This personal study is based on an exploration into the ‘Collaboration and Relation between Art and Fashion. Fashion being a common interest of mine, combined with my opinion that fashion is a ‘walking form of art’ alongside research into the topic areas revealed strong links between the two, providing an interesting focus. This common relation between fashion and art is found in a variety of forms, for example, through inspiration, being visually apparent, ‘textile masterpieces’ and collaborations between artists and fashion designers, all which this project investigates.

There have been some key movements in art that link in with fashion, like Pop Art, Opp Art and Abstract Expressionism. I intend to explore how fashion has been influenced by these movements.

A renowned member of the Vienna Art Nouveau movement which in itself directly influenced Western design. Klimt was perceived to be very radical for his era, straying from the traditional aspects of Realism and leaning towards Symbolism, also some his work was labelled ‘pornographic’. His focus was on portraying the woman's figure in an erotic manner, combining this with various decorative features, embellishments, line and metallic tones. Taken as influence from Byzantine imagery, alongside frequent travels to Venice and Ravenna, famous for

their mosaic, proved inspirational. Although Klimt’s images are very two dimensional, I feel that they have a lot of depth due to his use of metallic tones, and they give you the sense that you can almost get lost within his work, as a consequence of the decorative line and pattern, giving it a sense of movement. His ornamental touch and profound influence on design as a whole, makes his work inevitably inspiring in fashion design, this is seen through a range of photo shoots and runway collections such as Galliano and Balenciaga.

Here features a Klimt inspired shoot taken by Edward Enninful, included in Vogue Italia. The mix-matched decorative prints of floral, tribal and abstract were a trend of Summer 2008 but also have a distinctive resemblance of some of Klimt’s artwork, alongside their use of fake tattoos to portray similar Klimt markings and pattern.

I really admire Edward Enninful’s contemporary take on Klimt’s art work, mixing up modern and trendy liberty, safari prints and fashions capturing traditional aspects of Klimt decorative style yet keeping the viewer in style. also his observant approach means that he has considered small details such as the hairstyles and posture of the models to reflect Klimt’s characters in his paintings. It is also fascinating to see Klimt’s work in three dimensional form.

Following on from this Gustav Klimt has also been the inspiration for John Galliano’s Christian Dior Spring/Summer Couture (bottom left) as well as Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2002 collection (right) . Both

designers used heavy embellishment and embroidery in order to capture Klimt’s iridescent decorative style. The use of layers, patchwork and embroidery in Balenciaga’s pieces is practically identical in use of colour, line and fabric pattern, whereas Galliano has a more modern interpretation on Klimt’s artwork, using similar golden tones and Gustav style embroidery however gives it a modern twist with his unique fabric construction and shape. I think that the fusion of Art and Fashion here seems to work naturally and particularly well in each form of design.

“MILAN — If there was one take-home message from the Milan men’s shows this week, it was Mondrian Mania. Mondrian’s well-known color blocking showed up all over the runways. Raf Simons at Jil Sander showed wildly patriotic red, white, and blue blocked suits as well as a more wearable version in navy, pale khaki and light grey. The designer’s two-tone colored lace-ups and multi-pouch shoulder bags in the same colors showed that men, too, can match their accessories if they so choose.”

Throughout the 1960s art was emerging as popular choice as a fashion motif. Fashionable art movements such as Pop Art, Op Art and Psychedelic prints (e.g. Pucci), had a dramatic influence on Fashion Design, as the simple forms in design of the era provided an ideal canvas for images of abstract paintings to be directly applied. A particular breakthrough was Yves Saint Laurent’s ‘Mondrian Look’ (first right) of his Autumn/Winter, 1965 collection. Piet Mondrian’s, 1928, Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue has a blatant, direct influence as Saint Laurent as the designer has

applied Mondrian’s piece of art to a structured dress, therefore really illustrating the striking composition and block prints of the painting making the wearer a ‘Walking Mondrian Canvas’. This innovative, striking style gave a whole new sophistication to Haute Couture making it a classic look. Recently (above, far right), The ‘Mondrian Look’ has re-appeared on the catwalks in a different form all together, as a suit. Raf Simons and Jil Sander were the pioneers of this subtle yet modern take on the ‘Mondrian Look’, applying coloured and monochrome blocks to a structured suit for men. I feel this style works particularly well being a more wearable trend due to its less obvious reference to Mondrian’s style, in comparison to YSL’s, ‘Mondrian Look’ of 1965. I also feel it’s a more masculine trend, fitting and also enhancing the structure and build of the male form. Not being particularly fond of the simple form of Mondrian’s paintings I prefer the more subtle Mondrian Inspiration taken on by Jul Sander and Raf Simons, as I feel YSL’s imitation is too precise, however I do appreciate the radical move made by YSL at the time, directly combining Art and Fashion to create that striking yet classic ‘Mondrian Look’ inspiring and influence design today.

Another classic example of the intersection of the fashion and art industry in the 1960s was the ‘Souper Dress’, a disposable paper dress developed by Andy Warhol that was later produced by Campbell’s as an actual wearable garment. After the success of his painting, ‘100 Cans of Soup’, 1963 it was colour screen printed onto and constructed most famously into an A-line dress, to create the ‘Souper Dress’, 1967 alongside many other products the image was replicated onto, this in turn helped launch the pop art movement. Although originally created as a throwaway ad campaign piece after its success and the

image of Pop Art The dress fitted in with the Mod, Pop style that was popular for the time, due to its shape and structure. A more recent take on Andy Warhol’s work is a new collection established by Pepe Jeans, following their European license to granted by the Andy Warhol Foundation to inflict his authentic designs onto

The Souper Dress is comparable to Yves Saint Laurent’s ‘Mondrian Look’, due to its similarity in structure and concept, for both garments have each artists work applied directly to its form. Although the use of the structure provides a canvas to display the print best, I am not too fond of the way the dress skims the human form instead of fitting to it, yet I do appreciate its significance in breaking design boundaries. Despite this I do like Pepe Jeans’ collection, I admire how they have developed a wearable, street style from Warhol’s work.

of Andy Warhol’s career as a pop artist threw him into the limelight. Rather than remaining a simple consumer product, the Campbells Soup has now become distinguished of visual art and a renowned

their garments. This is a contrasting and much more modern style in comparison to ‘The Souper Dress’ of the 1960s being much more casual in design. They have replicated his prints and applied them in an eroded and faded manner giving them an edgy design-

Another influential art movement on fashion in the 1960s was Op Art, it’s cutting edge design and popularity during this era provided inspiration for designers, it also made a significant comeback in the 1990s. Op Art is typified by its dramatic use of line and shape to create an optical illusion effect and contrasting colours, particularly monochrome, a typical colour combination of the 1960s. These popular art trends set by key figures of the movement, Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely, were picked up by designers and used for their garment designs. The dresses below are a typical example of Op Art influenced clothing from the era, the mini A-line dress on the right designed by Harry Gordon in 1968, named “Poster Dress” holds a starkly similarity to Pop Art styling. Whereas the zip up, A-lined, Vinyl dress to the left designed in 1965 appears to be directly inspired by Bridget Riley with her distinct use of check and monochrome in a twisted and shapely form.

In the 1990s, Op Art provided inspiration for a young Japanese designer team, 20471120; Masahiro Nakagawa and Rica, with Victor Vasarely inspired mesh pattern applied to cotton suits. They made

use of his 3D sphere trademark pattern and applied it in symmetrical proportions to give a bizarre bulging look.

Not being fond of Op Art as a genre this collaboration does not appeal to me. I do however appreciate and encourage Fashions’ reference to Art and

vice a versa as this is another and an early step of deterioration of design boundaries, as I believe different aspects of design should inspire, influence and work together as much as possible in order to produce more innovative ideas. Despite my distaste of Op Art I do however like the 2041120, production of the Vasarely suit, as I think it is quite subtle yet very quirky.

Emilio Pucci, was the revolutionary pioneer Italian designer of ‘Casual Couture’, mocked ‘Prince of Prints’ due to his trademark style of bold and psychedelic use of print and colour, inspired by the Pop Art movement. His hay day reached its peak during the 1960s and 70s, after the set up of his fashion house in the 1950s, when post-war attitudes brought a yearn for colour and revolution in design, Pucci fulfilled this through his vibrant use of colour combinations, urging chemical companies to produce an array of brighter hues. By use of varied composition, scale, exciting colour combination and proportion enabled Pucci to hand design and draw hundreds of geometrical, kaleidoscope patterns in replacement of the status-quo tame prints available at this time, these designs were applied directly to a range of casual wear made from lightweight fabrics such as silk, and later branching out to stretch fabrics. “It was Pucci’s combination of elegance and excitement that resulted in his tremendous success.” Although his death in 1992 brought an end to his production of startling, vivid hand drawn designs, his profound influence on design still exists today. Presently the label Pucci comprises of Emilio’s daughter, Laudomia as head designer and also features celebrated fashion designer Christian LaCroix who has revitalized the Pucci brand by introducing modern design to revived classic Pucci prints-

I truly admire Pucci’s dedication, hand designing and drawing all his intricate prints, I believe that this makes his brand more of a piece of art alongside the vibrancy and pop-art, op-art like quality of his style, in fact many of his prints now feature in museums and private collections, similar to artistry work. His work is an early sign of pushing design boundaries, which is something I can relate to and appreciate. Being a fan of pop-art means that I enjoy his use of bold energetic line which jet across the body of his designs creating his unique flamboyant, lucid style.

Expressionistic artists such as Jackson Pollock and Monet appeared to have been a main influence on trends of Spring/Summer 2008, giving dresses an edgy art-schoolglamour on the runway. The main contributor to this fad appeared to be Dolce and Gabbana, when they took it one step further injecting freehand painting into their designs. D&G invited ten artists from the Accademia di Brera in Milan and asked them to treat various luxurious fabrics such as silk, tulle, organza and net ‘as if it were a canvas’, from this vivid and colourful splashes and smears of paint and design were applied from this. The fabric was then layered, bunched and transformed into fifties gowns. To add to this during the showing of their collection at Milan Fashion Week, film footage of the artists applying their individual designs onto the fabric stretched over frames appeared in the background of the performance for all to see the collaboration for themselves. From YSL to Marni to Ferragamo to the Pollock inspired photo shoot for Jill Stuart all designers were going mad to make their individual mark on this trend-

This recent trend has really excited me, being able to see the collaboration of Art and Fashion for myself being directly applied from the catwalks to the high street in the Summer. I really enjoyed the Pollock trend, being particularly fond of his work and concept. Dolce and Gabbana’s take on Pollock’s work, creating ‘Walking Art’ through making the dress a canvas, similar to 60s

style dresses, was very interesting and pushed collaborative art and fashion boundaries. Their application of the print was similar to the way Jackson Pollock worked himself, (see bottom right) where

he lay the canvas on the floor and directly pitched his paint onto it, therefore leaving a sense of his self expression behind. I also enjoyed the designers use of vivid and wide use of clashing colours in combination with the contrast of either carefully constructed designs or vigorous brush strokes and paint splatters intersecting, across the body.

‘‘When Fashion When Fashion becomes art’becomes art’ John Galliano is one of the most influential

designers of our time producing and providing us the most spectacular and eccentric forms of design and fashion shows. After graduating from St Martins School of Arts and producing a collection inspired by The French Revolution, titled ‘Les Incroyables’ he was catapulted into the spotlight. Later shying away from pret-a-porter (off the rails) design and focusing on Haute Couture, John Galliano was made creative director of Christian Dior, producing his first Haute Couture collection on the 50th anniversary of Dior, 1997 he has since been

working for Dior. When asked exactly what influences and inspires him to come up with his extravagant designs, he replied, “Everything that surrounds me can be an inspiration. I am inspired by music, film, art, street culture, my girlfriends…”. His ability to absorb various medias enables him to create and communicate through each and every one of his masterpieces. I think the combination of his various artistry references and fascinating interpretation of their work, workmanship and intricate design, for example his inspiration from SalvadorDali (Right, bottom) and Peruvian folk art (Top, right) makes each individual design is a walking piece of art. His consistency of innovative, striking and exciting design is what maintains his success and what originally drew me to his work. During the showing of his collection the viewer is allowed into his wildly fantastical and

romantically imagination. I really admire John Galliano’s revolutionary design as it is so uniquely and precisely tailored alongside his elaborate use of colour and structure that you can hardly help be blown away. His work is a clear sign of collaboration and relation to Art.

This is a display of some of my favourite pieces displayed in Galliano’s Egyptian inspired Spring/Summer 2004 Haute Couture show. Inspired from an aerial tour of Egypt, Galliano incorporated ateliers—gold leaf, lapis lazuli–hued snake, silver lamé, coral beading, treasures which encased models so that they literally ‘walked like Egyptians’. Galliano's spectacle of breathtaking designs in my opinion are walking art masterpieces in their own right.

The 20th century French artist who proves to be inspirational on modern fashion design is Henri Matisse, one of the key figures of the ‘Fauvism’ art movement characterised for his vivid and particularly radical style used in his paintings and tapestries (right) for his time. His decorative and simplistic shapes patterned the surfaces of his works, these trends were picked up by and interpreted into the design of Vivienne Westwood’s toga dress (right) circa, 1982 and Yves Saint Laurent, circa 1980. Matisse inspired prints were silk screened onto machine knit cotton in order to illustrate Matisse’s fascination with Near-Eastern art into fashion, whereas his prints were injected directly onto Yves Saint Laurent’s 50s shape skirts in bold colours against a dark background.

The application of the Matisse inspired print is very clear and has a very distinct relation to his style, however the toga dress design strays from Vivienne Westwood’s trademark punk edge she typically embraces in her work, which is slightly disappointing. I do however think Yves Saint Laurent’s Matisse inspired, 50s shaped skirts as they are very wearable and the use of large Matisse prints creates a very elegant yet dramatic style. Both these Matisse influenced styles are most comparable to the Pollock influenced designs that were a big hit in the Spring/Summer 2008 trends, both have taken prints and designs and directly applied them to the garments and are then styled in a modern and conventional manner this is in contrast to ‘canvas like’ dresses of the 60s.

Mark Rothko, an American Abstract Expressionist artist who is recognized for his paintings consisting of simplified symmetrical compositions and soft flat blocks of harmonious colour, has provided influence for designers such as Chloe, Marni and Maurizio Pecoraro in their recent collections. Remarkably similar results in design have been achieved, all using loosely fitted garments to compliment the soft tones and shapes Rothko creates in his artwork. Another comparison between interpretations of design is the way they let the Rothko inspired print speak out for itself giving their collections simple structures, although different they all remain simple. Maurizio Pecoraro (left) has loosely draped the Rothko printed fabric across the Torso, and in one case added feather embroidery. Whereas Chloe and Marni however have given their garments slightly more structure, similarly to ‘The Mondrian Look’ and ‘The Souper Dress’ yet used fabric which gives more movement-

I think that each designer has portrayed Mark Rothko’s ‘soft’ style very effectively, because of the movement and drape in the fabric used helps create this alongside the soft hues and tones, resulting in garments really complimenting and working with the Rothko inspired print.

Each design floats down the catwalk making a clear style statement, drawing the eye to the large blocks of colour set against simple backgrounds intersecting the body of the model. I think the simplicity of the design and Rothko print is what creates the sophistication, it is subtle not ‘over the top’.

Elsa Schiaparelli was a designer and trend setter in the Art Deco Period, 1930s, with a background in the arts she had a natural flair for design. Frequently collaborating with surrealist artists such as Salvador Dali, Magritte, Man Ray, Alberto Giacometti, therefore being directly influenced by them. Schiaparelli is my earliest example of the intersection of art and fashion. Daringly going against typical trends with her bias cut dresses that cling to the female figure, eccentric shoulder padding and various surrealist accessories and unusual designs. The production of the ‘Shoe Hat’ was produced in a collaboration with Salvador Dali who she worked particularly closely with, therefore adopting his ‘Surrealist’ style into her fashion design. She shaped and lay the foundations for what fashion design is today, inspiring current designers like Galliano, McQueen, Gaultier and Yves Saint Laurent.

Her use of abstract structure and form is similar to John Galliano’s recent Egyptian inspired collection, both pushing the boundaries of fashion and edging towards the art scene, particularly sculptural design. I really admire and appreciate her influence and inspiration she has provided with her innovative and flamboyant flare for design for the period, she set the example for others to follow. I also really admire Surrealist works as there is a fantastical element about it, again alike Galliano, therefore its reference with fashion was very interesting and successful.

At the start of this Personal Investigation, my knowledge of the relation between Fashion and Art, barely stretched beyond my interest in the recent Jackson Pollock trends set in the Spring/Summer 2008 collections. However I have now developed a much broader understanding of the significant influence art poses on fashion design. From the early couture days of Elsa Schiaparelli and her collaborations with Surrealist artist Salvador Dali, pushing design boundaries and laying the foundations for later years. I have found out that there are many variations of art references in Fashion, for instance popular Art Movements are repeatedly initiated into fashion design, provide inspiration, or are recalled because of their significance of the time. The 1960s was an era of innovative design and direct application of Art onto dresses. More recently, forms of ‘Walking Masterpieces’ due to their intricate, innovative and striking significance have emerged for example John Galliano’s Haute Couture collections. Art continues to provide a great influence on fashion design and each designers interpretation of art is slightly different, some designers simply used art inspired prints such as Vivienne Westwood’s toga dress with Matisse inspired prints. Whereas Dolce and Gabbana got involved with the actual process of the garment, inflicting Jackson Pollock’s style by injecting freehand painting onto their collection. Although each designer has a different approach to involving art in their work, they are all significant in their own right as it continues to show the breaking down of design boundaries.

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