Fashion Fashion

Hussein Chalayan's 'Bubble Dress' from 2007 is constructed of clear plastic bubbles.


Hussein Chalayan has been one of fashion's most charismatic players for the past 20 years. His garments are defined as much by high-concept designs as the questions they raise: "Is it a table or a skirt?, a hat or an oversized crustacean?" "Did Lady Gaga really knock off that bubble dress?" His fashion plays with sculpture, architecture and science, and "Chalayan's aim has been to keep people guessing". 


Fashion's recent referencing of '60s futurism was inspired by the romance of space travel, at a time before man had set foot on the moon. Fashion of the '60s futurist fantasy vision was prevalent in the spring/summer 2007 collections and reflected in the omnipresence of silver, wet-look PVC and fashion's continuing must-wear silhouette – the dress – but specifically in this season's case, the '60s look, waist less shift dress and its more voluminous sisters, the sack and tent dresses.


Chalayan's dress is so interesting to look at - I have never seen anything like this before! It reminds me of balloon animals you get at kids parties. The thing that caught my eye first was the way the dress was structured, we don’t normally see balloon like shapes on a dress which standout from the dress so by still having the balls inflated looked amazing. The repetition of the balloon bubbles gives the dress more impact when we look at it as it builds the dress up more with all of them layered on top of one another.

This bubble dress features transparent bubbles that vary in size. The bubbles at the top of the dress are bigger than the bubbles around the models stomach. The bubbles are attached to a silver supporting  harness or rib like structure which run vertically and horizontally underneath the bubbles whose transparency makes the models appear almost nude.