cal embodies givenchy’s design ethos for the ss23 set
Collaborative Architecture Laboratory (CAL) inverts the standard big top tent to create an urban-scale sculpture with an intimate feel for Givenchy’s SS24 Womenswear Collection. With the concept driven by CAL’s lead designer Gabriel Calatrava, the set will reflect Givenchy’s ethos of ‘new elegance’ through an architectural lens. The design will distill the essence of a building into its foundational components — structure and skin — resulting in a refreshing expression. While conducting research for Men’s Paris Fashion Week, Calatrava observed a partially disassembled big top tent, sparking an exploration into inverting the typical kit-of-parts frame and cladding to create exciting formal possibilities. The outcome is an urban sculpture at L’Ecole Militaire in the heart of Paris, comprising exposed lightweight aluminum forming a skeletal framework, and cradling a sinuous fabric chrysalis suspended within.
all images by Fred Rambaud, courtesy of La Mode en Images
inverting a building’s structure and skin
Within the central courtyard of L’Ecole Militaire, the tent’s fabric, deliberately left open at both ends, takes advantage of panoramic views and invites natural ventilation. This ensures the comfort of attendees while introducing a subtle choreography as the fabric billows in the breeze. The project unfolds on two distinct scales: the structural frame mirrors the surrounding buildings’ volumes, while the tensile fabric fosters an intimate interior, forging connections between audience, model, and collection.
NYC-based firm CAL worked closely with Paris-based executive designer and production lead La Mode en Images to source the tent and fabricate a nearly seamless weatherproof Lycra, both of which can be re-used or repurposed, reducing the waste byproduct of the show. The contrast between aluminum and the organic tensile form evokes the experiential dichotomies found in Mathew Williams’ Givenchy designs — functional yet expressive, soft yet hard, natural yet urban.
CAL’s set will reflect Givenchy’s ethos of ‘new elegance’ through an architectural lens
the design distills the essence of a building into its foundational components — structure and skin
an exposed aluminum frame suspends a fabric tent within
