Marly van Lipzig and the transformation of 2D forms into 3D shapes

1. Please introduce yourself to our readers. (Who are you, where do you come from and what is your field of specialization?) 

My name is Marly van Lipzig and I graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven (The Netherlands) with a small series of jewellery and a print collection, and by doing so, my passion for prints was born! My interest in prints started growing when I was doing a print for the collection of Hussein Chalayan while I was interning there for 8 months. Another work experience at the print and textile development department of Jonathan Saunders confirmed that this was my field of specialization. During my studies I explored my own ideas on prints and created my 1st collection; The Architecture of Prints, which I will be showing during Fashion Clash 2012

2. Tell us a little bit about the concept behind your collection. 

Fun to prepare, ready to wear. Follow the chosen line, cut - fold - wear.

Since I come from a product design education, were we still question if form should follow function, I started wondering how print and shape (garment) could strengthen each other. So I searched for a way of designing a functional print, a print that would define the shape of the garment. But a garment is 3D and a print is 2D, so I designed garments from a flat 2D surface and the graphics of the print had a crucial influence on the shape of the garment.

Each print is build up by photographs and people can pick one of these to cut out and wear. How? The graphics on the flat piece of fabric, guide you. The print is presented as a Do-It-Yourself-kit, everything you need comes with the package; the printed fabric, a scissor, a needle and threat and a few buttons. Follow the chosen line, cut - fold – wear.












3. Your collection is a lot about prints – How do you get inspired?
I am fascinated by the transformation of 2D forms into 3D shapes, which became the main inspiration for this collection. Because it is all about construction (a 3D garment is constructed by one flat pattern), deconstruction (different patterns are overlapped and integrated with the photographical images of the print) and reconstruction (which is done by the user by cutting out the chosen shape, fold it and wear it), I decided to photograph structures and constructions of an industrial landscape like empty factories and coal mines. I used these to build up the prints.

 
4. Can you describe the process of creating these elaborate prints?

The process was mostly a correlation between an interesting visual tryout in 2D (print at computer programs) to implementing this in 3D (real size human body scale in a toile). After photographing, I selected the most interesting images and started to arrange them. Because I wanted print and pattern to work together, I had them interact with each other.

First I made 50 rough garment-shapes in miniature for Barbie. I looked at the photographs that I wanted to use and tried to match them with the rough garment-shapes. Now, the shapes in the photographs would define the exact outlines for the pattern/ shape of the garment. I had to see how this would work for the 3D body so I printed it out and traced it on the toile fabric to check where the photographic-shapes could become a pattern-shape. So I worked on the print in 2D by computer programs and at the same time in 3D real human body scale.


5. What were the challenges you faced while working on your collection?
There were a few challenges in this collection, but the main one was the big puzzle of pattern versus print versus restrictions. Because I don’t want to lose a lot of fabric when cutting out the garment, I worked with the restriction of the fabric role's size: 1.50 meter.
Furthermore, the garments are designed in a way that (almost) everyone can wear them, there are no sizes; one size fits everybody.
Besides this, I wanted the construction of the garments to be simple: cut - fold - wear. So another challenge was how can I design the collection in a way that the fabric doesn’t need to be sewed? There are different ways of solving this, but the challenge is to find the right one...

6. If you were to describe your collection in 3 words which ones would you choose?

Conceptual. Hyperrealistic. Constructive.

7. How do you personally define “fashionclash” or “a clash with fashion”for yourself?

Fashion is all about clashes! All fashion arises in a particular point in history and embodies where people belong in place and time. But once this is visualized, once this is captured in fashion, it is dated... this is the biggest clash of fashion: always to be up to date yet always to be dated. By the way, I love fashion but there is something about it that I hate at the same time, how much bigger can a clash be?

Pictures by Bas van den Boom