The Relationship Between the Fashion Industry and the Art Market
The relationship between the fashion industry and the art market nowadays is difficult to ascertain. But after doing in-depth investigation, academics in these two sectors discovered a significant relationship between the fashion and art industries. According to evidence from in-depth research, there is a complex but understandable relationship between the fashion and art industries. The academics who conducted the research found that fashion and art have a close relationship that has developed along with each discipline's growth. Evidently, there are common assumptions, beliefs, and concepts between fashion and art. According to Cutler and Tomasello, the fashion industry and the art market share aspects, such as aesthetics, structure, and form. Additionally, they are both disposed to the constant change in societal habits, tastes, preference, and style. Even though the fashion and art industry have proven to be connected, most people in the society still view these two as separate entities. This view can be attributed to the tendency of the economic community to market fashion and art separately. In addition, modern markets separate the fashion market from the art industry in a bid to simplify economic quantification of both activities. It is this view of fashion and art that separates the two. This essay seeks to make analogies between the fashion and the art industry. Hence, it discusses some of the similarities and differences between these two disciplines, while highlighting the value of each to the other.
Historical View of the Art Market and Fashion Industry
Prior to the twentieth century, art was deemed as an exclusive economic activity without any ties to the fashion industry. Art dates back to the caveman days when humans started painting on walls of caves. The artistic activities were not only limited to paintings, but also other aesthetically pleasing visual forms such as statues. During the early years, art was created for communication reasons, to express ideas, emotions, or provide a general view of the surrounding environment. However, as time elapsed and trade developed, humans realized the value of art and the consumption habits changed. Artists began gaining other benefits, besides visual satisfaction, from their work. Many traded their visual arts for other commodities, such as clothes, food, gold, and silver. Eventually, after the advent of money, artists began gaining monetary rewards for their efforts. Spaenjers, Goetzman, and Mamonova asserted that since 1701 art has been sold at exorbitant prices, with artistic pieces, such as the Dou's Interior with Woman and Child, Hal's Portrait of a Woman, and Van Gogh's Sunflowers, selling for £320, £28,259, and 24,750,000 respectively. Today, the art activities are part of a multibillion-dollar industry, as the demand for the different forms of visual arts has increased.
On the other hand, fashion originates back to the early days when human needed to cover nudity and protect themselves from the elements, such as the cold and extreme heat. During this time, clothes were not viewed as fashion accessories. Instead, they were deemed as basic survival tools, especially for people in cold areas. However, as the society advanced, humans commenced trading in clothes made of animal hides, fur, and woven fibers. As societies enhanced their cloth-making skills, people from different regions of the world began designing different attires for trading purposes. Consequently, the consumption habits changed and people started viewing clothes as more than necessities. Clothes and other apparels became fashion accessories, as well as tools for determining the social status of an individual. Currently, the fashion industry has developed into a mammoth economic activity that supports many economies and individuals.
The Crossover between Fashion and Art Industry
Even though early intellectuals had indicated that a relationship between art and fashion markets, most of them deemed fashion as an inferior form of art. However, in the twentieth century, the relationship between art and fashion flourished as scholars gained a better understanding of both disciplines and how they were connected. Geczy and Karaminas stated that in the twentieth-century scholars began realizing that the perception of art as an inferior form of art was frivolous and inaccurate. Even though at the time art had a more popular appeal, intellectuals realized that fashion was also embedded with artistic motifs among other social constructs that defined art. With this in mind, different scholars started studying art and fashion to determine how the two were linked.
Evidence from the research that followed showed that both art and fashion markets have many shared attributes. To commence, it was apparent that fashion was dependent on art. However, while fashion's dependence on art was clear, scholars believe that fashion is an extension of art rather than an inferior form of art. The dependence of fashion on art is seen during design. Fashion creators and developers have to create a design of the cloth. According to Gersak, designing fashion requires one to create an artistic sketch of the cloth or apparel that he wants to create. This is accompanied by making adding other details such as color and patterns to the initial sketch. Finally, the developer uses the sketch to develop the cloth or apparel. The process of designing a cloth from scratch and developing the sketch is a form of visual art. Artists such as painters and sculptors also utilize this procedure before developing their visual arts. Hence, the first connection between the art and fashion market can be found in the design phase. Both have similar processes, as shown in the images in Appendix 1.
Besides sharing similar processes, the fashion and art industry also share similar influence in the market. Experts in both industries believe that fashion and art are designed to elicit feelings. This is achieved with the help of colors, sounds, and movement. Fashion designers often express and attempt to influence feelings through fashion shows. Here the designers hire professional models, whose purpose is to display the different designs. In the HSS website, the author averred that fashion shows are more than platforms for designers to showcase their fashion designs. Instead, they represent a chance for fashion designers to show off the aesthetic, mood, view, and feel in relation to the design.
In the contemporary society, some scholars view fashion shows as a form of art in their own accord. These scholars regard fashion shows as exclusive events that have their own aesthetic value. The neutrality of this view is in the sense that the scholars do not look at the prestige or status of the fashion show but rather the aesthetics and feelings that each show attempts to evoke. Similarly, the art market utilizes art galleries to display, as well as portray specific feelings. Bearing this in mind, scholars believe that the fashion and art industry are used to define the bond between the external environment and human thoughts as well as understanding of aesthetics.
Scholarly Perception of Fashion and Art Industry
The twentieth century became the cradle in which the fashion and art industry were first recognized as mutually dependent industries. Many designers, who understood the provocative value of garments in developing an identity and establishing a brand, started marketing fashion in the same way that art was marketed. As more designers adopted this strategy, the wearers of the garments also began seeing the value of clothes from an artistic point of view. For example, the leader of De Stijl movement commenced wearing black suits in conjunction with white socks to show the negative of day-to-day dress. The continued association between art and fashion prompted designers further into creating artistic garments. The majority of these designers commenced portraying themselves as artistic savants in a bid to be elevated to the prestigious status afforded to creators of fine arts. Hence, the interconnection between the fashion and art markets was established.
In the contemporary society, fashion designers have continued to push on in a bid to establish a clear relationship between fashion and art. Among the strategies used is the practice of deriving inspiration of artistic images such as paintings, buildings, and statues. For instance, Appendix 2 shows an image of a dress, which derives inspiration from Mondrian art. Both the modern fashion and art industry have also evolved significantly to the extent that they utilize technology to ensure faster production. For instance, the notion of digital painting in the art industry has gained prominence and many modern artists are utilizing digital tools, such as Photoshop to create portraits. Similarly, the fashion industry has been forced to adopt technology. Modern software and equipment, such as Photoshop and 3D printers are currently being used in the industry to enhance productivity. Appendix 3 shows how technology has revolutionized both the art and fashion industry.
Fashion Designers Views of Fashion and Art Industries
Even though most scholars believe that the fashion and art market have evolved parallel to one another and they are interconnected, modern sculptor Nevelson Louise was of the opinion that fashion is not an art. According to Louise for fashion to be qualified as an art form, it must be an expression of the wearer and it has to reflect his or her environment. She argued that the contemporary society affords a lot of attention to the designer in a bid to show that fashion is an art. However, Louise dismisses the notion that fashion is the designer's idea. In her argument, she stated that most people identified women in an art opening by the person who designed their clothes. This, however, is wrong because it negates the existence of the wearers and reduces them to labels. For this reason, Louise stated that fashion was not an art. This is because she believed that for fashion to be considered art the wearer has to part of the design, which elicits feelings and shows the beauty of the garments.
On the other hand, Norman Norrell, a renowned American fashion designer, failed to indicate whether fashion was an art or not. Norrell asserted that it was difficult to determine whether fashion was historically a form of art without having lived in a specific period. In addition to this, Nora indicated that stitching and intricate details in fashion could no longer be viewed as art because it can currently be done by anybody. However, the designer believed that despite the simplicity of modern fashion, elegance and quality should count for something. In her opinion, quality makes people look good and that is the essential aspect of fashion.
Conclusion
Even though the fashion and art industry are both distinct economic activities, they two industries are related and share many aspects. To commence with, both the fashion and art industry depend on the aesthetics, as well as the ability to evoke and communicate feelings. Scholars are of the opinion that fashion and art also share some processes, such as sketching, which is the first step of design before the artist or fashion designers can come up with the final product. The fashion and art industry have evolved parallel to one another to the extent that they currently share some technological tools such as designing software. Even though there are many similarities between the two industries, intellects still find differences between fashion and art. For this reason, it is imperative that readers find their own definition that identifies the independence as well as the shared aspects of fashion and art markets.
Bibliography
Cutler, E, P and Jullien Tomasello. Art + Fashion: Collaborations and Connections Between Icons. San Francisco: Chronicle Books LLC, 2015.
Geczy, Adam and Vicki Karaminas. Fashion and Art. London: Berg, 2013.
Gersak, Jelka. Design of Clothing Manufacturing Processes: A Systematic Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Control. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing, 2013.
HSS. ‘What Is The Purpose Of A Fashion Show?’ He Spoke Style July 2016. 6 June 2017.
Jstor. “Is Fashion an Art: Norman Norell, Louise Nevelson, Irene Sharaff, Alwin Nikolais, Andre Courreges.” 2016. www.metmuseum.org. 6 June 2017.
Spaenjers, Christophe, William, N Goetzman and Elena Mamonova. “The economics of aesthetics and record prices for art since 1701.” Explorations in Economic History 57 (2015): 79-94.
Staples, Kathleen, A and Madelyn C Shaw. Clothing Through American History: The British Colonial Era. Santa Barbara: Greenwood, 2013.
Wilhelm, Georg and Friedrich Hegel. The Introduction to Hegel’s Philosophy of Fine Art. Charleston: BiblioBazaar, 2016.
Appendix 1
The figure on the left shows a fashion designer’s sketch of a dress while the figure on the right shows an artist’s sketch of a portrait.
Appendix 2
Image showing influence of Mondrian art on Fashion
Appendix 3
Image 1 showing 3D printed garment and image 2 on the right shows a digital painting
