The collaborations between fashion and art that have marked history
The relationship between art and fashion is a love affair that continues to the present day, nourished by stimuli and innovations.
In November 1967, the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin published a series of interviews entitled "Is Fashion Art?"
Fashion and Art have always influenced each other. Two different types of language with a common intent: expression. Certainly, there have been many daily occasions when one has come across wonderful works of art capable of conveying emotions that one could almost touch with one's hand, as if they were a physical sensation.
It can be said that fashion has often had the ability to make concrete the same abstract sensation previously aroused by a work of art, and, moreover, many works of art have actually ended up in fashion, giving the garments their own unique semiotic capabilities. In the history of fashion, there have been numerous collaborations between these two worlds. Many designers have allowed themselves to be inspired by artistic pieces that often deviated from their own concept of fashion, and for this very reason they have been able to create memorable collections in which art and fashion merged on fabric.
Dalì x Elsa Schiaparelli
The Organza Dinner Dress with Painted Lobster is probably one of the first collaborations between a fashion designer and an artist. Designed by Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí, this eccentric yet extremely elegant piece is the result of a fruitful collaboration between these two creative minds. Worn in 1937 by Wallis Simpson for a Vogue spread (advertisements developed its two pages), the dress is considered one of the most iconic garments of the era. Interestingly, the Lobster Dress was initially disliked by many, as the position of the crustacean on the skirt according to some gave the dress erotic connotations.
YSL and Van Gogh
For his Spring-Summer 1988 collection, Yves Saint Laurent paid tribute to Vincent Van Gogh by recreating his paintings Irises and Sunflowers on jackets embroidered by the Maison Lesage. The couturier created so many nuances and details in the flowers that each jacket required over six hundred hours of work, making them some of the most expensive pieces in the world.
YSL and Mondrian
Although we cannot speak of a true collaboration, but rather of inspiration - since the French designer, in homage to the artist, dedicated the Piet Mondrian collection to him - this example is certainly one of the most iconic examples of contamination between fashion and art. As the sack dress evolved in the 1960s into a modified form, the shift, Saint Laurent realized that the dress's planarity was an ideal field for color blocks. Yves Saint Laurent, in fact, inspired by the compositions of lines and colours of Mondrian's famous neo-plastic period, designed a collection of only six garments characterised by black lines and blocks of bright colours, which became the emblem of plasticity in haute couture.
Knowing the flat planes of the 1960s canvases achieved by contemporary artists in the lineage of Mondrian, Saint Laurent made the historical case for the artistic sensibility of his time. The international press was dazzled by Saint Laurent’s moving works of art. Diana Vreeland raved about them in the New York Times, deeming this “the best collection,” while Women’s Wear Daily called Saint Laurent the “king of Paris.”
Louis Vuitton and Koons
Considered the heir of Andy Warhol and the emblem of modern Pop Art, the American artist Jeff Koons embarked on a collaboration with the French fashion house Louis Vuitton to create a collection of bags and accessories. The artist, whose main themes in his art revolve around social denunciation of consumerism, has succeeded in creating a very special collection for the fashion house. In fact, original copies of works by Van Gogh, Titian, Fragonard, Leonardo Da Vinci and Rubens have been reproduced on Vuitton's iconic bags.
The Speedy, Neverfull and Keepall bags become canvases on which works by Masters are transposed, including Nymphaeus by Claude Monet, Ancient Rome: Agrippina with the Ashes of Germanicus by Joseph William Turner, Reclining Girl by François Boucher, Te Nave Nave Fenua (Delightful Land) by Paul Gauguin and Luncheon on the Grass by Edouard Manet.
