Art vs Utility

(Just Cavalli) (Emporio Armani) (Giorgio Armani)

Fashion is something we all use to communicate in our everyday lives, and can be intuitive or simply functinal. Sometimes you can put the two together, and when this happens, I believe a real border can be crossed. I believe in different humans eyes, art and utility can be the polar opposite of one another, or they can be one in the same.

I think having utility in clothing, such as pockets or amazing buttons can be a form of art (examples up above), but once again this is utility. People with certain jobs, such as a construction worker, may look at a piece of clothing as funcional because that is what they must do when in it. When exiting the work world, well that is another story in itself.

Looking at the designers point of view, clothing and fashion and everthing that embodies it, is art. Watching all the couture lines at Milan, I can see each look and piece as beauty and art. When these designers come to think of what they are to sketch and design, art is the main idea, but function does come in somewhere. However, at Milan most pieces of clothing are not as wearable; sky-rocketing heels and see-through dresses were everywhere this season and absolutely couture driven, as is the place of stay.

When the clothes exit the runway and consumers buy the pieces, art starts to take place yet again. When a buyer takes a piece of clothing and adds it to other designers of sorts, art also begins to take place. Art and utility go hand in hand in the world of fashion, and that is the wonderous thing about it.