When I picture a museum, I think of it holding pieces by Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Manet, and other pioneers of art. I never would have dreamed a whole exhibit could be focused on clothes. However, I recently had the privilege of going to the Dallas Museum of Art for the day to see an exhibit solely focussed on Christian Dior. This was mind blowing to me- to have a fashion line so close to my home and to have it considered as art in a museum was incredible. My family and I spent the whole day walking around looking at priceless works of art- including the Dior exhibit. There were hundreds of dresses- several of which had actual diamonds, ruby's, and emeralds attached. Not only were the dresses there, but they had videos showing what goes into making sunglasses, handbags, jewelry, skirts, even hats. On my way home, I was still feeling star struck and I couldn't help thinking: Why isn't all fashion considered as art? Now it seems silly to even think of a vintage American Eagle top in a museum someday, but I began to wonder why not. I did some research and quickly began to notice that this has been an ongoing debate for decades. One could argue that fashion is ever changing based on trends, and is also mostly temporary, unlike art. They could also say that fashion is useful and wearable, whereas art is not typically wearable and is commonly only useful for decoration. These perhaps are some of the big differences between the two, because art is not influenced by trends, and is used as decor.
However, I believe that the lines between fashion and art are starting to become more and more blurred, beginning with high fashion. Eventually I hope that all fashion could be considered- brands like H&M, American Eagle, and Free People. Art is so subjective that I can't tell one person that they have to think of fashion as art, but I can give them facts. Brands like Comme de Garcons and Dior are starting to cut clothes that protrude at unnatural angles and suggest different physical possibilities, much like some of Picassos work. In 20ll, the Metropolitan Museum of Art had an exhibit honoring Alexander McQueen, and it was one of the most popular exhibits in the history of the museum. Designers even consider themselves artists, one of them writing that dress design was "not a profession, but an art". Fashion is also constantly seen imitating art- with designers pulling inspirations from famous paintings, such as "The Starry Night", "The Scream", "Morte del Sole, della Luna, e caduta della Stella" and others, thus, proving that fashion and art are not so different after all. In fact, not only are they similar, but I think they could one day be considered as one, beginning with the Dallas exhibit of Christian Dior's: From Paris to the World.
