What’s in fashion? The Fashion Art Dichotomy, Copying and the Design Practice of Referencing

“Today, under the postmodern rubric of ''referencing,'' copying flourishes so openly that nobody bothers to question it.” -  Fashion Critic Cathy Horyn

"Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only; fashion is something in the air… you feel it, you smell it. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, [and] what is happening [now]. " - Coco Chanel

To the left Céline SS|2014 and to the right Primark SS2014

I thought it quite fitting to preface today’s blog with two quotes on fashion that help ground my discussion on the distinction between trends and design copying. Last week, I came came across the above top and skirt from Primark [right] with oversized artistic brush strokes and Brassai Graffti references that bears a shockingly similar resemblance to the one seen [left] on the Celine SS14 catwalk during Paris Fashion Week.

As a researcher that looks into the business and culture of fashion and intellectual property I came across a very similar top whilst in Zara London last week.

Celine SS14 [left] v Zara SS14 [right]

This got me thinking about the relationship between intellectual property and fashion again, but particularly raises the question of the distinction between close copying on one hand and participation in common trends on the other hand. Goods that are part of the same trend are not necessarily close copies. Rather, they may be efforts to meet the need of consumers for differentiation.

The trend for this SS14 Spring/Summer 2014 runway collection certainly seems to be seems to be ‘playing to the gallery.’ This season the hottest prints are inspired by art, from Chanel, to Prada to Jensen. The catwalk designers this season seem to have brought about a revival of the expressive art movements of the 1900's; cubism, surrealism and fauvism. Picasso (Cubism), Andre Derain (Fauvism) and Salvador Dali (Surrealism). The abstract portraits stretch the boundaries of printed fashion. The fashion referencing of these movements has trickled down and taken hold both on the streets and with the fashion elites.

Prada’s 2014 collection saw and ode to Pop Art, we saw elements of early twentieth-century art styling’s of Picasso and Mondrian in the prints for Alexander McQueen spring 2014

Prada's street-art designs for SS14. Photograph: Giuseppe Cacace

As researcher of fashion art history, culture & intellectual property the emergence of this trend is extremely fascinating for me, and I find it particularly interesting to see the artist references into the trajectory of culture for the fashion prints we see springing up on the runway. It also raises that oft debated question of ‘fashion as art.’ Although many fashion designers will deny that fashion is art. (Prada, Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, Coco Chanel). As Lagerfeld told the New York Times in 2008, “Art is art. Fashion is fashion. However, Andy Warhol proved that they can exist together.” The current trends highlight where fashion and art meet. Fashion does not merely translate the functional, it goes beyond this. It is a creative practice that involves thought, imagination, and often pushes the traditional boundaries of design, both in terms of materials and also aesthetics. Clearly here, just like art, these prints would be protected by copyright, if commercially reproduced.

In terms of the way fashion influences art, and art influences fashion Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's illustrations below take clear inspiration from Matisse's bold, fluid outlines and the cubist nature of Picasso's portraits with disjointed and disproportionate facial features.

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's Spring/Summer 2014 collection.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).

Henry Matisse (1869-1954).

Zara SS2014 seems to have also caught onto the Zeitgeist. This is another one of the dressed I saw in Zara whilst browsing last week. 

Interestingly too, many of the editorials capture the Zeitgeist of this trend, aside from the runway collections; surrealism also seems to have been making an appearance in fashion photography. With magazine editorials depicting drawn on facial features, Graffiti, and art in action, seems to be a classic example of art imitating life, and life imitating art.

'Lister's Lady' Janice Alida by Emma Summerton for Vogue Australia March 2014 [Editorial]

by Richard Burbridge for Harper’s Bazaar US March 2014 Issue

‘Wild at Heart’ by Richard Burbridge for Harper’s Bazaar US March 2014 Issue