Showing posts with label Bauhaus movement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bauhaus movement. Show all posts

Acne Jeans & 90 Years of “Bauhaus—A Conceptual Model”

Finding its roots in Modernism of the 1880’s, one of the most influential schools of design was founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany.

Although the school’s doors were forced closed by the Nazis in 1933, disciples of the movement emigrated all over the world and disseminated the teachings of Bauhaus, which ultimately exerted a profound impact on industrial, graphic and interior design; color theory; painting; textiles; fashion and apparel; and, of concern to us, menswear.

Now marking its 90th birthday, Germany is celebrating with the “Bauhaus—A Conceptual Model” exhibition, which, from July 22nd to October 4th, will present approximately 1,000 objects in 18 galleries at the Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum in Berlin.

Bauhaus, which means “House of Building” or “Building School,” marked a new era in design after WWI and now represents a long-lasting revolution owing to its principles of form.

Keeping in step with the celebration, the 2009 spring/summer of Acne explores the Bauhaus legacy, which harmonizes function with design.

Keeping in step with the revolution, creative director Jonny Johansson integrates the Bauhaus concept in a commemoration of the Fifties’ youth, whose rebellion, sexual liberation, and pursuit of fun unleashed the modern teenage culture. In Acne’s words,

“Significantly it was also the era when jeans became a serious fashion item. Nothing said rebellion like denim. But the emphasis of the collection is on the young and playful, giving the man back the boldness of his teenage years with the Bauhaus simple sophistication.”

Acne started in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1997 with 100 pairs of jeans!

So, if you can’t celebrate Bauhaus at the exhibition in Berlin, you can still celebrate with Acne in a pair of Bauhaus-inspired jeans.



Photo 2009 spring/summer collection Copyright Acne.
Slideshow 2009 spring/summer collection Copyright
Acne.

C.Neeon Proves "One Cannot Live without Champagne and Gypsies"

What do Swiss architect Max Bill and Ukraine-born artist Sonja Delaunay have in common? At C.Neeon, it’s champagne and Gypsies!

Inspired by the Russian proverb, “One cannot live without champagne and Gypsies,” designers Clara Leskovar and Doreen Schulz bring together the architectural structure of Bauhaus and the colorful geometric sensations of Orphism in their 2009 a/w collection.

Born in Gradizhske, Ukraine, Sarah Ilinitchna Stern (1885 – 1979) moved to St. Petersburg at a young age where she was adopted by her wealthy uncle Henri Terk and assumed the name Sonja Terk. Sonja traveled extensively throughout Europe with her aunt and uncle, visiting art museums and galleries. Eventually, she wound up attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe, Germany, and the Académie de la Palette in France.

Sonja later married Parisian artist Robert Delaunay in 1910 and bore a son. One day she set about making “little Charles" a blanket similar to those of Russian peasants, with pieces of colorful fabric geometrically stitched together. Evoking images of Cubism—an artistic form that communicates through color and form—Orphism was born as Sonja and Robert applied their strong colors and geometric shapes to other artistic media, including textiles, fashion, and stage design.

Meanwhile in 1908, Max Bill was born in Winterthur, a city in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Max Bill went on to study at Bauhaus—a school in Germany that combined crafts and fine arts, harmonizing function and design in geometric designs and relationships of planned color. Artist, sculptor, architect, and typographer—Max Bill became an avid proponent of Bauhaus, which exerted a marked influence on art and architecture, as well as on graphic, interior, and industrial design.

So, sit back with some champagne and Gypsies and watch the slide show below to pay tribute to Max Bill, who would have turned 100 this year!

By the way, if you do not have any Gypsy friends, click on Azis in my play list below—he's a Bulgarian Gypsy and my favorite vocalist. C.Neeon proves it right: One cannot live without champagne and Gypsies. I know I can't!

Slide show C.Neeon 2009 a/w collection Copyright by Alex Kohout.
Photo top left painting by Robert Delaunay, 1912-13, Museum of Modern Art (NYC) Public Domain at Wikipedia.