Created by Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao
Sewed by Kimo Pledger and Elly Azaria

This project consists of wearable architecture and large-scale color photographs that merge the dress tent sculpture with its companion landscape constructing a fashion of place. The structures are designed to be shown in a gallery or museum as interactive installations, but are imbued with a nomadic legacy of being worn and installed in the landscape. Photographs document this legacy.

Each piece of wearable architecture references specific body and land politics pertaining to the place and culture in which they are installed. Modes of female representation are addressed through the garment/structure. By referencing archetypes such as “housewife” in the Picnic Dress Tent, the dress tents push the prescriptive and fetishistic aspects of contemporary fashion toward new conclusions.

In the gallery, the tent brings the experience of the referenced landscape back to the audience. For instance, the Illegal Entry Dress Tent, originally installed beneath the California/Mexico border, contains military blankets embroidered with the names of those who have lost their lives crossing the border. Those who seek refuge beneath the skirt are implicated with their own relationship to border issues. In this way, the dress tents address body and land politics as they interface with the nomadic nature of contemporary life.

Each dress tent, which literally morphs from a dress into a tent, poses the question of what lies under a woman’s skirt in the 21st century. While each photograph specifically references body and land politics specific to the site in which it is photographed, the images also speak to a sense of place, questioning impacts of tourism and notions surrounding fantasy excursions into the landscape. While the photographs are meant to be seductive, the dress tents simultaneously emulate and poke fun of the recreational fashion industry. We are working specifically with female representation surrounding beach culture within two of the most desired coastal regions in the world: the California Coast and the Hawaiian Islands.