“To our mind the work of a fashion designer is so different from that of an artist! We usually work in a necessarily more collaborative manner. We present our work twice a year, using the same medium, respecting the same human form, within an industrial framework, using industrial means of production, and having our work translated through the chain of distribution for our work.” — Maison Martin Margiela, on why fashion is not an art form in the new Interview
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posted by catlovescoco
Aug 25, 2008 3:29PM
And that is why fashion today is dead.
As soon as the art was seperated. So sad.
Though designers like Yohji Yamamoto give me some hope, they are so so rare.
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posted by Holly
Aug 25, 2008 4:35PM
I'd wondered a while back about scoffing I'd received from some(not on this site) when I said that I thought fashion was an artform. To look at a design, be it on paper or on the runway, can evoke an emotional response, either good or bad. For me, art does the same thing.
Producing it may involve different processes, but the end result is similar.
To argue the commercialism point doesn't work for me either; isn't Art Basel gaining a following similar to Fashion Week?
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posted by guest
Aug 25, 2008 5:45PM
What Margiela is trying to point out is the separation between design and art. Design includes the aesthetics but also must take into account functionality ( a garment must somehow go on a human body and fulfill certain functions of fit, wearability, and cost).
Pure art differs from design and architecture in that it doesn't have to take considerations of function. Instead the artist thinks purely of aesthetic response. This does not debase design but instead acknowledges the role of function as part of the process and result of making clothing. The best designers merge these 2 concerns to make something truly extraordinary.
posted by xnoelle25
Aug 25, 2008 1:47PM
did maison martin forget design and creation? fashion is, first and foremost, about design, which is art.
and of course it uses about the same mediums. a painter uses canvas and oils to sell and distribute, right?