ESSAY 4

Diary of a journey at Somerset House through the London Fashion Weekend, lighting and M. C. Lam

INTRODUCING LONDON FASHION WEEKEND, SOMERSET HOUSE AND THE CONCEPT OF LIGHT

To those who are not working in the industry but still want to take part to London fashion experience, LF Weekend is a biannual event that takes place immediately after London Fashion Week, offering the public the possibility to attend shows or go through pop-up shops of designers that have been presenting their collections during the week to the elite society of the high end industry. More simply said, LF Weekend is the convention of the fashion industry to get a larger public buy a ticket to visit otherwise hard-to-reach world. 

Indeed, one may think it is a superfluous excuse to get even more funds into an already flourishing industry, yet I find that there is more depth beneath all this strategic marketing.

London Fashion Weekend gives to those who like to express ideas of personal, social and cultural identity through their clothes, a place where they can dream, where they can meet similar people who have a story and are not afraid to tell that story in the way they dress or create.

I have always been fascinated by the meeting point of Fashion with Architecture. Architecture expresses a similar creative message, sharing the same primary function of providing shelter for the body, creating volume out of two-dimensional materials, addressing the human scale and reflecting the needs of the user and the beliefs of the age; yet it is different through its solid, more permanent and monumental presence. 

Recently, I have had the chance to attend the London Fashion Weekend at the Somerset House in London. Finding out that it will take place at William Chambers' spectacular neo-classical gem situated right in the heart of London, between the river Thames and the Strand, the Somerset House, I could not help but keep my eyes and my heart open to dive even further into the experience of these two vast domains and the way they interact.

"My experience is what I agree to attend to. Only those items which I notice shape my mind - without selective interest, experience is an utter chaos. Interest alone gives accent and emphasis, light and shade, background and foreground - intelligible perspective, in a word."
William James, The Principles of Psychology, Henry Holt and Company, Inc., New York, 1890, vol. 1, p 402.

It is interesting to see how artificial light within this event takes over the role of shaping our minds and guides us towards certain objects or spaces within a building. I begon to notice how light tells a story

We think of light as one of the most material ingredients within the composition of architectural. It’s immaterial in the way that one cannot grab it, grasp it but it is shaping constantly all of us. So we operate with the intake of natural light as one of the most important elements within architecture, many times associated to circulation and different moments of temporality within a building.

How do we see a sculpture without actually see it being lit? Everything that we see in terms of artwork that's exhibited is very natural, you don't see light. That's the most successful kind of lighting. successfully

My Fashion weekend escape was more of an opportunity to disconnect from everyday rituals and go into an environment where there are no conventions, rules or dress codes, where nothing is too colorful, over-sized or architectural, for that matter, to fit the body as long as it puts a feeling though visual language and pours out your individuality. 

THE JOURNEY

As I immerse into experiencing the London Fashion Weekend, I find myself right in front of its gates from the Strand. I feel pulled into a darker space, surrounding by stone Doric columns and white arches that reflect somewhat the almost blinding light from what's on the other side if the entrance, the courtyard. Light here feels almost restricted from the visitors of Somerset, just so that the impact of reaching the inside becomes even bigger and more powerful, accentuating its neo-classical grandeur. 

The white ceiling with beautiful arches reflects somewhat of the almost blinding contrasting light form the other side of the entrance, the courtyard, directing one's sight towards above. Its faded glare informs that one's eye should look for hight in the new architectural poetry that is yet to be discovered. I begin to notice how light suddenly starts to create an experience for me and so I let it guide me along my journey. 

"Seeing is not a passive response to patterns of light; rather, it is an active information-seeking process directed and interpreted by the brain. Visual sensory data are coordinated with incoming contextual information from the other senses related to past experiences of comparable nature, and given attention or not depending on whether the incoming stimulus is classified as signal or noise. It is the information content and context of a stimulus, not its absolute magnitude, which generally determines its relevance and, finally, its importance. This in turn largely determines what we look at and what we perceive." (pag.35, LAM)

In front of my eyes, a world buzzing with ladies dressed in minimal, geometric, hard-shaped trapezoid dresses. And though these architectural details add a certain character to the place, the true personality lies within the venue itself that LFW has used for the last 5 years.

Although it may seem like there is not much of a connection between LFW and London's architecture, the least poetic truth is that the chosen venues are a crucial part of designers' managing of their brands.

These places almost never make it into fashion reports but for those who attend the event the venue and the clothes hard to dissociate. It is them that will form a perception of the designer, his clothes and the show and later share that perception with the rest of the world. And so architecture comes into the picture as a tool to move an industry forward.

Once the official residence of the Queen of England and later demolished to make way for the new riverside palace on the same site, Somerset House is today a cultural pin-point on the London scene with a very particular public programme that includes temporary exhibitions, restaurants and cafes and free guided tours.

While the London Fashion Week hosts the catwalk shows in the British Fashion Council tent located in the courtyard, The London Fashion Weekend inhabits more of Somerset, spreading all along the first and second floors of the East, South and West Wings. One can see here pop-up stores of established and up and coming designers featured within the shows.

I cannot help but notice the relationship that is created within the inside and outside and that while the promotion of the industry happens within the centre of the Somerset premises, the actual retail business moves throughout the building.

The LFW tent this year is made of a reflective material that not only glares together with all the flashes of the buzzing photographers, but also glares out on a clear blue sky day. Although standing on its own, in contrast with the Portland stone of London's epicentre and disrupting the pattern of a neo-classical architecture, the specular addition to the courtyard blends in with the color and environment.

PICTURE of tent showing its reflective qualities

"When bright light sources are directly visible, or when their images can be seen reflected from some specular surface such as a piece of glass or a wet roadway, pattern becomes even more important than usual as a signal. Pattern is an easily perceptible form of order, and triggers expectations of completeness and consistency. [...] Expectations and a patterned context draw the eye to an omitted element of the pattern, which becomes a de facto focus, whether intended or not."

(pag.41, LAM)

Projected onto the tent, thousands of images and films of the runway shows that took place just before that Friday, making everyone stop and get a glimpse of what they should expect to find onto the shelves of the pop-up stores. The bright, luminous screen is definitely a point of attraction in the courtyard where most of the people gather around as they are unconsciously lured towards it.

PICTURE of screen with projections

 I make my way through the courtyard and into Somerset from the South Wing entrance, looking forward to see how Somerset makes room for the talented British designers to sell their work. The building itself actually extends the brands' image in a much more effective and exciting way that the Mayfair's boutiques could. Pop-up shops allow versatility in terms of light and arrangement that the fixed layouts of their previous stores cannot provide.

PICTURE of reception area

A luminous room where one can find the reception area is filled with staff handing fliers on the event, vouchers to brands selling their items in the following rooms, and the map for every floor. Here, the natural light comes inside both thorugh the entrance and the exit, making the space seem like a hub for those who either begin or end their journey, before exiting though the terrace door.

As I look around, I begin to notice that Somerset would actually classify as a "sequence of spaces organized along fixed corridors", as William M.C Lam would argue when defining different requirements of lighting for different buildings. 

I make my way into the corridor, to start discovering what are be the fabrics and tones that will make it to High street this season. A corridor is, in Lam's opinion, an "anchor, giving fixed condition to which other elements can be related." (pag.176, LAM)
PICTURE of the corridor

I pay attention to the way that my instinct guides me throughout. 

"One simple form of this sort of consistency (in orientation and guidance) in the luminous environment is the differentiation of public and private corridors with various kinds of lighting systems, colors, and materials. Another is the distinctive illumination of the walls of service cores and vertical circulation elements. A third is the use of decorative light fixtures to call attention to circulation nodes and important destinations."

(pag.27, LAM)

PICTURE 2 of the corridor

I notice that light changes completely its qualities from the precedent room. The narrow walkway is flooded by artificial light of a slightly lower intensity, coming from above all the way to the other side of the wing.
The hanging pendant fictures alligned on an axis parallel to that of the corridor present a clean profile when viewd from down and thus informing a linear flow through the space in order to reach the areas of main interest.
As their instensity is not as high and the ceiling is lower than that of the rooms, The fluorescent strips concealed behind the edges of the wall add the illusion of height to the ceiling that is lower in reality than that of the rooms, thus increasing the sense of spaciousness.



"We are afraid of the dark at least partly because it is inherently informationless"(pag.56, LAM) The only intrusions of sunlight come from the opening of the side rooms. I am naturally attracted towards the exterior, so I focus my attention to my right and left. This wing is only occupied by one cafe and restaurant before reaching to the staircase.

Although I was inpatient to dive into the clothes and necklaces, something about the tall window and the sudden wash of light coming from the adjacent rooms makes me want to start my so called shopping spree with a large latte first.
PICTURE  of the latte, and PICTURE of the hanging lights
The lights hanging from the ceiling are placed just above the tables, creating the perfect conditions for those who want to sit down and go through their maps or read. They also bring a warmer feel to the diffuse natural light coming from the clouds that made their way above Somerset.

Going on with the journey, it is now time to explore what LFW has to offer. But just I thought I'd bump into the shoes and dresses of the West wing, I reach to a majestic staircase.

With natural light coming from above, spotlights all along the staircase, illuminating the steps towards the first floor, I give into my curiosity to explore where does the six meter long Nelson Stair lead to, whilst also admiring the balloon installation.

The first floor is nothing less than what I portrayed it to be. Although with the same layout as the ground floor with the corridor leading into the better lit rooms, there is almost no one going on the corridor from one room to the other, and instead, they're using the alternate openings to go from one pop up showroom to the other. Of course, the highlight shines on the clothes using track lighters on the ceilings and wall washes to brighten the name of the designer. In the middle of almost every room there is a table with accessorize varying in color, depending on the influences of their creators but always brought to life by direct pendants lighting them from up above.

The sharp shadows that they create on the floor contrast with the luminous air of the room,

It is almost as if the artificial warmer light symbolizes the consumerists’ experience where one enters a universe of desires and temptations and the natural blue tinted light gives a sense of return to the reality of the outside world, turning our awareness towards the 19th Century piece of architecture we are actually experiencing.

Moving forward to the central area of the first floor where the emerging designers exhibit their ready-to-wear, I enter the brightest and most crowded room so far, with four different windows towards the river bank. "When all buildings were designed around a single, fixed light source -the sun- the difference between great architecture and mere building could be measured to a large degree by the skill with which that source was used. The sHhapes and sizes of rooms, and the materials and details in them, were determined largely by the appearance the room would take on when rendered by daylight." (pag10,LAM)

The natural light plays a major role in this space, as all the clothes are distributed in the proximity of the windows. Together with the bright white of the surrounding walls that reflect even more light upon the rest of the room and the high ceiling which gives air and a lightness to the space, this is by far the most crowded room yet and still, there is an energy to it take makes it stand out from the rest. 

PICTURE of map showing room

As it is the largest room on this floor, the placement of the two pendent fixtures at equal distance from one another helps illuminate the space when desired and to also house adjustable reflectorizrd lamps that are directed towards the walls so that they acccent the displayed names of the designers.

PICTURE of room

Is the choice of this room to host the wave of Britain's next top selling business intentional? I wonder. The names of the artists are written in back letters on the wall next to the windows which makes them hard to read in the blinding contrast created from the outside.

"Since the brain is constantly monitoring the visual environment for new information which might be of significance with the regard to biological or activity needs, things which are unexpected or which contrast with their visual backgrounds because of some unusual quality are likely to be treated as figures by the visual-processing system, attracting the attention of the beholder"

(pag.19, LAM)

As I notice a jacket that I like, I immediately go towards it to feel its fabric and once I reach it, closer to the wall, I can now see who its creator is. Lucilla Gray matches the name on the label to that on the wall and I finally feel like I have my pick. I check the price and suddenly, I'm brought to the harsh reality. There appears to be no student discount for high end products! Go figure. I carefully put it back next to its monochrome similar pieces nonetheless, and decide I should go for the Accessories, in attempt to have more luck at purchasing the new "en vogue".

Reaching now to the Stamp Stair, I descend into yet another corridor and what amazes me is the exposure to light. The door located just in front of the last step is inviting towards the outside terrace, almost begging for a minute of stare at the river outside. But continuing to the corridor, I notice the drastic change from the sunlight to the enclosed walkway that almost makes me feel trapped in a maze, eager to go anywhere that opens up to more space.
"Kruithof had measured the range of color temperature under which objects appear 'natural'  and pleasant at different levels of luminance.[...] We expect illumination to be of a high color temperature (relayively blue) when luminance levels are high because we refer them unconciously to daylight, which has a relatively high color temperature. We expect low color temperatures (a warmer quality of light) when luminance levels are low - perhaps by association with firelight, candlelight, and so forth." (pag.51, LAM)

I find myself moving rapidly through the contemporary jewellery room and into the bags and shoes area, this time in the East wing. Following a similar layout to the clothing department, the accessories differ from all the rest through the more minimal approach to lighting. 

PICTURE of accessories room

 One can only see wall sconces illuminating the arched entrances from one room to the other and the rest is kept to the simplest. A few mirrors along the wall facing the courtyard and that's about it.

It is six o'clock already and the gates of Somerset are announced to be closing in one hour. Would my experience would have been the same without the sunlight bursting though the large 19th Century windows? Definitely not. The natural light played a major role in the pop up stores. The location made for a perfect backdrop for the London fashion scene, becoming an actual context for the event. "The clarity with which an object is perceived is influenced by its context."

On the outside the palette of gray colors brought to life by the reflective surface of the BFC tent, whereas on the inside, the white walls provide a perfect clean background for exhibiting objects of which the colors and shapes needed to be brought to life.

CONCLUSION

One may wonder why so much hustle for high-end brands that already have a well-established clientele? Well, the point of the Fashion Weekend and its catwalks is the spectacle that it delivers to the public. 
Light is a powerful tool in the visual perception of this spectacle and "involves and active process of information selection, filtering, interpretation, and storage in which context, prior experience and expectations are combined with incoming sensory data to create meaningful perceptions." The monumental presence of Somerset, the aura of exclusivity engraved in the creative world: if not more than that, these parades sell perfume to those who still want to be associated with this lavish lifestyle and cannot afford the clothes.

Somerset House has done an amazing job in hosting a temporary event within its pre-existing spatial requirements. Light plays a crucial role in exhibiting the items and guiding its visitor’s journey. The adaptations that William Chambers' building had to undertake are in terms of placing lights and finding their right intensity and color to then direct someone's attention through the space. What I came to realise at the end of my journey is that light is actually one of the most material ingredients within the composition of architecture. It is immaterial in the way that one cannot grab it or grasp it, but it is shaping constantly all of us. The intake of natural light is also crucially important as it is many times associated to circulation and different moments of temporality within a building. 

I believe that Somerset Houses' contribution to London Fashion Weekend was highly successful as everything I saw and experienced was very natural, keeping my awareness on the fashion artworks and pursuing me to discover what lies with the next room each time.