Numero Magazine

Num é ro 207

WOMENSWEAR Metamorphosis: the act of change

MENSWEAR Last days of disco: Clash of principles

STILL LIFE Hybrid forms: Deconstructing vision

Esprit

Summary

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4 Summary 6 Editor’s letter 7 What’s up?

8 Art Diary, “The sarcophagus of Spitzmaus and other treasures” 10 Cinema, Rear Window: Beyond Voyeurism 14 Voyage, Yerevan WOMENSWEAR 16 Humanature: Metamorphosis: the act of change; photographer Armen Aghayan, Model Mariam Hakobyan MENSWEAR 30 Disco: Clash of principles; photographer Ella Patrikyan, Model Hakob Patrikyan STILL LIFE 44 Hybrid Forms: Deconstructing vision, Photographer and realisation Tatevik Avetisyan 50 Opinion Piece, Smart Fabrics: The future of textile design 52 Architecture, Fondazione Prada: Coexistence of new and old 56 Adresses

ÉDITO The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

ROBERT FROST

What’s up?

by Tatevik Avetisyan

5 1 UNINTERRUPTED X NIKE

The collaboration between two brands presents a collection of a number of white sneakers with different empowering messages written on the surface. T h e p u r p o s e i s t o empower athletes and inform the public that there is more behind the profile of an athlete t h a n t h e g a m e t h e y play. “I am more than an athlete.” www.uninterrupted.com 2 LOUIS VUITTON X DONALD TRUMP

Donald Trump visited the new Louis Vuitton leather workshop in Alvarado, Texas. The collaboration promises to give 1,000 American jobs over the next five years. Even though the event fell on the period of big tension between US and Syria, the collabroation between Bernard Arnault and Donald Trump is nothing more than business.

Business comes first, of course. www.louisvuitton.com

3 PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND X H&M

The mix of traditional knitwear and sporty s t y l e i s c o m b i n e d in this collaboration which is set to be presented this autumn.

The collection uses recycled polyester, organic cotton, alpaca wool and viscose fibers giving the feeling of coziness, while the design reflects the classic sophisticated style. www2.hm.com

4 BILLIE EILISH X BERSHKA

Bold prints and graphics are the common features of Billie Eilish’s style which vividly projects on the products launched in collaboration with Bershka. The collection is unisex and appears in white, black, green and orange colors as well as several hoodies with the artist’s face on back and front. The pieces can now be purchased on www.bershka.com

5 JAMIE MIZRAHI & SIMONE HAROUCHE

The production of the intimate clothing will be launched soon by the duo Jamie Mizrahi & Simone Harouche. The line, the Kit, is set to target all body shapes and sizes. The pieces are available in seven shades and can be purchased later on their official website. www.thekit.ca 6 TOM FORD with MR PORTER

Mr Porter unites its creative strength with Tom Ford to create a Fall-Winter 2019 c a psu le c ol l e c ti on consisting of 31-pieces. The collection features refined materials, biker and cocktail jackets, collars with zebra prints a n d ot h e r lu xu riou s references. The collection is available online on www.mrporter.com

The selection of the month Events, capsule collections, exclusive collaborations...

Art Diary

THE SARCOPHAGUS OF SPITZMAUS AND OTHER TREASURES “The exhibition is the culmination of several years of patient, frustrating negotiation, bitter, angry debate, sometimes completely irrational confrontation, and often Machiavellian duplicity and deception.

Perhaps I am as guilty as she (Juman Alouf) is, but I doubt.”

The attempt to successfully curate one’s vision through different forms of art is in the power of few. The exhibition which recently had opened its doors at the Fondazione Prada caught the attention of a wide range of public to the point where starting from the morning dozens of people stand in a line to buy the exposition ticket.

“The sarcophagus of Spitzmaus and other treasures” features 537 artworks chosen by film director, Wes Anderson and Juman Alouf, designer and writer. It’s called “The sarcophagus of Spitzmaus” because of the Egyptian wooden box inside of which there is the mummy of a shrew of the 4th Century BC. The collaboration is the quintessence of fluidity and contrast of the artists’ ideologies. The ability to convey in different art forms one message, then to implant the harmony of thought and feeling in a single tempo - that is style. The artworks were selected from the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna which inherited the treasures from the House of Habsburg.

“We situate the seventeenth-century emeralds in a confined space opposite the bright green costume from a 1978 production of Hedda Gabler in order to call attention to the molecular similarities between hexagonal crystal and Shantung silk; we place the painting of a seven-year-old falconer (Emperor Charles V) net to the portrait of a four-year-old owner (Emperor Ferdinand II)

in order to emphasize the evolution of natural gesso. The list goes on,” points out in his introductory essay Wes Anderson.

The display of the exhibition is set to create a labyrinth separating different sections dedicated to nature, science, fashion, and other spheres merged or juxtaposed in a block. The structure of the display takes inspiration from Ambras Castle in Innsbruck, designed in 1570.

Everything, starting from the color pallete and the rendering of the exhibits ending with the booklet, is thoroughly thought out and structured which proves again how curating a message takes profound research, communication and sense of style.

The booklets that are handed out to the public before entering the Podium, are a compilation of all showpieces presented during the exhibition with their names and dates done as shadows of these pieces, using only black ink to print. This move makes people search for the stories of the paintings, sculptures and other pieces in the booklet since nothing is written next to the exhibits as usually museums and other art exhibitions do.

The exhibition will last until January 13, 2020. Sometimes it is necessary not only to see things but also to experience them. And what Juman Alouf and her husband, Wes Anderson, did is, they created a path for the public to be guided by and narrative to follow.

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Cinema

REAR WINDOW: BEYOND VOYEURISM Hitchcock knows how to leave the viewer in constant anticipation for a bang. One of his works, Rear Window, is a bright example of anticipation and intrigue which shows how voyeurism leads main characters to adventures of some sort. But if analyzed from a different viewpoint the movie appears to be not as much about voyeurism but the marriage of the main characters.

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Paramount Pictures. Rear Window, 1954

The way Tolstoy begins his novel Anna Karenina - All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way can be applied to the plot of the movie. Rear Window appears to be more about the topic of marriage rather than of voyeurism. Here voyeurism is the medium through which the features of marriage are being transmitted to Jeff who has doubts in binding his life with Lisa. And nearly all the neighbors are living through love stories, standing on various levels and stages in their relationships.

The scenes that stroke the most were nearly always including Lisa since her appearance already sets a certain tone to the scene. The costume, makeup, hairstyle, and accessories choices are harmoniously balanced with the background set and, particularly, lighting. The moment of Lisa’s first appearance consists of contrasts of black and white tones mixed with the lights coming from the lamps and her red lipstick. The exact scene where she stands near lamps during her first meeting with Jeff and shows her elegant dress to him is filled with grace and style. As for other mise-en-scene aspects, the setting of the neighbor’s apartments is systematically different from each other that offers the viewer a variety of cases, settings, stories, and more.

The relationships between Lisa and Jeff are complicated. If we consider the lack of emotional or passionate approach in describing a love story to be a common feature in American culture than their relationship was in thirst for a common ground that Jeff wanted to have with Lisa. The negative image of her in the beginning, the comments concerning her perfect nature, and Jeff’s inability to marry

her because of their different viewpoints in life switches to “My Lisa” when Jeff calls Doyle for getting Lisa out of prison. However, his last words in the movie are “You got enough for search warrant now?” It is very important how you begin and end a story. If Hitchcock (if not Jeff) ended the movie with a single word in the song saying “Lisa” Jeff ended his with a sentence which meant that there always will be a Jeff who will never leave his job for Lisa but at least his viewpoint on marriage has changed. Hence, Lisa changed him without changing herself.

We watch Jeff watching his neighbors.

When Thorwald catches Jeff watching him,

a viewer also feels caught along with Jeff.

Hitchcock physically involves us in this movie.

We see everything with the eyes of both Jeff and Hitchcock. He involves us by using binoculars and Jeff’s camera. Since both types of equipment can be solely used by a single person we automatically understand that what Jeff sees we are also going to see it.

As stated before, the nature of voyeurism and watching movies is the same, since, while a person exercises the voyeurism surveillance, we are watching actors “exercising” their roles. The difference is that actors know that we will be watching them and the whole case does not appear to be

“We’ve become a race of Peeping Toms. What people ought to do is get outside their house and look in for a change.”

Stella, nurse from the Rear Window

pure voyeurism. Hence, there is a difference between Jeff’s voyeurism and the viewer’s.

Because if we consider this movie to be based on real events than our voyeurism is only a simulation of Jeff’s.

As for the topic of feminism, looking at it from the 21st-century spectrum, Lisa proves that she is capable of doing what Jeff can, meanwhile, staying in the position of a fragile woman who is only interested in dresses and dinners. She speaks in a manner that does not present her as a smart woman but Grace Kelly’s acting, her eyes, in particular, tell a story of a woman who speaks only a third of what she knows. While mostly everything that we can see revolves around Jeff, this appears as another trick of misleading the viewer.

Because, sometimes, what we consider to be a secondary character is the one who dictates the plot. In the end, who was the one who broke into Thorwald’s house and solved the case (if we consider voyeurism and murder to be the main ideas of the movie)? Who made Jeff change his mind on marriage (if we consider marriage to be the main idea of the movie)? While being chained to a wheelchair (perhaps, on purpose to indicate the mental or even physical instability of Jeff) Jeff, looking at Lisa, saw something that he did not possess – fortitude. And it is not the courage that chains you to a wheelchair (taking risky images) but the courage of facing unknown, a creature more dangerous and fatal – “perfect woman,” Lisa.

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Voyage

Editor’s Choice

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“Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.”

WHL. www.whlovers.com

Marriott International, Inc.

This year Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, holds one of the oldest and most prestigious ICT events, the World Congress on Information Technology. Top influential people, CEOs, investors, policy members, academics, and technologists gather to make discussions around the sphere of technology and its future. Many events are organized in the capital on the occasion of WCIT. And this issue’s most coveted place to visit is Armenia. Besides being my hometown, Armenia is also a bright example of a vastly developing country in the sphere of science. Meanwhile, it’s a place where culture and values are rooted within the nation making it a heartwarming and benevolent place to visit. For these voyage destinations, a minimum of 3 days is enough to experience at least a small part of the Armenian culture. The itinerary includes sights, green places as well as museums and one of the best gourmet food restaurant.

Historical sight

Hotel

ZVARTNOTS CATHEDRAL

THE ALEXANDER

A masterpiece of Middle Ages built between 641-661 A.D. reflects Armenian architecture at its finest. The remains of the building until these days leave a strong impression along with the mountain Ararat in the background.

Vagharshapat, Armenia

It is the most luxurious hotel in the city center which guest celebrities and well-known professionals choose during their stay. It offers 114 luxury rooms, swimming pool, fitness center, and SPA. 3, 4 Abovyan St, Yerevan 0001, Armenia

www.hellojetlag.com

Tumo Center for Creative Technologies

Education

Restaurant

TUMO

LAVASH The whole menu of this restaurant consists solely of Armenian dishes and I would suggest trying little from everything since Armenian cuisine is rich in spices and variety. Don’t forget to try seasonal fruits, especially apricot.

21 Tumanyan St, Yerevan 0001, Armenia

www.yerevancard.com

Sari Aghjik, Martiros Saryan

The only free educational institution which offers a wide range of classes from programming to culinary to students between the age of 12 to 18. This school was later opened in Beirut and Paris .

16 Halabyan St, Yerevan 0038, Armenia

Museum MATENADARAN Matenadaran is both a museum and repository of manuscripts which holds a huge collection of around 23,000 manuscripts in many languages, thus, presenting a history of Armenian and foreign cultures.

53 Mashtots Avenue, Yerevan 0009, Armenia

Museum MARTIROS SARYAN HOUSE-MUSEUM The museum of one of the well-know Armenian painters is full of emotions and colors. His philosophy of art and life, in general, is scattered on the walls of the museum. After the exhibition you can take a walk down the Saryan street which is known for a wine center in Yerevan.

3 Martiros Saryan St, Yerevan 0002, Armenia

METAMORPHOSIS: THE ACT OF CHANGE WOMENSWEAR

The concept of the project is to present the process of metamorphosis as the base for human development and transformation. The beauty of nature is in its ability to recover, reconstruct, collect energy and disseminate it. There is nothing purer than the act of birth.

The idea is to recreate the rawness of being.

What is not visible is sometimes the most important feature to be understood.

Photographer Armen Aghayan, model Mariam Hakobyan, assistants Gayane Ghazaryan and Goarik Avetisyan

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Knitted cardigan and golden knitted skirt, LOOM WEAVING. Hair accessories, earings, ZARA. Shoes, ZARA. Bracelet, vintage.

Dress, LILIA DIVANYAN.

Left: knitted jacket, LOOM WEAVING. Dress, ZARA. Right: Suit, FELICITA. Bag ZARA.

Right: Kimono, PETOOR. Earing, ZARA. Next page, left: Dress, LILIA DIVANYAN. Right: GAYANE GHAZARYAN.

28 It all begins with an egg, a simple form of not yet born butterfly. After it undergoes three other stages - larva, pupa, and cocoon - it grows into a finely shaped and formed insect that is capable of living. This process, physically cannot be applied to human beings since they do not consume a hundred times its weight every day and then hang themselves to be born again.

However, as a metaphor it fits like a glove, suggesting that only after feeding ourselves the old way of thinking and realizing that there is no further material to feed on, we have to change our perceptions and acquire a new way of thinking. It much reminds of overconsumption, and, perhaps, the solution to this issue would be to cultivate a new viewpoint. What takes caterpillar weeks to achieve, will take human years but the change is unavoidable.

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” Richard Bach

The Botanical Garden located in the outskirt of the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, is a place that needs cultivation and care. This place would be semi-abandoned if not for a woman, Sonia, who comes every morning at 9 to water the plants and trees in the greenhouse.

The windows are almost broken, the door is barely closed, the pavement has a Soviet aura and the name “Sonia” stands for wisdom. That is how the story was cultivated. For everything that has not yet been rebuilt, nature was still not giving up on the places that humanity did.

To realize the project in a surrounding which is calm, green and living is the perfect fit for a substance to become human. To make something grow and live, it was necessary to create favorable conditions as insects do when they need to collect energy before and during the transformation.

Since the metamorphosis of a butterfly begins with an egg, as our decisions

begin with ideas, to recreate the image of an egg the fabrics and forms of the first look have to be following the forms that butterfly undergoes. The heaviness of the first stage of existence was reached through the fabric choice which is knitwear. The patterns of cardigans stand for the larva’s movement and texture of its body. Throughout the looks can be noticed the change from knitwear to more light fabric and silhouettes until the look becomes complete silk. Because the grace and fragility of the butterfly can be depicted through light and ethereal fabric. Also, the movement of the model as juxtaposed to the metamorphosis of a butterfly slowly transforms from a static to formless because throughout the stages the insect gains more energy and begins to move freely.

Accessories also play an important role in the styling of the project. Hair accessories are only excessive in the egg stage and with looks, they become less until there is none. They merely represent the beauty of the weight that is soon to be taken off along with clothes. The more you throw them out the easier it becomes to fly. The editing of the images is done using bright and contrast colors to show the vividness and dynamism of the process.

It was asked from the model, Mariam, to apply only the foundation on her face, the way she usually does for herself. During the fitting of the clothes, she was surprised to see that no makeup was applied later because the modeling industry where she is working in usually known for excessiveness. To make the character comfortable is one of the priorities of the shooting. Aesthetics are beautiful to a certain point but comfort and confidence are usually traced throughout the images.

However, while speaking of acts of nature and trying to incorporate into the concept of human beings, it is important to remember the idea of individualism and spirit.

What is found throughout the process is self, and self is determined through spirit. The face of the model is of the same importance as the whole process. While being in search of something, one must not lose its face.

LAST DAYS OF DISCO: CLASH OF PRINCIPLES MENSWEAR

This project aims to depict how two contradictory concepts as Disco and human nature can be combined into one single character. When freedom of ideas and expressions clashes with a character full of designed principles which negate this frivolousness of being, there is when the meaning of disco comes into play.This vision considers another viewpoint on the concept of Disco, digging deeper into the cause of this period and analysing what was the driving force for the urge to loose oneself in disco clubs.

Photographer Ella Patrikyan, model Hakob Patrikyan

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T-shirt and trousers ZARA, vintage sunglasses.

Left: T-shirt, jeans, ZARA, watches AWI bracelet VERNISSAGE. Right: denim jacket LEVI’S

Left: Jacket, ZARA, bracelet.

Next page: Personalized T-shirt

“Disco music in the ‘70s was just a call to go wild and party and dance with no thought or conscience or regard for tomorrow.” Martha Reeves The character tries to accept certain features of this period while still being devoted to his values. The source of inspiration comes from the movie Last Days of Disco by Whit Stillman. While the movie introduces a group of young people who wants to be a part of the disco movement to keep up with the high status in society there is a sad undertone present throughout the story. These characters were obsessed with asserting themselves into the nonexisting imaginary world of disco. At the end of the day, it was not about fun and freedom but it was all about the youth and trying to find oneself both personally and socially. Since the disco period was about losing oneself and not thinking of tomorrow, its last days must have been some cold water on what is the future going to be like?

The time chosen for this project is the grey line between the Disco period and glamour when the first slowly fades into the last. This grey line is the lost period when everyone is pending with the question: What’s next? Nowadays, we are still living in a period when anxiety and depression among youth are rapidly rising. This rise, perhaps, is mirrored in social media channels where youth is in search of both expressing themselves and being perceived as “cool”. We still have the idea of “coolness” and expectations that “have to” be met. Disco was born because the rock was taking over the place and minorities were in need to express themselves and define their identities.

People at the time were looking for something that spiritually moved them. We were coming out of the Vietnam War, there were pain and hurt, but also the fight for civil rights. The rebellion was one part of it; another part was love, said Jocelyn Brown, a disco singer of the 80s.

The project is about a young Armenian guy, who has just graduated from university and is looking forward to new experiences before entering the “mature” world of adults who are in search of realizing their potentials. His grandfather

regals him as a graduation gift a timetraveling machine. Being a man of his principles the main protagonist chooses a period which seems to him more exotic and fresh 70-80s, disco period. He travels back to the time when Studio 54 was still open to finding out that the disco era was over and he was in the middle of off-season. So the traveler takes his time to enjoy the trip and reveal his character to the reader.

While the movement was gaining momentum in New York and spreading to other countries, the country where the Disco vibe didn’t flourish with such intensity was Armenia. However, the way it was accepted in the public was different from the free spirit of the Studio 54 aesthetic. It was neither extreme nor faded, but, perhaps, the middle position where the fashion was about the printed shirts, long collars, and bell-bottoms.

It took a while to find the character for my story. His name is Hakob, he is an architect with a passion for 3D modeling design and digital sculpting.

Hakob is a person of principles who is a perfect fit for someone who possesses a certain character. He is a representative of the youth who is in search. And the search is the most important process of establishing a character. Disco was only the outcome. Mainstream culture is always an outcome. What comes before is the will to change and to search for new forms, new experiences, and new ways of seeing.

In this project, the Disco feature is reflected through colors. It begins with black and white to show the character of the main protagonist and falls abruptly into colorful images and colorful clothes.

Disco is not about the dances but the mood it conveys. The aim was to push the Armenian guy image to a more colorful and more unconventional type for this culture.

And even though the fun and energy of the disco period were not reflected rigorously, the attempt to merge and to experiment as much as possible was the key and result of this project.

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Shirt, CELIO, trousers, BERSHKA.

HYBRID FORMS: DECONSTRUCTING VISION STILL LIFE

The idea behind the still life project is to consider every subject from different viewpoints while staying in the same frame. Hence, one needs to take a subject deconstruct it in any way possible and then try to construct it from things already deconstructed. The aim is to search for new ways of interpretation but not to lose its charm through the experiment. It is important to find the spirit of the accessory to understand what should be the featured detail. It is all about the spirit.

Photographs and realisation Tatevik Avetisyan

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Opinion Piece

SMART FABRICS: THE FUTURE OF TETILE DESIGN Iris Van Herpen’s Syntopia Collection, Haute Couture.

Collaboration with the artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta of Studio Drift, 2018 © Molly SJ Lowe

Similar to how The Simpsons predicted the outcome of the presidential elections in America three years ago, the movie Back to the Future Part II predicted the future of smart fabrics. Do you remember the scene where Marty McFly puts on auto-lacing Nike sneakers?

According to the movie, those sneakers were supposed to be widespread in 2015. In 2016, just a year later, the new self-lacing Nike Mag sneakers were finally out. There are more examples besides auto-lacing sneakers when it comes to the topic of smart fabrics. When Hussein Chalayan, a British/Turkish designer, introduced the ‘Airborne’ video dress made with 15000 LEDs embedded beneath the fabric in 2007, it was clear that more discoveries were awaited in the sphere of fashion. This industry is renewed from the inconspicuous introduction of technology on the podium, making clothing more interactive.

As the artists try to develop other functions for fabrics, they discover possibilities for effective collaboration between science and fashion. Smart fabrics or e-textiles are fabrics made with the use of technologies.

For instance, clothing with embedded digital components, such as light or battery, is considered smart fabrics. If basic coverage is the primary purpose of traditional fabrics, the e-textile has multiple functions. Smart fabrics can be utilized in aesthetic and performanceenhancing categories. Aesthetics are those that can change colors, react to sound, vibration, and heat, while performance-enhancing textiles are used to make athletic and military clothes.

These textiles can improve athletic performance by regulating body temperature and protecting from radiation and other environmental hazards.

Iris Van Herpen repeatedly uses in her couture collections 3D printing and laser cutting tools for manipulating silk with precision and delicately layering the material into separate pieces later to be assembled in a single look.

Her aim is to project nature through technology.

“Don’t forget how engineered nature is, itself.

I think we as humans don’t even come close to the intelligence within nature. It’s funny how people think that nature is simple and technology is complex—it’s the opposite; technology is simple and nature is complex.”

During this year’s Haute Couture week the brand showcased 19-piece collection which played around the topic of structures of nature in motion. The “hypnosis” effect presented during the show was a mechanism constructed with aluminum, stainless steel, and bearings which were in constant motion. It was realized in collaboration with an experimental sculptor Philip Beesley.

While Iris van Herpen explores the patterns of nature and works towards creating designs that will reflect the advanced nature of the idea while serving aesthetic and mechanic purposes of clothing, the Broadsword Spine is a cloth worn by soldiers which is done for solving a certain issue. It has a power supply and electronic network built inside the clothing.

The use of conductive fabrics instead of cables and wires solves the problem of carrying heavy batteries and other military devices by soldiers. This is another innovative and useful “technology” that serves soldiers for overcoming temperature changes and improving their performance in certain sports.

Perhaps such fabrics, in fact, will entirely replace traditional textiles in the near future. And while the issue of sustainability and consumerism is being highly tackled for the past few years and gains wider publicity on media, there is an urge to cultivate new ways of minimizing the risks at least from the textile and apparel sectors. And if technology can be the means to cope with consumerism and aimless use of fabric, then there is a hope that advancement in science is one of the possible remedies for the issue.

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Architecture

FONDAZIONE PRADA: COEXISTENCE OF NEW AND OLD

While contemporary art and culture, year by year, are being exhibited both on a large scale and variety in different parts of Milan, the architecture of the city, in its turn, slowly but profoundly moves towards reflecting the modern era of design. The Green building and business centers built around it in the area of Porto Garibaldi exemplifies the successful attempt to contribute to the development of modern architecture as well as to make it purposeful and innovative. Yet, there is one project which merged all the aspects of contemporary art including architecture in one single place which is Fondazione Prada’s venue on Largo Isaco.

Four years ago, The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and Fondazione Prada designed and realized a project meant to share art and culture with the public. Located in the south of Milan, at the Largo Isaco, it is a set of seven buildings appearing as a juxtaposition of the old and new architecture. While three venues (Podium, Cinema, and Torre) represent the new projects of the Fondazione Prada, the rest of the buildings are a regeneration of a 1910s gin distillery.

The architect of the OMA, Rem Koolhaas, explains: “The Fondazione is not a preservation project and not a new architecture.

Two conditions that are usually kept separate here confront each other in a state of permanent interaction – offering an ensemble of fragments that will not congeal into a single image, or allow any part to dominate the others. New, old, horizontal, vertical, wide, narrow, white, black, open, enclosed – all these contrasts establish the range of oppositions that define the new Fondazione. By introducing so many spatial variables, the complexity of the architecture will promote unstable, open programming, where art and architecture will benefit from each other’s challenges.”

The zest of the whole construction

lies in the 4 story building covered in 4 kilograms of 24-carat gold foil, named the “Haunted House” which holds the permanent exhibitions of the foundation. The Podium appears to be net to the golden building where now there is an exhibition The Sarcophagus of Spitzmaus and Other Treasures curated by Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf. The Torre venue is a 9 story building showcasing a permanent exhibition Atlas done as a collaboration project of Miuccia Prada and Germano Celant. There is also a restaurant Torre on the 6th floor of the building. The Cinema venue is located in the middle of the constructed area which offers a wide range of cinematography works through screenings, special events, and meetings with the public.

The Fondazione Prada area also includes a bookstore and the “Bar Luce” designed by director Wes Anderson who wanted to create a “place to write a movie. Adding, “I tried to make it a bar I would want to spend my own non-fictional afternoons in.”

In addition to the venue situated at the Largo Isaco, there are two more, one of which is in the city center in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, named Osservatorio and the other is in Venice. Osservatorio showcases photography and visual language exhibitions.

The evolution of photography and its relation to other art forms are one of the main ideas of the existence of Osservatorio. During the restoration process many things such as “the all vertical supporting concrete structures, as well as all wood and brick attics, bolstered with iron supports.” (Fondazione Prada) Another venue in Venice, Ca’ Corner della Regina, has the longest history trace in the list of the Fondazione Prada venues, dating back to 1724. The construction was built on the ruins of the Gothic building where Caterina Corner, the future Queen of Cyprus, was born.

Fondazione Prada Torre building by Rem Koolhaas

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Addresses

BERSHKA. www.bershka.com CELIO. 22 Abovyan St, Yerevan CHANEL. www.chanel.com DIOR. www. dior. com DOLCE & GABBANA. 3 North Ave., Yerevan ETRO. www.etro.com FELICITA DI GAYA. www.instagram.com/felicitadigaya FONDAZIONE PRADA. www.fondazioneprada.org GAYANE GHAZARYAN H&M. www.hm.com JAMIE MIZRAHI. www.thewallgroup.com LILIA DIVANYAN. Abovyan 42, Yerevan LOOM WEAVING. www.loom-weaving.com MOSCHINO. www.moschino.com MR PORTER. www.mrporter.com NIKE. www.nike.com PETOOR. Sayat-Nova 5, Yerevan PRADA. www.prada.com PRINGLES OF SCOTLAND. www.pringlescotland.com THE ALEXANDER HOTEL. www.theluxuryeditor.com TOM FORD. www.tomford.com TUMO. www.tumo.org ZARA. www.zara.com