In These Clothes, Every Stitch Tells a Story

By Michele Orecklin

Hussein Chalayan has fashioned clothing of unrippable paper that can be folded into envelopes, a dress designed like a kite that can actually fly and a coffee table of malleable wood that swirls into a skirt. What saves his fanciful designs from unraveling into mere novelty is the fact that Chalayan, 29, an exquisite tailor, uses the show pieces to inspire his eminently more wearable clothes. "These pieces might not sell," he says, "but they express the concept behind each collection." The result is feminine clothes that are spare, clean and architecturally constructed to create volume without frills.

Rather than reference styles from past eras, Chalayan, who is Turkish Cypriot and based in London, molds each collection around a concept derived from outside the fashion world, whether it be the role of women in Islamic society (chadors of varying lengths) or the plight of families forced to leave their homes in times of war (the inspiration for the table skirt). He is equally dedicated to exploring technology (plastic dresses with shifting mechanized panels, and fabrics adorned with computer-generated prints). "The only new work you can do in fashion is via technology," he says. "It lets you create something you couldn't have done in the past."

--By Michele Orecklin