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The line between fashion and art can be blurry, however, there’s no mistaking that fine art and fashion design have significantly influenced each other over the last several centuries. There are the literal recreations, such as Yves Saint Laurent’s Mondrian dress in 1965 or Phoebe Philo’s spring/summer 2017 collectsion for Céline, showcasing garments printed with Yves Klein’s signature blue paint. And there are subtler representations, hinting to bygone artists and artistic periods, such as Julia Heuer’s nod to Expressionism or Collina Strada’s Rothko-esque take on tie dye patterns. The relationship between fashion and art doesn’t stop there—haute couture and traditional artisanship are classical arts in their own right. We’ve highlighted some favorite periods, artists, and crafts for your own wardrobe masterpiece.
Take a step back in time to celebrate grand collars and sleeves, corset styles, and intricate jewels—the pieces familiar to portraiture of Italian nobility from the era of rebirth and abundance. Rich colors in burgundy, persimmon, and amber rule the day, as do luscious fabrics, like brocade and velvet. The Florentines, for example, took their fashion seriously, with sophisticated guilds in place that controlled the quality of fine materials. We get a glimpse of these precious garments through the portraiture of Leonardo da Vinci, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Piero della Francesca, to name a few of the greats.
Melting color blocks in lilac, magenta, and ochre recall the American artist’s famous abstract “multiforms” of the late 1940s. Mark Rothko encouraged an intimate experience with his large-format paintings, and believed that small artworks would alienate himself and observers from his work. Take note with tie-dye prints from Collina Strada and SEA NY, and feel at home in these substantial harmonious splashes of color.
Julia Heuer dazzles us with her handmade plisse pleats boasting mixed prints and sensuous colors that change with even the slightest movement of the wearer, revealing new perspectives on her designs. This characteristic recalls Expressionist art of the 20th century—images that are intentionally distorted to express strong feelings or ideas through color and shape.
Famous for his awe-inspiring installations of colorful glass sculpture, the Seattle-native celebrates asymmetry and irregularity through remarkable use of gravity and centrifugal force, letting molten glass find its shape organically. We see this sentiment expressed in the jewelry designs of Alexa de la Cruz, Maryam Nassir Zadeh, and Jane D'Arensbourg, designers who likewise use glass as a primary medium.
Haute couture—the French-protected denomination for intricate, high-quality, and made-to-measure clothing, done completely by hand—is an art in itself. Although the future of haute couture is uncertain, we celebrate designers globally who honor the time-sensitive crafts of crochet, lace-making, and embroidery and who work closely with handmade production, preserving centuries-old traditions of artisanship.
Phoebe Philo, former creative director of Céline, famously celebrated the French artist Yves Klein in her spring/summer 2017 collectsion with white dresses printed with blue body paint in the style of Anthropometry of the Blue Period. Our Klein look this season is subtler—pair cobalt and ultramarine pieces with stark white separates or with bleached indigo jeans.
