One of the
recurring themes in my research is the lack of academic writing on the current
fashion scene. If you want to review costume history, you might be able to find
something from the 1960s or earlier, but anything newer than that seems to be
covered mostly in newspaper fashion reviews. Even the Library of Congress directed
me to Women’s Wear Daily, the industry standard. The Artstor database is not
accessible, nor is JStor, nor is Ebsco (referred to me by my fashion professor
who looked at me funny when I asked her for academic resources for fashion). I
just read my last free article on the New York Times website. Where’s a fashion
researcher to turn?
Fortunately the internet is full of primary sources in the form of designers and their own websites, many of which track their own design process and even post their inspiration boards. The whole idea of finding inspiring images, collecting them, and creating a design off of them seems to be pretty standard in the fashion industry. The question of the impact of fine art on designers is actually missing the point a bit, because all designers seem to use visual inspiration, regardless of its pedigree.
I did
however find a beautiful interpretation of a painting by Georgia O’Keeffe, by
an emerging designer named Jessie Jie Liu. Here is an image that chronicles her
process, from painting to sketch to final runway design:
 |
| Designer Jessie Jie Liu's inspiration board for her Georgia O'Keeffe inspired dress. |
The rest of
her page is great and I can see that she has often turned to fine artists for
her inspiration, including the Cubists, which she has turned into quite a
strikingly shaped jacket design. I love that her page really shows the design
process at work.
The New York Times asked 100 designers to sum up their current collections in one image, which you can see in this slideshow. Some of them give obvious clues to the process, and others are quite obscure, but I find the range of inspirations fascinating. Clearly these designers see art in so many places, not just in museums!
It makes sense that designers would take their inspiration from visual sources--but what about non-visual sources? I'm still curious to see how music, current events, and other more ephemeral elements inform the design process.
Post script: I have found an article in the Atlantic Monthly that gives more detail on the process of developing a collection from inspiration boards. The designers talk in depth about it, even mentioning details about how they bookended their show with red dresses in honor of Dorothy's ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz. I'm a bit curious how they balance the need to create a coherent collection with remaining true to their inspirations--do the red dresses fit in with the rest of the collection or do they feel a bit awkward? It would be interesting to read some reviews about the show.
I feel you on the New York Times article limit. When this happens to me, I start using campus computers!
ReplyDeleteBeyond NYT, there are also other credible magazines and newspapers such as The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Time magazine, Harper's, etc. Some of these will be available through the EBSCO database on D2L.
I like seeing all the different designs of dressing and other clothing items. I like the video as well, it was fun to see all the different hair styles and the clothing styles as well. David Bowie had all kinds of outfits throughout his career. If you had to pick out one of his outfits what would you choose?
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