FASHION CAN BE ANTI-FASHION. Deconstruction is the new Dadaism of Fashion.
FASHION JOURNALISM PRACHI SETHI FC - V
Comme des Garçons 2014-2015
FASHION CAN BE ANTI-FASHION. Deconstruction is the new Dadaism of Fashion. Dada is not art. It is anti-art. A rebel, a revolution, a resistance and a rebirth. Dada was a complex yet liberating art movement that changed the world of art and fashion forever. Originated in Zurich around 1916, Dadaist art questions the very foundation of art. As Tristan Tzara writes in the Dada Manifesto in 1918, “Dada means nothing, it’s just a sound produced by the mouth”. Dada is not art, it’s anti-art. It’s art that rejects art. In the vast cauldron of this movement are painters, photographers, poets, because just like all other avant-garde and post Avant Garde movements, Dada deals with life, not simply art. Around 60 years later, Punk originated in 1974, standing on the foundations of Dadaism – everything is permitted. A reaction to social and political turbulence. Dada was a fight against stereotypical ‘art’ and traditional beliefs, it wanted to make a statement about the fact that they believed that art could be anything and everything. Punks intended to shock and ridicule the class systems encasing society, giving rise to ‘anti fashion’. A concept not a collection, it was practically impossible for fashion to remain aloof of Dadaism. Loose fitting silhouettes, extravagant designs, distressed edges, burnt out finishes – hints of Dadaism gradually translated into a rather contemporary revolution in Fashion – Deconstructive Fashion.
Marcel Duchamp : Fountain (Above) Francis Picabla ; The Dada Movement (right) London’s punk HQ in 1983, Chelsea’s Kings Road (Below)
While Dadaism is lesser known art movement – it’s influence translated to contemporary fashion and culture – deconstructing and reconstructing, finishing and yet leaving it unfinished, raw yet refined – principals of fashion and art. Dada artist Marcel Duchamp (18871968), gave the world the concept of ready-made work of Art, taking mundane, unexceptional pieces, and presenting them in a new light. There can also be links drawn between Duchamp’s ready-mades and Vivienne Westwood’s designs, by taking a pre-existing design or even an idea and adding to it or putting it in an unfamiliar setting, the garment takes on a new meaning. A parallel can be drawn between the artists of the Dadaism movement and the designers of the anti-fashion movement in the contemporary times. An anti-fashion and destructive ingredient, yet of core value to the meaning of fashion. – a sought of rebel against society, aiming to shatter the definition of art. – fashion that can be anti-fashion.
In the world of perfection and predictability, Dadaism represented a reject, art that criticized art and deconstruction ’ism’ does not nothing less. It questions the sanity of the glamor stricken industry. The ideologies of fashion Designers like Maison Martin Margiela, Rei Kawakubo, Victor and Rolf, Issey Miyake, Rick Owens and Yohji Yamamoto have been a part of what deconstructive fashion or the antifashion movement talks of. While these do not directly encompass the idea of Dadaism, they distort ideals of high-fashion in their own subtle humorous and anarchical manner. Deconstruction fashion is a beginning of this new fashion critique where in an appreciation for the ordinary and the process is brought together at the same time mocking the perceptions of perfection in the fashion industry in totality. This new culture/design approach is established a dialogue between the designer’s take on the current scenarios and their audience.
Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear Collection
Yohji Yamamoto 2018 Spring Summer
Designs of Vector and Rolf
Issey Miyake - Master of Pleats
Marison Margiela Spring Summer 2018
Dadaism wasn’t about cleancut Images and sophisticated masterpieces; it was about cut and paste, using the resources available to you. This expression is something which Dadaist Punk and deconstruction fashion shared. Deconstruction fashion takes a stand in the contemporary fashion industry today with a new take on the meaning of fashion, making reuse of the already perfect silhouettes, distorting them, reusing the fabrics to drape to shock, designs that are ahead of their time, designs that bring about raw and edgy styles – taking something already perfect and giving a new twist to it. As the boundaries of perfection divide the current scenario high fashion to the rest, fashion in the most recent times has become a subject to vandalism - a very recent example of Kidult’s positioning and additions to the facades of the stores. Therefore, deconstructive fashion gives a platform to rebel and question, a fashion which is anti-fashion.
Deconstructive fashion does not take its inspiration from Dadaism in isolation but derives its essence and inspiration from surrealism – “an absolute reality” , cubism – rejecting the traditional techniques of perspective, modeling, texture, color and space – an addition to reality – a new reality. Following along the same lines – Futurism – celebrating change, innovation and originality in culture and society. While the Dadaist movement in fashion has been majorly linked to STEVE OKLYN’s ‘NOT VOGUE’, it does nothing more than trolling fashion in ways that are protests, instead deconstructive fashion presents a new way of looking at fashion, redefining and rejecting ideals of fashion in the first place.
Monse, Oscar de la Renta,
In the recent times – Spring Summer 2017 witness a storm of deconstructed garments with Alexander Wang’s mismatched shoulder dresses to Monse with the wrongly buttoned dress. Another example of the same is Comme des Garcons Spring Summer and Fall Winter 2012 collections where Rei Kawakubo brought about the concept of life – from birth to transcendence for Spring Summer and mocked the online-fashion driven society for the fall winter show – by showcasing 2D designs with cliché prints and silhouettes – a satire on technological influence.
Comme Des Garcons Fall Winter 2012 (below) Spring Summer (above) Parsons Fashion Menswear Award - Ximon Lee
Balenciaga Resort 2016
Sculptural Deconstructed Jacket
Collection Mugler croisière 2015
White neoprene shirt sleeve detail, sliced & suspended; // Clara Bondon
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