It’s all about expressing yourself. Throughout history, FASHIONOTES has found that art movements often have an influence on fashion trends, even decades after the period has ended.
The relationship between art and fashion is an interesting one. Famous artistic movements can be seen replicated in some shape or form in fashion trends. Cubist motifs, minimalist expression, colors, patterns, post-war era style, avant-garde art and even impressionist shades have all surfaced in fashion at some point.
It is often the simple ideas that inspire collections. Designers find their muse in such things as the changing of seasons, people watching, and influential artistic movements and ideals. Most designers view their work as being ‘art’ in itself, which explains why collections seen on the runway, packaged with the effects of lights and music, can sometimes be perceived as outlandish or strange.
Through the first half of the twentieth century, fashion design has echoed the trends of modern art. From the heavily corseted silhouettes that followed the Art Nouveau aesthetic, fashion trends proceeded to follow the abstract cubist designs of the 1920s for a simplified silhouette.
Cubism artists believed that everything in nature could be reduced to cylinders, spheres and cones. This idea has shown up on the runway in the form of clothing featuring geometric details, such as lines and shapes. From the tunics of Callot Soeurs to the drop-waist skirts of Chanel, fashion’s deflation followed the Cubist ideals. The introduction of tubular dresses and rounded cloche hats turned women’s bodies into geometric shapes seen in modern art works. This artistic technique allowed designers to show broad, abstract expanses of color and simple lines in their pieces. Shiny fabrics and textiles were embraced to emphasize the speed of modern life and art.
Art and fashion met again in the 1960s form of Op art and Pop art. Op-art was typified by the dramatic, trick-optic effects of line and contrasting areas of color. When these optically distorted geometric patterns were applied to fabric, it created a bold look for fashion and accessories. Designers like Prada have taken inspiration contemporary art and graphics like Andy Warhol’s pop art images. Prada’s spring 2011 collection featured a bright neon color palette, finished off with Warhol-inspired banana-shaped earrings.
Yves Saint Laurent also explored color with his Mondrian dress and the black and white block sheaths he introduced in the early 1960s. The idea of a color-blocking grid is typical of the Piet Mondrian style and was a technique picked up by Jonathan Saunders and Balenciaga and taken to the runway. Soft, painted floral designs were also a key highlight in the collections. Brightly colored, large-scale geometric repeats became favorites in fashion.
The Realism movement in art has also been embraced to some extent in fashion. Design prints as realistic as photographs have been featured on the runway in the form of clothing and accessories. Branquinho’s silk dresses featured landscape prints, while tops have depicted sunsets and deserts. Accessories such as Markus Lupfer’s scarves have also picked up the trend.
The monochrome trend for fall 2011 is a clear throw-back to Yves Klein’s intense blue shades from post World War ΙΙ art. An important figure in post-war European art, Yves Klein was a pioneer in the development of Performance art. He was particularly known for his monochrome works in blue. His ‘Proposition Monochrome: Blue Epoch’ was said to maintain the authenticity of the pure idea, with the deep blue shade reminiscent of the Madonna’s robes in medieval paintings. His monochrome styling became famously known as ‘International Klein Blue’ and is a favorite of the fall 2011 season.
The minimalist expression in art exploded onto the runway decades after the artistic movement ended. Derek Lam’s 2011 Collection was heavily inspired by west coast minimalist art. Focusing on simple designs and loose fitting silhouettes, this popular artistic movement was successfully converted into runway looks.
There are also instances where artists have worked directly with fashion houses to enable artist flow to cross over into fashion collections. Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami was approached by Marc Jacobs to propose a collaboration with Louis Vuitton. Murakami’s colorful flowers, floating eyes and proactive cartoon characters were inspired by Japanese manga cartoons, a unique style which prompted Vuitton to present various colored logos for the very first time. Jacobs was intrigued by the iconic, childlike and sometimes whimsical approach of the emerging artist.
This collaboration is representative of the merging worlds of visual arts and fashion. The long history of art imitating art can be seen in the similarities between artistic movements and their echoing fashion trends. With an intriguing relationship that is moving with the times, collaborative fashion trends are helping to raise the profile and appreciation for past and present art movements. Connoisseurs of art and fashion now find themselves appreciative of the unified evolution of the two forms of artistic expression.
