you know i love me some hussein chalayan..

(story taken from fashion week daily)



Puma's New Panther
Hussein Chalayan confirmed as creative director
Thursday, February 28, 2008
(PARIS) Puma's gone prolific, today appointing Hussein Chalayan as creative director of the sports lifestyle brand.

As part of his new duties, Chalayan will design, create, and develop the sport fashion collections while providing creative direction across all product categories, including footwear, apparel, and accessories.

Puma also announced this afternoon that it acquired a majority stake in Chalayan's London-based business and brand for an undisclosed sum. Through this long-term "symbiotic partnership," said Puma chairman and CEO Jochen Zeitz, Chalayan will be able to grow his ready-to-wear collections.

"Hussein Chalayan is a proven visionary, and as our creative director, he will bring his use of new technology, forward-thinking design, and provocative point of view to Puma," said Zeitz. "Acquiring majority shares of the Hussein Chalayan brand is giving Puma the ability to move into a new space, expanding our reach, and intensifying our position as the most desirable sport lifestyle company in the world."

Puma's current sport fashion ranges include the Rudolf Dassler collections and those resulting from cooperative design with Yasuhiro Mihara and Alexander McQueen. According to the company, Chalayan's influence will be initially reflected in the Fall 2009 collections. The collection will be sold at Puma boutiques and shop-in-shops at specialty retailers worldwide.
"I feel that the collaboration is a revolutionary model for a partnership; I became a designer to try and create a new language for clothes," the Cyprus-born designer, artist, and filmmaker said, adding that his goal is to take his tech-savvy prototypes and enable them to come to fruition for everyday life. "Combining PPR facilities with Puma's infrastructure and technological platform, we will be able to turn experimental ideas into reality for both lines. Hopefully, people will have the means to access real products evolving from our processes rather than only seeing them in shows and events."

For Chalayan, his new role at Puma is just another, albeit significant, chapter in his life. He has continued his career in film with pieces such as Absent Presence and Compassion Fatigue. With the former, Chalayan represented Turkey at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005.

In fine spirit, Chalayan laughed when asked about his athletic prowess. "I am not at all athletic," he told Fashion Week Daily. "I just have tremendous respect and understanding for the human body. If I started to work out I would become obsessive, so instead I study and flatter the physique."
NOLA WEINSTEIN and JIM SHI









































technology used to move dresses in spring/summer 2007 show

































spring/summer 2007 show here(its long but watch the last few minutes, amazing)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qB9rZQa8EKc

the "video dress"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=U_Tm_w5aODE&feature=related