Fashion doesn’t exist in a vacuum– until now Industrial design meets the catwalk Robert Collison,
FacebookDiggDel.icio.usMore It’s quite a scene and as far away from the world of technology, engineering and the hardscrabble business of designing and manufacturing such utilitarian objects as washing machines, hand-dryers and, yes, even vacuum cleaners, as it’s possible to imagine. So, it was more than just a little out of sync at Fashion Week in Paris this past fall when Sir James Dyson was dragged from his primo seat in the front row of the Issey Miyake show to take a bow.
The billionaire British businessman, engineer and inventor of the world’s first bag-less, “never-loses-suction” vacuum cleaner, had been invited to collaborate with the famed avant-garde Japanese fashion house for the spring/summer 2008 show, and it was, on first blush, one of the most unusual pairings that week in Paris. But then again, maybe not. Both Mr. Dyson and Mr. Miyake have long been committed to bridging the gap between industrial design and fashion.
Ever since they first met six or seven years ago in Tokyo, when Sir James was the chairman of the Design Museum in London and Issey Miyake was interested in starting a similar organization in Tokyo, they have talked about ways to broaden the discussion about design within the larger culture and economy. “I really think industrial design and fashion design are the same thing. I don’t think there are barriers. I love clothes, Issey loves objects,” observed Mr.
Dyson before the Miyake models were scheduled to hit the futuristic catwalk and stage set he designed for the show. “It really is about understanding how things are made and about creating and exploring new technology to discover how to do things better. That has always been the starting point for me and I think that is the starting point for Dai and Mr.