Frank Lloyd Wright Inspires New Fashion Designers

Chicago art students turn their impressions of Robie House into runway-worthy designs

Erin Carlyle March 31, 2017

Former Houzz Editorial Staff. Writing about the cost of renovation and what it takes to remodel. Former Forbes real estate reporter. Fascinated by cool homes, watching the bottom line.

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Creative inspiration for a home renovation or decorating project can come from anywhere — nature, the runway, even the movies. And the reverse is also true: Architecture and decor can certainly inspire other visually creative fields.

Case in point: Students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago recently turned to iconic architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s famed Robie House to inspire their fashion designs. See how the winners’ designs reflect Robie House’s architecture.

Frank Lloyd Wright Trust

Robie House at a Glance
Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright
Location: Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago
Size: 9,000 square feet (836 square meters)
Year built: 1910

The Frederick C. Robie House in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood has been celebrated almost since its completion more than a century ago. The home is considered a crowning example of Wright’s Prairie-style designs, which feature “gently sloping roofs, low proportions, quiet skylines, suppressed heavy-set chimneys and sheltering overhangs, low terraces and out-reaching walls sequestering private gardens,” according to Wright himself.

Juniors studying fashion design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago toured Robie House, then worked to turn their impressions into runway looks. The contest, dubbed the Wright 150 Fashion Design Awards, was put on by the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, the nonprofit organization that runs Robie House, and the art institute.

Read more about this iconic house

Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House Inspired These Fashion Designs

Fashion design by Hana Chang

Hana Chang won first place for her design of a long coat, shown here. When she visited Robie House, she was struck by the sunlight shining through glass windows. “I saw the green backyard with warm yellow sunlight and a beautifully shining glass window,” Chang said via email. “And that moment, I felt very attached to nature, and it inspired me to make a garment that contains a mixture of a both nature and architectural composition.”

See Fashion Designs Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's Architecture

While Chang describes her garment as organic and flowy, reflecting nature, it also contains geometric shapes that refer back to the architecture of Robie House. The shapes, shown here, are not taken directly from the geometry of Wright’s design. Rather, they are her own designs.

Photo by Teemu08

While Chang’s translation of this home into her fashion design is overarching and can’t be tied to particular feature of the home, the next student winner was specifically inspired by a singular architectural detail.

Fashion design by Xinyi “Teresa” Lin

Xinyi “Teresa” Lin captured second place for her jacket dress, shown here. The underlying dress is deep yellow, with strokes of green and brown, overlaid by a transparent vinyl jacket with a stand-up collar.

“The design of my garment is inspired by Mr. Wright’s glass art,” Lin says.

It’s not hard to see the influence of Wright’s windows on this design. The student contest was Lin’s first opportunity to visit Robie House, she says, and the experience left her with a distinctive feeling.

“It was a sunny day. When I was in the house, sunshine poured in through the window and illuminated the entire space. Through the beautiful window, I saw flowers, trees and birds. Their shadows casted on the floor checkered with colorful sunshine. I felt extremely serene.”

The living room in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House; photo by James Caulfield, courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust

When she returned home, Lin began her research on Wright’s work. “I hit on some keywords for his design theory that I wanted to follow in my design: nature, geography and simplicity.”

The structured nature of Lin’s garment is meant to reflect the simplicity and order of Wright’s architecture. The color palette, too, is deliberate. “The overall color palette of my design is earthen colors, with brown representing wood and ground, green representing plants and life. All the colors are meant to evoke an air of serenity.”

Students Hana Chang and Xinyi “Teresa” Lin, center left and right, discuss the fabrication of their winning garments for the Wright 150 Fashion Design Awards.

If you’re in Chicago at the end of April, you can see the winning garments in full scale. Chang’s and Lin’s designs will be turned into full-scale garments and shown April 24-30 in the window of Jil Sander at 48 E. Oak St. Other student finalists’ design proposals also will be shown that week in the showroom.

Share: Have you been inspired to create a piece of art — whether fine art, fabric art or furniture — by a piece of architecture? If so, please tell us in the Comments. We’d love to see your best photo of your project and the architecture that inspired it!

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