Fashion Show is a series of wearable sculptures inspired by high-rise architecture. The series began in 2015 in Frankfurt am Main on the basis of observations of current changes in the city and the forms being adopted by Europe’s financial centre.

We examined Frankfurt’s skyscrapers in detail and observed that they were communicating signs and importance beyond their architectonic form. We therefore wanted to investigate how symbols, forms and spaces determine our bodies and our lives. What imagination is created by urban landscapes and public spaces? How does it influence how we think and act? In what way is architecture a manifestation of ideology? How can this be described as a communication system?

These questions led our research towards utopias and mythical architecture – the ones that were never built, such as the Tower of Babel or the Mile High Illinois – in order to understand the symbols inscribed in forms of high-rise architecture.

Our research finally led us to New York where we studied and analysed Manhattan skyscrapers. We see the symbolic and formal value of this high-rise architecture reflected in several growing cities in Europe. This shaped our thinking about financial centres and the ideologies behind them.

Using different materials and technologies from both fashion production and construction technology, the wearable sculptures emphasise the perception of architectonic, fashion-related and urban forms and symbols – and the consequences they have on our relationship with the body. Consequently both the body and architecture become fragile systems. Through technological innovations and socioeconomic transformations we are escaping the heaviness of our bodies and of architecture. Through the performative action of the body and the materiality of architectonic clothing, these are the concerns staged in Fashion Show.

With support from Städelschule Portikus e.V.