Abstract:

What is the design Body?
If you look up the meaning of the word Corpo (Body), the Illustrated Dictionary of the Italian Language1
by Giacomo Devoto and Gian Carlo Oli gives the following definition: “Any quantity of matter limited by
a surface or defined by one or more properties that lend it an individual identity”. The authors continue
with the following explanation “The physical aspect of a human (in contrast with the soul) and an
animal organism”.
Continuing our search under the Corpo heading we come to Tullio De Mauro's2 definition which splits
up the basic meaning into “Material object that has a shape and certain physical properties”, the
technical-scientific “extended mass of material”, and finally “physical and material part constituting the
structure of human beings and animals”.
Thus, when we talk about a Body we enter a complex and extended discussion which necessarily
needs to be circumscribed on the basis of the intended investigation.
We consider an issue implicit to Designing3 for the fashion world and the subject that fashion
addresses, as the synthesis of its design culture: the body that wears another body.
At the Faculty of Design, in the INDACO Department, we consider the theme of a Doctorate in fashion
and the relation this has with Industrial Design Culture.
As designers, fashion can be treated as a specific design area that deals with the body and everything
that covers its surface.
But what is the fashion body? What form does it take and how can we intervene in its design? Are we
dealing with a real Body, made up of flesh and bones, or do we mean a virtual Body, made up of
mechanical parts more or less independent of each other?