Emerging clothing designers featured at architecture department's show, exhibit

Clothing design that has as much impact as architecture is one of the ideas behind "Elements of Style: Emerging Fashions" at Cornell's Department of Architecture, in Sibley Hall.

The program features an exhibition of the work of some of the most innovative, futuristic clothing designers at work today ­ John Demas, architect and creative director of the trendy 7 New York store, designer Benjamin Cho and the design groups AsFour and People Used to Dream About the Future. The exhibition will be April 22 to 27 in the Hartell Gallery in Sibley Hall. The gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Demas, Cho and the other designers also will be on campus to deliver talks on their work next week. Demas will speak on "Elements of Style" in 157 East Sibley on Thursday, April 25, at 5:30 p.m. Cho and designers from AsFour and People Used to Dream About the Future will each speak on emerging fashion at a reception in the Hartell Gallery, April 26, at 6 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

The program is organized by the Cornell Architecture Students Association (CASA), with support from the Department of Architecture and the Cornell Student Assembly funding committee.

"Every year CASA sponsors a lecture by up-and-coming creative individuals in a field of design that corresponds to the architectural way of design through process-making," said James Acuna, one of the student organizers. "Spliced with today's fashion spreads are full glossy images of architecture, interior space and everyday household objects redesigned to the level of a gallery showcase. The ultimate intent could be less about showing architecture and more about elevating fashion to the level of craft similar to architecture or industrial design." The designers featured in this year's lecture series and exhibition belong to a large group of new fashion innovators intent on being critical about the creation of clothing, he said. "Their works redefine the way culture creates a style, how style creates a culture and how the body, emphasized by drapes and cuts, helps magnify a culture's extremes: the good the bad and the ugly."

For more information, contact the Department of Architecture, 255-5236.