Fashion As Art

There's a saying that in fashion, "anything goes.” Season after season, designers push the envelope with each collection that comes down the runway. While to the average person it may seem pointless, fashion enthusiasts consider each piece a work of art in itself. With that being said, the largly debated question comes to mind: is fashion art?

In his recent article TIME Magazine, Jeff Chu explains that though fashion and art can co-exsist they will never coinside. He declares:

Emulation, of course, is the greatest form of admiration, and fashion loves art. Design houses these days are giving artists new canvases (or cottons or leathers) to work on and making them fashion stars. Museums are devoting exhibitions to the craft and its craftsmen, sometimes looking at fashion alone, sometimes juxtaposing it with art. It hasn't always been this way, but the dialogue between the two worlds is stronger than ever. This interaction creates debate and friction; in these creative realms, that's a good thing. But while fashion may be artsy, artistic, artful, enjoying an
art-infused moment and even (gasp!) influential in certain art circles, it's
not art.

Chu explains that there are plenty of museams that merge the two worlds but still believes they should not both be catagorized as forms of art. He justifies this position by asking the age old question "what is art?" and a new inquiry of what fashion has that art does not. His conclusion: fashion has function and art does not. Chu believes that this is the sole reason it would be wrong to consider fashion as art.

It is merely a matter of opinion to look at art as functionless, as some is interactive and can be used in daily life. Some fashion, on the other hand, is avant-garde and merely created to be pleasing to the eye or express an aesthetic. Clearly, you will not find an ordinary white t-shirt in an art gallery, but there are elements and pieces of fashion that can be considered artistic. It's all a matter of preference, and it's safe to say that art is in the eye of the beholder.