Structural packaging

It’s easy enough to spot the differences between fashion and architecture. In many ways they’re creative opposites – buildings take years of planning and construction, and are generally built to last, while fashion is altogether faster and more frivolous. Buildings tend to be large-scale and static, fashion is personal and mobile. But it’s far more fun to trace where the two overlap, as demonstrated by Skin & Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture, the debut show at the new Embankment Galleries in London’s Somerset House. Designed by Eva Jiricna, the show concentrates on the 1980s until the present day, with 50 exhibits including fashion by Vivienne Westwood, Boudicca and Alexander McQueen, and architectural models and paintings by Zaha Hadid, Foreign Office Architects and OMA. Skin & Bones will suggest some intriguing connections, according to curator Claire Catterall, such as the parallel interest in deconstructivism, and trends towards more conceptual fashion and more fluid, fabric-oriented architecture. A catwalk display plinth will run the length of the vaulted mezzanine gallery, exploring themes such as shelter, identity, folding, draping, wrapping, pleating and weaving. Skin & Bones originated at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, but the London version is freshened up with several new exhibits, including work by Thomas Heatherwick and Hussein Chalayan.

Skin & Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture runs until 10 August at Embankment Galleries, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2