Nuno Nogueira & Inês Simões |
Nuno Nogueira (b. 1981) is currently a PhD student in Design at Faculdade de Arquitectura de Lisboa, holding a research scholarship of Centro de Investigação em Arquitectura, Urbanismo e Design (CIAUD) since 2016.
He holds a BA in Fashion Design (Faculdade de Arquitectura de Lisboa, 2008) and an MSc (Faculdade de Arquitectura de Lisboa, 2015). He was given a Merit Award for the higher classification given to a Masters dissertation in 2014/2015. His research interests focus on Pattern Design, more specifically in the interactions between the body and garment. In 2016, together with Dr Inês Simões, he presented the paper “The influence of seams on body posture” at The Second International Conference for Creative Pattern Cutting, at University of Huddersfield, UK. He is a research member of the Research Group Pattern-ology (CIAUD) since 2017. Inês Simões (b. 1961) holds a BA in Painting (Escola Superior de Belas Artes, Universidade de Lisboa, 1985), an AAS Degree in Patternmaking (Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 1990), an MSc in Design (Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, 2005) and a PhD in Design (Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, 2012). Her professional activity comprises the fields of fine arts, fashion design, costume design and pattern design. She is an Assistant Professor at Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade de Lisboa since 1992. Main subjects: 2D and 3D Pattern Design (first cycle of study in Fashion Design), Draping (second cycle of study in Fashion Design) and Project (third cycle of study in Design). She is a research member of the Centro de Investigação em Arquitectura, Urbanismo e Design (CIAUD) since 2007 and of the Centro de Investigação em Território, Arquitectura e Design (CITAD) since 2013; she is the coordinator of the Research Group Pattern-ology (CIAUD) since 2017. While her research and writing is focused on the paradigms in the representation of the body in pattern design as well as the influence of seams on body/dress balance; other research interests include alternative pedagogical approaches to teaching/learning fashion design. |
the margins of patterns, garments and the body |
For Derrida (1987), the concept of parergon is not a superfluous ornamentation of the work of art, as defined by Kant in 1892, but a structure crucial to the perception and integrity of the ergon. It is the frame enclosing the painting, neither belonging to it nor to the wall where it hangs, keeping the painting from dissolving into the background and actively affecting the way it is perceived. It is possible, to a certain extent, to draw a parallel between Derrida’s conception and the garments that dress the body – though they’re not part of the body or part of the milieu, garments help to convey social structures of power, gender, moral, belonging, individuality, etc. But unlike a work of art, the human body is a living, sentient, mobile entity and clothes play a fundamental part in the way the world is experienced. Not only because when choosing to dress in a particular way we are complying with a social order (belonging) while at the same time constructing an identity (individuality), but because clothes move with the body, permanently in contact with the skin, working as ‘reminders’ of the bodily margins. While the skin is vital to the construction of the self and the embodied experience, clothes may add to/change this experience, influencing the posture, behavior and (even) thoughts. The structure of a garment is planned in Pattern Design, which constitutes the system that regulates the shapes of the various pieces that will then be cut in fabric and assembled. On this regard, the margins of a pattern coincide with the margins of a garment, which in turn will act as the margins of the body. We can boldly state that Pattern Design determines the margins of the body. Drawing from this conceptual approach we argue that the seams of a garment – corresponding to the margins of the pattern – help to imprint historical, experiential and anatomical notions on the body, which in turn will affect the postures and/or behaviors of the body. We hypothesize that by changing and distorting the seams of a garment, relocating the pressure applied on the skin, it is possible to alter the body’s posture and behavior. In this presentation we will establish the theoretical framework underlying this hypothesis, grounded on concepts like Anzieu’s skin-ego (1995), Csordas’ cultural embodiment (2002), and Eco’s epidermic self-awareness (1986). |