Dragan Pavlovic
Research
Subject
Public Space and Individuality: The History of London Fashion Week (1984-2010)
First and second supervisors
Abstract
This research explores the practice of self-representation in relation to the production of public space through an architectural historical study of London Fashion Week.
As an event that highlights individuals’ practices of self-representation, London Fashion Week operates within public space on three different levels: the interior space of each event, the event location within the urban fabric, and the network of various event locations representing the city.
For the purposes of this research, it is assumed that unlike singular public sites, the network of fashion week locations gives multidimensional conditions for representation of the city: the narrative, the spatial and the virtual. Under this context, locations juxtapose the publicity of fashion events with the narratives of London architectural heritage.
The research will, therefore, try to find the answer on how does self-representation practice operate with representation/perception of public space? And why fashion industry takes an increased competence in the mapping of London as a global city?
This thesis investigates three case-study locations: Freemason’s Hall, Somerset House, and the Design Museum, involving an interdisciplinary research. The phenomenological explanation of fashion events will be derived from quantitative and qualitative data collection as well as analysis of spatial configurations, social actions, and individual perceptions of specific locations.
The research will provide observations from the first and third person perspective of active participants of fashion events in the context of public space and individuality, attempt to draw a novel interpretation of how spatial production is related not only to social practice of self-representation, but also to the cultural capital and the representation of city.
Biography
Dragan Pavlovic studied architecture at University of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, Serbia where he was engaged in many research projects as the lecture assistant on subject Urbanism and Communication. After graduation, he started the master studies at ETSAB (Polytechnic University of Catalonia) in Barcelona, Spain at the program Visual Communication at Architecture and Design.
Currently, he is pursuing Ph.D. at the Bartlett School of Architecture investigating the subject of public space and individuality. His professional work is orientated toward mediation between urban culture and identity of cities, where he is engaged in conceptual solutions of event spaces.