Fashion and Art by Geczy Adam; Karaminas Vicki; & Vicki Karaminas

Author:Geczy, Adam; Karaminas, Vicki; & Vicki Karaminas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2012-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

FASHION AND ARTIFICATION

Artification has been defined as “a process of transformation of ‘non-art’ into art,”31 that increases the prestige of a cultural form. Artification takes place as a result of a variety of changes that increase the visibility of a cultural form. These activities include the following: one, changes in the types of actors who engage in the activity, specifically, their level of education, social status, artistic knowledge and interests, level of cultural sophistication, and level of autonomy in their relationships with the public; two, changes in the characteristics of the cultural artifacts themselves that enhance their associations with the arts; three, creation of organizations that promote the cultural activity in various ways, such as schools, museums, galleries, foundations, and trade organizations; and four, changes in perception of the cultural form on the part of cultural and governmental organizations, specifically, classification of the activity as a form of cultural heritage that is worthy of protection in museums and galleries and of financial support in the form of grants and other types of aid from government agencies and foundations.

In the case of fashion and art, the evidence in favor of the artification thesis is mixed. Fashion design in France appears to have undergone some degree of artification at the beginning of the twentieth century, which was followed by a gradual process of de-artification at the end of the century. The one exception to this generalization is the emergence of the fashion artifact as a collectible. Ironically, fashion is most likely to be treated as an art form when it is not longer in fashion.

Beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, French couturiers developed tactics that increased their status and prestige. Charles Frederick Worth, an Englishman who set up a fashion business in Paris at that time, reversed the traditional structural relationship between client and designer by dictating to his clients what designs they should wear rather than following their orders in the tradition role of an artisan.32 Later, he was instrumental in the creation of the first trade organization for fashion designers that greatly increased their power and privileges. Leading designers claimed the status of artists. Their designs carried their names and were protected by copyright. According to Lipovetsky, couturiers “presented themselves as ‘artists of luxury’ who collected works of art, lived in sumptuous and refined settings, surrounded themselves with poets and painters, and created costumes for the theater.”33 During the twentieth century, the social status of couturiers entering the occupation steadily increased.34

Another type of artification can be observed in strategies that are sometimes used by fashion designers to increase the value attached to specific fashion objects. These strategies include collaboration with artists and the use of limited editions in which each piece is numbered. Probably the most famous case of a fashion designer collaborating with artists was the collaboration between Schiaparelli and surrealist artists, such as Dali, Man Ray, and Jean Cocteau, in the 1930s.35

A third type of artification has increased the value and visibility of fashion as a

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.