Abstract

This paper is an to explore the concept of fashion designing as an art in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on should fashion designers be considered as artists. The research also analyzes the various reasons why the fashion designers are not considered as artists.

Fashion Designing

Introduction

For years the debate over whether fashion should be seen as art has raged on. Designers argue that fashion is a form of artistic expression and has important historical value. Artists believe that fashion is too mass market; that it is unimportant. The paper discusses the various reasons why the fashion designers are not considered as artists.

Thesis Statement

Fashion Designing is in an evolving stage and yet to be recognized as an art; thus fashion designers cannot be called artists.

Discussion

Until the last quarter of the 20th century, there was a clear boundary between fashion and the fine arts. With few exceptions fashion designers rarely saw themselves in the role of the artist. They aligned themselves more closely with creators in the applied arts, and associated their work with craft and artisanal traditions. There were exceptions. The most notable was Paul Poiret who felt all the skills required to create an exceptional dress were those of a painter, sculptor, and musician. Even as, his collections fell out of fashionability in the 1920s, critics conceded that his distinction resided in his artistic approach to design (Poiret, pp. 15-43). The American mid-century designer, Charles James, who won a Guggenheim Fellowship, always promoted his work as equal to the other arts. Certainly, designers from Charles Frederick Worth, whose personal style projected Rembrant-esque bohemianism, onward, have seen the advantage that a “high art” association might have on their design house. This is especially notable in collaborations between fashion houses and contemporary artists (Poiret/Dufy, Schiaparelli/Dali, Tracey Emin/Longchamp, Louis Vuitton/Takashi Murakami, and Miyake/Cai Guo-Qiang) (Cerimedo, pp. 120-126).

As early as Duchamp and post-Warhol, the traditional parameters of what constitutes an artwork had begun to erode or, rather, expand. This benefited fashion. The further blurring of the boundaries between art and fashion has occurred relatively recently. When contemporary artists as diverse in their practice as Cindy Sherman, Judith Shea, Joseph Beuys, Barbara Kruger, Jim Dine, and Richard Prince, all cite concepts and imagery related to apparel and the fashion system, fashion began to be seen as a subject for serious intellectual consideration . Designers, especially those that presented works on the runway intended to convey compelling ideas and themes, rather than more quotidian commercial works, began to be seen in the wider context of art production.

In the year 1962, Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) was founded to get fashion designing widely accepted and acknowledged as culture and art. In the next year, 1963, a bill to form a National Arts Foundation and National Council of the Arts was presented before Congress and, in a bit of a coup, fashion design was among the list of major fields that compromised what would be considered art. Even as the nation's capital ...