Investment pieces: we all know the theory. On a personal level, the interminable recession is forcing us to reassess our throwaway attitude to fashion. As tempting as we find the new Versace diffusion range for H&M, we know we should be shelling out for an immaculately and ethically made Stella McCartney cashmere coat rather than stockpiling scraps of sweatshop jersey.
On a global level, we’re realising that our consumer greed has real consequences. Two episodes into the BBC’s Frozen Planet, and the image of David Attenborough pulling a not-angry-but-disappointed face has started popping into our heads every time we reach for a Primark blouse. Nowadays, a legacy of pesticide-drenched land, energy-eating factories and polyester waste mountains just doesn’t feel sexy.
But the idea that we should only adorn our bodies with beautiful, well-crafted and mindfully produced garments isn’t just about redistributing cash from the high street to couture; it is ushering in a whole new hybrid industry. What do you get when you combine fashion with sculpture, exclusivity with accessibility and environmental awareness with financial sense? Welcome to the world of ‘wearable art’.
Artists and architects across the globe are increasingly applying their skills to clothes. We get unique, ethical statement pieces that work as both instant hit and heirloom; they get mainstream exposure and the challenge of adapting their art form to the unruly dynamism of the human body.
At the high-fashion end, this means collaborations from big brands that understand the street-cred offered by an (preferably urban, quirky) artist’s name. In 2008 Versace commissioned Dutch artist Tim Roelof to produce four dresses featuring his signature photo-collages of Berlin. A year later Marc Jacobs harnessed the talents of Stephen Sprouse and Takashi Murakami for a Louis Vuitton accessories range; this year, potter Grayson Perry has illustrated a trunk for the brand. Last month, Swedish brand Acne launched a spring/summer 2012 collection created with London-based artist Daniel Silver, featuring punchy layered prints and soft two-tone cropped leather jackets. His brief was simply to “make fabric”; the result is some very wearable art indeed.
At the high-art end sits the annual World of WearableArt (WOW) awards in New Zealand. Established in 1987, WOW offers $10,000 of prize money alongside a theatrical extravaganza “that twists conventional perceptions of both art and fashion”. This year’s overall winner, Londoner Mary Wing To, has just been crowned for her extraordinary outfit ‘Hylonome’ – a stiff bubble-skirted dress crafted from embossed chestnut-coloured leather and accessorised with a full wooden horse head and spear.
“Hylonome is a phenomenal representation of the beautiful mythological female centaur,” says founder and judge Susie Moncrieff. “The garment is a labour in leather and of love, showing Mary’s multiple skills as a fashion designer turned saddler. The entire garment is hand-crafted and hand-laced together, using 200 metres of leather lace.” Impressive, yes. Beautiful, absolutely. But about as wearable as that other famous piece of body-sculpture, Lady Gaga’s meat dress.
For those of us without the budget of a banker or the balls of a Dalston fashion blogger, entrepreneurs are finding slightly more accessible ways to engage with the wearable art idea. Michelle Lee Medjeral-Thomas is the founder of The Contemporary London, a new online platform that aims to represent and support emerging artists, curators and writers. Her team has just launched ‘The Contemporary London Editions’ – a collection of limited edition T-shirts designed by a selection of their rising art stars.
“The main motivation in creating the collection was to give people an approachable and affordable way to start collecting these extraordinarily gifted artists’ work,” she says. “The artists were chosen for their distinctive style; each T shirt successfully captures their individual aesthetic and remains true to the integrity of their creative practice.” And it seems that she’s hit the zeitgeist. “They’ve been selling so well that we are hoping to organise a pop up exhibition in the lead up to Christmas. We’d definitely like to increase the range and diversity of our T-shirt collections going forward.”
In fact, wearable art is set to really hit the mainstream. London 2012 Festival recently announced the Britain Creates project, in which prestigious fashion designers and visual artists will develop specially commissioned one-off pieces for the Cultural Olympiad. With the likes of Sarah Burton, Dinos Chapman, Christopher Kane, Erdem Moralioglu and Marc Quinn involved, initiatives such as The Contemporary London’s may well see trickle-down interest.
In the spirit of research, I bought a shirt from TCL’s range: a fine jersey tee by young London-based Argentinian Mercedes Baliarda, featuring delicate charcoal tracings of flowers. At £40, it costs the same as a top from Zara; but as one of a limited edition of 50, hand-boxed with a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist, it makes me feel far more special.
“Flowers, their arguably accessible beauty and extensive metaphorical use in art, are commonly perceived as decorative and unchallenging in a contemporary context”, says Baliarda. “My highly detailed drawings try to subtly shift these perceptions to create an unnerving feeling of poignancy and a tragic beauty.”
Move over Topshop. We’re not just consumers, girls; we’re galleries.
