VOGUE: Fashion and Art

VOGUE Magazine has been operating for the past century, under the guidance of a small handful of leaders who have kept the stylish magazine alive through wars, depressions, and the transition to our current electronic age. Since the late 1980’s VOGUE has been spearheaded by Anna Wintour, a woman known for her fierce business sense and impeccable sense of fashion.

VOGUE's Anna Wintour

VOGUE's Anna Wintour

Fashion is an oddly controversial subject. For some, fashion is life, and great inspiration is drawn from the modern art creations of haute-couture. To others, it is simply a shallow endeavor undertaken by those who have nothing to do but think about their hair.

The discussion of VOGUE, and fashion in general, should be less about anyone’s external perception of it, but rather that it is simply a different reality. It is world of $15,000 dresses and trips to Paris and New York, a world where a $300 pair of designer heels is considered a bargain. While this may seem to be disgusting excess in a time of such economic instability, you have to look at it as you would any other art form. As a popular magazine, VOGUE functions as a journalistic and artistic publication, an example of very expensive and high powered industries of both business and art.

Fashion design is a form of wearable art. If people are willing to spend millions and millions of dollars on a Jackson Pollock painting that will simply hang on the wall, how is it any more ridiculous to spend $5,000 on an Oscar de la Renta dress that functions as a ready-to-wear representation of the designers’ vision? Rather than viewing fashion shows as skeletal women in overpriced, unwearable clothes, why not view it as a unique art form displayed on its own, moving canvas?

Oscar de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta

Modern art has crafted a very interesting niche in the contemporary art world. From minimalist oil paintings to vaguely formed sculptures and twisted metalwork, the very definition of “art” has come to be far more fluid and personal. The intensity of the experience is also magnified from a personal viewing. Textbook pictures of paintings by Mark Rothko used to evoke an amused reaction from me, but when I saw a piece of his work at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, I was floored. An image I used to view as oddly simplistic and boring took on a completely new dimension when I was able to see it up close.

This same idea applies to fashion; a 3×5 image of this season’s offering from the House of Dior can in no way compare to seeing it in person and in motion. Any media form that offers the this specific combination of journalism and images helps portray the beauty of design that an entire industry of individuals work tirelessly to achieve.

Fashion emphasizes the idea that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. Coco Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana, Betsey Johnson and UGG Australia have all appeared in New York’s Fashion Week, and yet one would hardly think to pair a Chanel suit with the UGG Australia Classic Tall. Like the differences between Monet and Rothko, each designer offers a new interpretation for what can be created within their unique art form.

UGG boots on the runway

UGG boots on the runway

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