Is it a commercial routine for artists to be fashionable and designers to do art?

As important symbols and carriers of social culture, fashion and art have been learning from each other in expression for a long time. In the past century, it is not difficult to see artists' works appear in fashion works outside the gallery, or fashion designers give fashion a deeper social meaning through artistic genres and abstract concepts.

The fusion of art and fashion has long formed a new cultural language. A while ago, Japanese designer Jun Takahashi re-started as an artistic creator and held his first overseas solo exhibition in Hong Kong; British designer Samuel Ross entered the fashion industry as an artist and recently launched his second clothing brand SR_A, interpreting the integration of industrial aesthetics into street clothing.

It is no longer a new thing for artists' works to move from galleries to showcases and the fashion industry. Artists such as Keith Haring and Andy Warhol, who have been collected in major art museums all year round, have long been IP-based, and artists have achieved wider success through the rapid commercialization of fashion.

The two-way flow of art and fashion not only blurs the boundaries between the two, but also redefines the possibility of creation. Is the integration of the two identities an extension of one's job, a business routine, or a new form of expression? At that time, fashion became the carrier of art. How did designers balance niche with the masses, functionality and artisticity?

Is the blend of artist and designer identities redefine yourself or add value?

The boundary between art and fashion gradually melts, redefining the boundary of creation. As important carriers of culture, they are always learning from and integrating each other. Artists transform abstract ideas into wearable forms through fashion design, while designers draw inspiration from art and give fashion a deeper cultural connotation.

Japanese legendary designer Rei Kawakubo gives clothing a new design language through artistic expression and is one of the first creators in the industry to blur the boundaries of art and fashion. Many of Kawakubo's works have become archive-like existences in a context that transcends the times. In 2017, Rei Kawakubo exhibited fashion works from 1997 to 2017 at the Metropolitan Museum of America, and presented through dualistic research methods how the fashions she designed span time and space, not following design theory and becoming an art against being defined.

Rei Kawakubo also believes that “the essence of fashion is not art. You can sell individual art to individuals, but fashion reflects social and cultural phenomena in a series.” In her works, the value of expressing social and cultural is higher than the commercial value of art or fashion itself.

Good art and fashion works are inseparable from the thinking of creators and audiences, and the integration of methodologies among creators is also a necessary path for two-way flow. As early as the early 20th century, there was a theory that different artistic creation schools were cited to determine different fashion styles. Many fashion designers even used the artistic concept of “translation” of fashion design. The bold rebellion in Vivienne Westwood design has the shadow of East London rock music and photography art of the same period.

The “Design Language” left by Vigirl Abloh during his lifetime has overturned the inherent ideas in fashion design. For example, the most classic “3% theory” not only turns street cultures that once thought it was difficult to reach elegance, such as rap, skateboard, and graffiti into luxury fashion, subverting the high-end fashion industry's stereotypes about traditional genres and design languages.

We cannot be sure that art and fashion redefine each other, or who has higher social value, but the two are by no means one-way output and influence. In the process of fluid development, art and fashion have long become an organic symbiosis, so how do they add deeper social value to each other?

Can artists add higher social and commercial value to fashion?

In addition to being a representative symbol of personal style, fashion is also a carrier of designers' artistic expression. The common mission of fashion designers and artists is to bring cultural symbols into the lives of the masses. When art is integrated into fashion and fashion is artistic, how do we view the value brought to the industry by such symbols?

Artists often have two dimensions to get involved in the clothing industry – bringing art into daily life or giving commercial clothing deeper cultural value. Yayoi Kusama and Takashi Murakami are typical examples of artists' entry into fashion, and both have had long-term and far-reaching cooperation with Louis Vuitton. Kusama's iconic polka dot pattern not only gives Louis Vuitton a new design language, but also gives phenomenal empowerment in the design language of installation and retail space; Murakami Takashi Black and White Tricolor and Sunflower series, which replicates the cooperation after 20 years, not only once again raised the appreciation space of artists' works, but also became a major identity symbol for Louis Vuitton to reshape the brand's status in the art industry.

In a more niche market, artists use fashion as a carrier to express their artistic concepts in an all-round way in a scale closer to life. The posthumous works of Japanese artist Taiga Takahashi start from the archaeological perspective he has studied throughout his life, and study and present clothing that exists in the present or future. In addition to presenting works from curatorial and archaeological perspectives, he also combines natural elements such as mud dyeing and stone in the treatment of clothing design. Why does the fashion writers give art a higher humanistic value by personally experiencing the ideas expressed by the artist?

For fashion designers, the dual identity of both artists is also becoming a very popular trend. Rick Owens' clothing design is often regarded as a tribute to art in the industry. With a deep understanding of modern art, every show and installation complementary to ready-to-wear, and even sculptures in retail displays have become works of art. Pioneer, bold, controversial, perhaps these concepts that are not often accepted in fashion, have made Rick Owens' attractive contradictions a crazy magic for consumers.

The success of art in the fashion industry not only enhances the cultural value of the brand, but also creates huge commercial potential. This is also a great inspiration for the integration of designers and artists in the future.

Innovation, limitations and future of fashion art

If fashion art will be the mainstream trend in this industry, how can designers find a balance between artistic expression and the practicality of fashion? Challenges of functionality and commercialization will follow one after another, will consumers pay for the art premium?

The palace level of fashion designers is to complete the self-expression of artistic concepts while having both commercial reputation. Alexander McQueen and Martin Margiela are examples of artistic fashion. McQueen's fashion show is not only a costume display, but also a dramatic artistic performance; Martin Margiela makes good use of deconstructive design to transform clothing into art and symbolizes its design language. The iconic designs such as Tabi Boots and outer stitching also allow Maison Margiela to gain a large market share after losing Martin Margiela.

But overly artistic fashion is often difficult to digest in the mass market, and avant-garde and pioneering designs are difficult to pay for by the mainstream market, so they turn to art collections or are unsold discount stores. The challenges of fashion designers in the future will arise between balancing personal ideas and market demand. At the same time, the essence of fashion is usability, while art pays more attention to concept expression. How to find a balance between the two will also be an important issue facing designers.

And the commercial success of art and fashion is not always a win-win situation. Some fashion brands commercialize a large number of artists' works and occupy the market with low unit price. Although art has become more democratically involved in the public's daily life after leaving the gallery, it has also caused controversy over whether the value of art has been diluted. In the process of art becoming accessible through fashion, we also need to be wary of the erosion of artistic value by excessive commercialization.

At the same time, in the future, consumers will pay for the symbol premium of artistic fashions more individualistic. How can a fashion with artistic value transform art concepts into value consumers are willing to pay? When emotional value, appreciation space, and historical social memory become pain points, designers need to consider not only how to symbolize art, but may also have a deeper meaning.