The Politics of Art & Authenticity

I  visited the  museum at the Fashion  Institute of Technology and I highly, highly recommend it. The current exhibition is titled “Fashion and Textile History” and though it’s on the small side, it gives a comprehensive overview of the ways in which fashion has evolved together with technology.
I now I have a completely different outlook on the fashion world.

High fashion is not just about coming up with the wackiest designs possible for people to wonder “Um…am I actually supposed to wear that?” Designing clothing is truly an art form, which both expresses the designer’s comments and observations of the world and showcases unbelievable talent. It’s not just about stitching a piece of cloth together. Throughout the years there have been remarkable innovations in the types of fabrics used and the methods used to create them. At FIT I saw dresses made of cellophane, paper, and even steel wool. Today, the latest fad is using materials that can conduct electricity so that the clothing can literally shine.

One thing that really stood out to me was a video of a fashion show by Alexander McQueen. He used his line to show how technology is affecting humanity. He had one model stand on a revolving foor, while robots sprayed her with paint. I just thought it provided a very powerful image, and it was amazing how Alexander McQueen was able to get his message across through the art of fashion, instead of more typical artistic mediums like writing or music.