Back to the Future, or My Dress, Sia

I was in Rome a few years ago. I admired the amazing architecture of the past and I kept thinking to myself: "How in the word can that column, which is  thousands of years old, look so modern, so current, so appropriate for our modern aesthetics and taste?"  I decided that it must be because this creation was a classic, a quality of art which will always be current and able to excite us! 

Recently  I was in Cohassett MA and had the same feeling looking on the gorgeous houses near  the Atlantic Ocean, houses which were built in the nineteenth century, but which look to me like the best things that happened to American crchitecture in the past two hundred years--considering that so much contemporary architecture is just square boxes from glass--stale and soulless.  I am sure will these boxes will not be admired in a hundred years, because they cannot even inspire us now.  Just look at the Walkie-Talkie skyscraper in London. Who in the word wanted to make a building to look like a Walkie-Talkie.  Why not make a building to look like a toaster in this case?

Now about fashion.  Fashion, real fashion, is an art form, a wearable art form, and there's an analogy with the architecture that I've been talking about.  Classics have a timelessness, in fashion or architecture.

So last summer my intern from Mass Art was looking on my sketches from 1992 and said that some of the sketches looks so modern! I assume, because there's some classic art there. So I decided go back to the future, making the dress Sia.  The dress has a vanguard, futuristic style that hasn't dated, even though it is a sketch from 1992--classically futuristic! 

1992 was a severe time for me, when I immigrated to this US not speaking English, not knowing this country. At the same time this collection of sketches helped me a lot in building my confidence and building my life here. 

Back to the dress Sia. The dress will be done from snow white silk/zebeline. It is  a very dense and structured fabric, which would be perfect to build this dress as a architecture form. The dress is haute couture, combining elements of feminity (off the shoulder), big color, and a defined waist, but also with a cascade of tree hoops giving to the dress power and confidence. 

Where to wear this dress ? I am planning to wear it to the New York Fashion Week. Yes. This dress will be a fashion statement for people who love fashion and are not afraid to show it. I am one from them. 

Why is this dress named Sia ? My intern when she saw the design said: "This is is something that Sia would wear!"  All I can say is, "Me too!" 

XO XO Anna Nieman