CategoriesArtistic Disciplines
Fashion Design and Wearable Art
Clothing and accessories as design and art, from Paris couture and ready-to-wear to garments that artists make to be worn in performance.
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About
Modern couture is usually traced to Charles Frederick Worth, an Englishman in Paris who from 1858 sold gowns under his own name and showed them on live models. Paul Poiret dropped the corset around 1906 and hired the painter Raoul Dufy to design fabrics, while Gabrielle Chanel made jersey suits and the simple black dress into modern uniforms. Elsa Schiaparelli worked with Salvador Dalí on a white gown printed with a lobster (1937). Christian Dior's New Look of 1947 restored the full skirt, and Yves Saint Laurent quoted Mondrian in a 1965 shift dress. Roger Vivier shaped the modern stiletto heel.
Later designers treated clothing as sculpture and argument, from Alexander McQueen's theatrical shows to Rei Kawakubo's lumpy, deconstructed forms. Artists have also made garments to be worn: Sonia Delaunay's patchwork "simultaneous" dresses of 1913, Rebecca Horn's feathered body extensions and Nick Cave's noisy, all-covering Soundsuits.
