event.