For my theme of Urban Pattern’s, within my knitwear project, I chose to look at the movement of constructivism and found the book below [1]. I focused in on the chapter called “Reductive” that briefly spoke about the movement and showcased artists that fitted that theme. Alexander Rodchenko was an artist that interested me from task 1 and in this book it showcased more of his work. Seeing all the geometric forms that he and others made, made me want to research fashion design in 1920’s Russia because this was where Constructivism was born.

I found a Russian fashion blog [2] that talked about Rodchenko and Popova and that constructivist designers liked to work with simple geometric shapes in bright colours and grand designs. They re-imagined the flapper dress and it was clear there was an influence of ‘production’ based, specialised clothing. The images on the website showed a lot of triangles, stripes and clean lines were used and inspired later fashion collections.

When looking for fashion designers influenced by constructivism, I came across an obituary for André Courrèges on The Guardian [3]. It showed examples of his work for Balenciaga and went on to say he was deeply interested in the constructivist era and it heavily influenced his work. Although only briefly mentioned in this article, the fact it wrote he went against the fabrics and yarns used then, made me more inclined to research him further. Just by searching his name, it was clear that this era had in fact influenced him. Stripes and geometric forms dominated [4], just like the clothes on the fashion blog and although not knitwear, he will definitely help develop my designs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

[1]Wye, D and Weitman, W (2004) Modern Means: continuity and change in art, 1880 to the present. Highlights from the museum of modern art. NY, Published by the Museum of Modern Art

[2] Dorofeeva, E. (2013) Construction in Russia in the 1920’s. Available from: http://www.russianfashionblog.com/index.php/2013/06/constructivism-russia-1920s/#axzz4wMt1nPna.    Accessed: 22/10/2017

[3]Horwell, V. (2016) Andre Courreges Obituary. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/jan/08/andre-courreges   Accessed: 23/10/2017

[4] Andre Courreges. Available from: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/andre-courreges/   Accessed: 23/10/2017