Literal Interpretations vs. Genuine Inspiration

When it comes to artists inspiring fashion designers, there does not seem to be much written in academic journals. Most of what I’ve seen discussing designers and their inspirations is more current and straight out of the reviews. I did find a few interesting tidbits which will give me enough material to investigate the difference between literal interpretation and genuine inspiration.

The first (useful) article I found is 5 Famous Artists Who Influenced Fashion Designers. Scrolling through the pictures I found what I would call literal interpretations. The Versace pieces that take after Andy Warhol’s Marilyn pictures are literally just screenprinted with the same image. There is not much of the designer’s own filter showing up there. It would be hard to create anything inspired more literally than that. The same goes for Rodarte’s Starry Night dress. That one doesn’t even attempt to have the shape of the dress match the mood of the painting—it pretty literally just uses fabric with the painting printed on it, once again. At least Yves St. Laurent made something new and compelling out of his Mondrian painting—the dress stands on its own and creates a new fashion aesthetic—though it is still quite literal in its interpretation. Dali’s lobster dress never quite makes it past being a dress with a picture of a lobster on it.

Contrast those designs with some by master couturier John Galliano, who has designed for both Givenchy and Christian Dior. He works with his inspirations in an entirely different way. He is influenced by them and, critically, reinterprets them. His dresses are both unmistakably his own, and unmistakably inspired by the art of others. As you can see in this video of Galliano discussing some of the landmark dresses of the House of Dior, he designed two of the dresses after recognizable art—in this case, Venetian masquerades (at 2:50) and artist Egon Schiele (at 3:15).  Both creations embody the essence of his inspirations and are beautiful and amazing in their own right.

It seems to me that the difference in these two approaches is what separates the hacks from the true design artists. How can someone take inspiration from outside and still create something truly in his or her own voice? Is it personality traits at work? Confidence? Extensive experience? I’m excited to delve further into this topic as we move forward.