From Canvas to Fabric

Abstract

In the early 1960s, artistic research and fashion research went hand in hand in developing an expressive system capable of suggesting new optical-perceptive effects. At the time, the most authoritative case of collaboration between artist and stylist was that of Germana Marucelli, who turned to Paolo Scheggi and Getulio Alviani for the creation of various style lines. All this happens when Bruno Munari, with the theoretical support of Umberto Eco, starts the well-known parenthesis of Arte Programmata, which in turn is inspired by the set of suggestions coming from research conducted in the computer field. Similarly, the coeval vein of Op Art relaunched the geometric shapes of the historical avant-gardes, with the caveat of enriching them with a surplus of movement that nevertheless remained on the pictorial canvas, still subjected to the limits of an optical-illusory fruition. On the contrary, Marucelli’s clothes worn by the wearer allowed the execution of real movements and consequently opened up to the prospects of a corporality capable of recalling certain performance effects. On this path, Missoni’s fashion appeared even more convincing; his fabric patterns, deliberately resolved with “low-resolution” textures, lent themselves well to representing the textile version of the electronic age, as if the designer handled and weaved balls of pixels.