Andy Warhol's work at Bonwit Teller

Tom Ford once said: ‘As a fashion designer, I was always aware that I was not an artist because I was creating something that was made to be sold, marketed, used, and ultimately, discarded.’ But there are plenty of fashion designers who do regard themselves as artists.  Fashion and art have had a symbiotic relationship for many years, influencing each other in so many ways that it can be hard to draw a line between them.  We are aware of what people wore 300 years ago because of the exquisite paintings by Hogarth, Reynolds and their contemporaries.  Now fashion is documented through fashion photography, which can sit just as comfortably in art galleries as it can in fashion magazines.

Fashion and art really started to merge in the sixties.  In 1961, Andy Warhol’s pop art was used for window displays in the high end US department store Bonwit Teller. Now, more than ever, fashion store window displays are an artistic statement.  If there is any evidence that fashion is art, Warhol is it.  Starting his career as an illustrator for fashion companies and magazines such as Mademoiselle, he reinvented himself as a fashion designer and music impresario in the sixties.  He became friends with fashion editor Diana Vreeland and in 1969, launched his experimental style magazine, Interview. Warhol’s pop art prints have been spotted on many clothes and have influenced countless more.

The visible influence of art can be seen in many collections.  One of my favourite collections of all time is the Prada S/S 08 collection.  The dreamy world of fairies and mermaids, use of curved paint brush strokes and deep tones screams Art Nouveau.  Miuccia Prada had developed an underlying narrative; a young girl full of fairy dreams grows up into a dark natured adolescent.  It was this narrative which could be seen on the famed Prada fairy bag from the same collection; an accessory I would love to get my hands on one day.

Designer of the moment, Holly Fulton, admits to a great admiration for Art Deco, Bauhaus and cubist art, all of which can be clearly seen to influence her geometric-tastic designs. The Royal College of Art graduate has been showing in London since 2009 with her first collection a graphic homage to Art Deco. She is hugely influenced by architecture, her collections including vivid images of the New York skyline.

These are examples of how art has influenced fashion but let’s go back to the original question, can fashion be art.  People (mainly from outside the fashion world I have to add) can look at a catwalk show and ridicule it for its, well, ridiculousness.  It may be that it’s a couture show, or the finale of an all together more wearable collection, but it can’t be denied that there’s no shortage of bizarre fashion.  What is this then, if not an artistic creation? Indeed show stopping pieces can catch the media’s attention, make front page news, or be used for advertising imagery. They are not supposed to be worn when walking down to Tesco.

Young designer Gareth Pugh was described by Style.com as being the ‘latest addition in a long tradition of fashion-as-performance-art’.  The British designer, now living in Paris, began working as a costume designer for the National Youth Theatre aged just 14. Kylie Minogue, Beyonce and Lady Gaga have all worn Pugh’s elaborate creations.  He likes to experiment with form, exaggerating limbs and distorting the body almost beyond recognition.

Fashion meets art at Gareth Pugh

The latest catwalk collections from the fashion capitals show more restraint.  Nonetheless, colour blocking, floral patterns and graphic prints can all be traced back to artful influences.  With a never ending stream of new designers hoping to get noticed, the outrageous fashion as art collections will surely continue to come through.

John Galliano may have been making headlines for his anti-Semitic remarks but at the helm of the world famous fashion house, Galliano was regarded by many to be a genius.  Since Dior’s ‘New Look’ in the fifties, the label has never been anywhere but at the forefront of modern fashion.  Since 1997 John Galliano has designed for Dior, as well as his namesake label. Christian Dior couture shows have always been a theatrical affair, with metres of fabric and doll like models.

The AW10 couture show displayed the influence of the work of artist Georgia O’Keeffe, with her abstract floral feminine paintings.  In fact, the last few Dior couture shows have been tame compared to what went before them as armour clad warriors, geishas dressed as snow queens and an outlandishly angelic Lily Cole took to the runway.  Dior will live on without Galliano just as it did before his appointment, but it seems unlikely that we’ve seen the last of him.

In the right hands, every label has longevity.  Nowhere is this more evident than at Alexander McQueen, where the promotion of Sarah Burton has proved a great success.  And McQueen’s poignant last (unfinished) collection for AW10 had Vogue describing it as something which could have been ‘created as a museum piece in homage to him.’  The pieces could have come straight out of a Byzantine painting with their religious references, opulent gold and vintage brocades.  McQueen could be relied on to bring drama and extravagance to the catwalk: a true artist.  And like every great artist, a retrospective exhibition ‘Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty’ opens at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on 4^th May, showcasing 100 examples of McQueen’s work.