AGE OLD QUESTION: IS FASHION ART?

This is an age old question that has been ask many times over the centuries.  It is a question that does not encompass fashion alone but includes literature, poetry, music, painting, cinema and, of course, the art of jewelry and fashion design  With the advent of so many art forms of expressions over the centuries there is little debate that both jewlery and fashion have captured the hearts of Americans as a major source of expression.  Early Haute couture fashion created an era of "being" where as life today has changed to an era of "appearing."  Haute couture will not die for lack of artists or clients, but because the lifestyles, events, places and occasions permitting it to exist has disappeared.

As Picasso was to modern art, Chanel, Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent is to the art of couture.  These forms of genre are creative expression by gifted artists using different mediums.  When a couturier creates a work of art it is using fabrics, textiles, etc., as opposed to an artist painting on canvas. Fashion can never be abstract. It's purpose of existence is to be lived, to be worn, experienced, expressed and to be bold or chic to share the lives of those that wear it.

Since the mid 60's fashion creations so long associated with Haute Couture has evolved into a vibrant pret-a-port (french)  "ready-to-wear" fashions.  It is during this cross-over that French designer Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Oscar De La Renta,  Chanel, Christian Dior and other notables embraced the opportunity to market their designs to the masses. European designers understood that they needed to explore new horizons and boutiques opened up across the country independent of the coturre houses.  Handbags, wallets, scarves, belts and jewelry all became great sources of added wealth for these creators.

Once the door was opened to "pret-a-port" apparel the market quickly introduced an influx of "fashion creators" who were not from the world of haute couture but were both creative and talented in very different way of expression and theatre.  Haute couture designer clothes are immediately recognizable, they were individual pieces of art with its own language and inspiration.  Each telling its own story of afflulence definable by its wearer.

Yves Saint Laurent the first of many.  French Designer, YSL, ready to wear line was revolutionary in its time by introducing a ready made signature line that was once exclusive for a select few.  Fifty years later, the designer brands  continues to be even more popular than ever before growing into a  large and receptive global market who's appetites for artistic expression ravishly devour and embrace the latest hot trends to hit the market by some unknown new designer soon to be famous.   Yesterday, today or tomorrow,  Fashion is Art.  A moveable or portable art where the consumer is the canvas and in turn becomes the artist creating its own theatre and language of communication.


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