Contemporary Fashion constantly explores new horizons on the finite ways of expression spanning across various areas of art and displays experimental tendencies that transcend conventional expressions and abstract sense of aesthetics. In particular, i...
Contemporary Fashion constantly explores new horizons on the finite ways of expression spanning across various areas of art and displays experimental tendencies that transcend conventional expressions and abstract sense of aesthetics. In particular, it stresses the artistic sense embedded in the art work itself rather than the functionality of clothes or fashion trends, and focuses more on the fact that fashion is putting more meaning and weight on the process of embodying the symbolic value and concept rather than on the finished output.
This paper aims to discover that such characteristics of the fashion industry can also be found in Conceptual Art of the contemporary era and seeks to study that same idea by applying the formative characteristics of Conceptual Art as the parameters to analyze fashion. Hence, the fashion area having the traits of Conceptual Art shall be referred to as “Conceptual Fashion.” The formative traits and embedded beauty of form of Conceptual Fashion will be analyzed to establish its definitions, rules and also its theoretic basis as a new fashion area.
Conceptual Art, to materialize its concepts and ideas, sought after various ways of expression and the extension of meaning as a technique as opposed to conventional art forms. The formative traits can be categorized by the following modes of expression:
Firstly, the combination of medium places the ready-made, the found object and the dematerialized object within a context, asks questions and facilitates the viewers to grasp the meaning.
Secondly, the extension of space resets the link between a physical environment and the artwork by ways of one-off installations or actions for a limited period within a specific place such as an alternative space, a construction of a similar environment or a coupling of environment and space.
Thirdly, metaphor and appropriation analyze the meaning of a prescribed word and are tools to explore the fundamental meaning of art through the relationship with the object, here the subject of language. Irony, paradox, parody, implicitness and mixed imitation are methods used to criticize customs and institutions, and to hint at socio-political events.
Lastly, process and sequence shed light on the form of a series - consisting of narrations, data, sequential arrangement and repetition - and also expose the structural change of matter based on the biological system and with scientific experiments. Moreover performance and happenings, both using the body and actions, are used to focus on the unpredictable outcome that change with time and provide a fresh aesthetic experience of pulling everyday life into the area of art.
Such traits of Conceptual Art were the foundation of the framework of parameters applied to Conceptual Fashion to show that it, unlike forms of art, needs to consider the body and the space around it, is expressed by planning and implementing collections, and bears more aesthetic experience and the element of participation than Conceptual Art as the core function of Conceptual Fashion is wearability.
The analysis on the formative characteristics of Conceptual Fashion revealed several interesting points:
The combination of medium dismantles the structure of clothes, rearranges its components and even adds foreign objects to overthrow the original function. Such integration of genre and the widened spectrum of materials - encompassing organic and inorganic matter, natural elements, machines and intangible images - are the evidence of extension.
The extension of space sets a fluid relationship with the space between the body and fabric, even within the fabric, and also between the outfit and its surroundings. The extension forms an open structure by introducing unusual circumstances and everyday life into the scene.
Metaphor and appropriation make us focus on the differences and change of meaning created by the imbalance between the internal meaning and the external form shown with irony, implication, satire and critique; the two also manifest a new value of beauty by altering the image or juxtaposing conflicting elements.
Process and sequence converges time, space and area by introducing everyday life and theatrical spices as a narrative form based on flow of time and coincidence. Hence more meaning is placed on the experience and the process of change triggered by the participation of the viewers.
Such formative characteristic analysis reveals that Conceptual Fashion changes the form of the clothes and combines medium; the purpose of converging time, space and area is to break free from conventional customs, thereby exploring new possibilities of forms of clothes and the value of beauty. Moreover, Conceptual Fashion uses animals and plants as materials and artificially creates natural circumstances to remind us the interdependency of humans and the environment so as to trigger more attention to the environment.
The dramatic performance where reality coexists with illusions urges the participation of the audience, narrows the gap between the subject and the object. It also encourages internal communication with theatrical circumstances fueled by coincidence and spontaneous changes to emphasize the importance of communication. The combined usage of virtual reality - brought by the damaged and suppressed body, hidden faces, the repetition of copied images, discovered objects and computer programs - refer to the generation gap in the modern society and the isolated self, and at the same time exhibits the concern on the violence brought by the anonymity of virtual space and standardization by the banality of fashion.
Additionally, the act of exposing the process of intentionally destroying, or completing and terminating clothes, and also combining the collapsed urban environment and unusual circumstances with a blend of castaway articles and used products to show the embedded will firstly reminds us of the importance of original form and essence and secondly rehighlight personal history and everyday life by implicitly unveiling the demise of originality.
Through such discussions and analysis, Conceptual Fashion is confirmed to be an innovative area which adopted invisible elements to lay more value on concept and meaning, and to embody ironic possibilities; the characteristics noticed were time, coincidence, space and flexibility. Furthermore, as a newly arising area of fashion relating to intellectual thinking and the ordinary, participation and interactivity worked as crucial elements for Conceptual Fashion to explore the mutual communication in the relationship between ‘difference’ which defies being common and ‘environment.’ Therefore Conceptual Fashion brings about change to the perception of fashion and the standard of beauty by putting more weight on intention and process.
With such prominent characteristics, Conceptual Fashion would be accepted as a new way of creating fashion in an artistic manner and would transform into a new method to represent socio-cultural phenomena, thereby playing a pivotal role linking art and industry.