Fashion is Art

Sketches by such designers as Karl Lagerfeld and Valentino are obviously art and I’m particularly fascinated by the ease, with which they make them, but I think even the pattern making and the cutting and sewing of the clothes is an art form just as immense. My new obsession is watching fashion documentaries on the Sundance Film Channel. It was inspiring to see the blood and sweat put into each garment by the seamstresses. When they were watching their piece worn down the couture catwalk it seemed as if the clothes were their children. Every season designers hopefully come up with something new, possibly different. They keep up with the times and maybe even try to reinterpret different ideas into their collections. Sometimes designers are inspired by other artists. For instance a painting might inspire the print or color of a dress. During a recent trip to LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) we viewed works by John Baldessari and Andy Warhol which reminded me of my buried magazines and books. In my copy of the November 2007 issue of W there is a spread by Baldessari in collaboration with Mario Serrenti. And in a book, Fashion: A History from the 18th to the 20th Century by Taschen, there is a photo of the “Souper Dress” containing a print of the Andy Warhol “Campbell’s Soup” motif. My trip had a lot of oh yeah moments. Big thanx to Professor Bendoni and Mr. Glazer.











Images from: Harper's Bazaar/ W/ Artwear: Fashion and Anti-Fashion