By | Alyssa Frigillana Gomez
A robust and controversial debate within the fashion industry is where the industry draws the line between art and fashion and is fashion an art form? In short: yes, however, fashion is about trends and movement and wearable styles/clothing. Fashion can be defined as “a popular trend, especially in styles of dress and ornament or manners of behavior” while art is defined as the “execution of a human’s creative imagination”, which is why it’s easy for these lines to blur. The new and emerging trend of everyday objects/items being worn as clothing pieces further proves that fashion is moving forward and is crossing over with technology and shows us we can make a fashion statement out of anything.
It’s safe to say that there has been a strong resurgence of the Y2K style coming back after the last few years or so, and this has been seen in streetwear fashion through a crossover between that and technology. One of the most notable pieces of technology from this period is the flip phone. Revolutionized during the early 2000s for basic communication purposes came the flip phone. Now in our modern day, humans and society as a whole have advanced onwards to Apple or the iPhone. What was once a form of technology and communication has now turned into an iconic fashion accessory, like a necklace or bikini triangle.
Not only have we witnessed new technological advances in both electronics and fashion, but over time humans have utilized time as both a social status and a way of knowing what part of the day we’re in. Overtime, clocks, and watches have evolved through various forms, such as dual watches, pocket watches, digital watches, actual clocks on the wall, spring-driven clocks, sundials, and even Rolex’s, however from a streetwear perspective, these are turning a new cornerstone in trends.
Fashion designers such as @kaylaramos (Instagram), @1xblue (Instagram), local fashion designers from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and more have been partaking in this up-and-coming fashion and underrated trend of wearing clocks and watches for their unintended purposes. This blurred line between fashion and art can be best described as “avant-garde”, meaning “new and unusual or experimental ideas, especially in the arts, or the people introducing them”. This has been seen on more than just heels and skirts, watches are now having the clocks removed from them and placed as rings and necklaces instead.
Avant-Garde Leaders, Current and Past
The iconic Polaroid dress, first modeled by Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, has been revived back to life after Saweetie partook as a model in a photoshoot for her birthday in her Polaroid dress paying homage to this original idea/concept. Since then, this idea has spread like wildfire and caused many young women to recreate this look for their birthday in their own way. Whether these trend followers (and there is nothing wrong with following innovative trends) recognize it or not, they are partaking in this avant-garde type of fashion. Saweetie can be recognized for more than just her Polaroid dress look, but also her paying homage to her Black culture. Captioned by Saweetie’s “Been Down since the jellies and the bow bows”, a direct lyric from her song “Best Friend” featuring Doja Cat, this look was curated to be a direct tribute to Black culture and hair accessories from childhood later being carried alongside her style into womanhood as a way to commemorate the way she grew up.
Avant-garde isn’t always about the extravagance of the fashion, but the subtle homages paid to different things and originality expressed through bending the purposes of objects. While these concepts seem minimal scale, they’re what makes the fashion industry so explorative and innovative. There have been iconic fashion shows where the designer Fredrik Tjærandsen designed balloons that transform into dresses, and the iconic Thierry Mugler with his shows from the 90’s where he created endless concepts from different aesthetics and forms of nature to exude extravagance, but it’s also about recognizing how over time designers like these and more have made it acceptable for fashion to be playful and rule-bending. While the term “avant-garde” sounds fancy, it exists in all social levels and hierarchies and has had a trickle-down effect where it started high up in fashion and made its way down to streetwear and fashion of the youth. The debate of where we as fashion enthusiasts and experts draw the line between considering something a piece of art vs. a piece of fashion is subjective but let’s just recognize what these micro and macro trends (such as stuffed animal boots, key earrings, and hot wheels belts) truly are: avant garde. Artists and fashion designers will forever draw and piggyback creative and innovative ideas off one another, and people will forever pay tribute to the fashion and styles of the past, at the end of the day, what would the fashion industry be if it weren’t for referencing the past?
Sources
“Beauty and Accessories.” Alyssa Dugan, frigilliana.myportfolio.com/beauty-and-accessories. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
Chia, Cheryl. “The Evolution of Fashion Watches.” Revolution Watch, 17 May 2023, revolutionwatch.com/the-evolution-of-fashion-watches/.
Instagram, www.instagram.com/thekaylaramos/?hl=ko&img_index=1. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
Instagram, www.instagram.com/1xblue/?hl=en. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
“Oxford Languages and Google - English.” Oxford Languages, languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
“$AWEETIE. on Instagram: ‘Down since the Jellies & the Bow Bows ❤️.’” Instagram, www.instagram.com/saweetie/p/CrNGhyXuZQw/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
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