Fashion Meets Interior Design

It took fashion designer Arthur Arbesser exactly three seasons to figure out what most fashion designers haven't realised in an entire lifetime: the coolest slice of any city is veiled behind the closed doors of its private homes. For the staging of his A/W 2014 womenswear presentation, the 30-year-old Vienna-born designer acquired a beautifully designed 1920s apartment. Arbesser, who worked at Giorgio Armani for seven years before launching his own label in 2013 collaborated with the architect Luca Cipelletti, who offered Arbesser his stately sixth floor apartment where mid-century furniture by Gio Ponti, Ico Parisi and Guglielmo Ulrich contrasts with more radical pieces by Ettore Sottsass and Norman Foster.

Already, Cipelletti's apartment looks like an exhibition space thanks to the series of wall cutouts, visually linking the rooms. Giving the illusion of an almost reflective effect, the cutouts provided the perfect foil for Arbesser's structured, menswear-tinged fashion collection.

Arbesser and Cipelletti's aim was to make a connection and a conversation between the furniture and fashion in each room. In the dining room for example, vintage Joy Division vinyls from Cipelletti's personal collection serve as place mats on the Norman Foster clear glass table, setting the tone for a transparent theme that continues with a collection of Murano glass ashtrays and a sheer ballskirt in the opposite corner.

In the living room, an artwork in grease and graphite that was just recently hand-painted on the wall by British artist David Tremlett creates a striking backdrop for Arbesser's tomboy trouser suit. A bold black and white dress, meanwhile, finds a home next to the radiator and tall chemical glasses and a printed Alcantara suit pops off the sea foam green bath tiles.

Arthur Arbesser's A/W 2014 collection has overall androgynous appeal which works extremely well with the male vibe of Luca Cipelletti's appartment. I feel it wont be long before we see the collaboration between fashion houses and interior designers on a more day to day basis on the high street.