Thread by @sadaboutchiffon

Every time I post more avant-garde designs, I get a lot of people questioning how practical the designs actually are for every day wear & WHY fashion houses make designs that are not designed to be worn so I'll do a thread to answer What Couture Is, Really, & Why People Make It:

I want to preface this by saying that I am far more of a hobbyist than a historian so I a lot of what is to follow is either my own opinion/observations or what I've come across in my research because fashion is a really interesting topic to me and I self-study a lot but-

The short answer is that there's a distinction between (Haute) Couture and (Ready-to-Wear) RTW Collections. Think of a Couture collection as a gallery show for an artist. They are one part physical art pieces, one part art installations, and one part performance art.

RTW collections are what you'll find in stores. They use standard patterns, sizing, and faster construction techniques to make clothing that is designed to be sold and worn. Couture tends to be made to order or a single garment.

RTW collections can take inspiration, techniques, or styling from that same designer's Couture collection, although that's not a rule. Compare this first piece from Elie Saab's Fall 2018 RTW to their Fall 2017 Couture . Similar cuts + execution, different intentions

The long answer is that runway shows started in the late nineteenth century as a way for dressmaking houses to showcase their goods. Their goods were almost all made to order and were displayed on their employees, at racecourses, and in opera and theatre performances

So the concept of couture as "fashion plays" or shows is actually centuries old and, in fact, makes these Rodarte designs for the 2012 Don Giovanni opera and these Givenchy designs for the 2013 Bolero de Ravel ballet a nice throwback-adjacent homage to couture's original use

Fashion steadily changed through the twentieth century but it wasn't until the 1970s that RTW and runway shows started becoming the new medium for designers to showcase their collections. This was also when fashion weeks started gaining more traction.

The 1980s saw the first big shift towards the huge runway shows we know today but I will die on the hill that the 1990s is when we saw the biggest change to Fashion As (Performance) Art and it was thanks to the work of Alexander McQueen, Versace, Yohji Yamamoto & Gaultier imho

I want to highlight McQueen here, because I think he was one of the first designers to really push fashion not just as art, but as performance pieces and sculpture that make a statement. His Fall 1999 Joan of Arc show was a potent, proactive theatre about the importance of death

This marked a shift in fashion where the show became just as much about the atmosphere and the setting as the clothes. Couture shows were now designed as (political) statements, structured around narratives/themes, or used to showcase new techniques & artistry. They're theatre

Dior's 2017 Collection has a pretty clear message. Milly's 2017 Collection, Fractured, was drawn from the designer's response to the current political climate and Ikiré Jones' work constantly highlights themes of immigration, cultural dysphoria, and representation

I want to add that, when it comes to big fashion houses, the intersection of social issues & fashion is an incredibly nuanced one that I have a lot of feelings about (most Not Great, Bob). Imo a lot of fashion houses like to talk the talk w/o walking the walk but i digress

This is part of the reason why I refuse to post D&G anymore & also touches on my issues with award show (fashion) but it's a conversation I feel like I can't give proper respect to in the context of this thread but tl;dr - fashion industry bad but good can come from it etc etc

I also have a lot of thoughts about extremely lucrative ateliers co-opting counter culture aesthetics, oppression narratives or anti-oppression protests but that's also a nuanced conversation that, like most types of (modern) art, need to be given context BUT BACK TO THE TOPIC

Fashion shows can also have narratives or themes much like all art! Alexander McQueen's Fall 2018 Collection, The Girl Who Lived In A Tree, is based off a fairytale created by the designer. Paolo Sebastian's Fall 2017 Collection is based off the Nutcracker ballet.

Guo Pei & Jakob Schlaepfer didn't design entirely new fabrics from metal fibre and silk thread, new texturing techniques, or collaborated for Guo Pei's S/S 2017 collection b/c they wanted you to wear this to the store but because they wanted to showcase their skills & talents

One argument I hear a lot is that creating couture is vain/pretentious & somehow shouldn't be considered an art form because of this but then I challenge you to say the same to any painter or sculptor who held a gallery show. Art is art & art is important & art requires context

You don't have to understand the art, you don't have to like it, but you should understand the context and the history behind it or at least make an attempt to. Couture has meaning behind its' pieces, like all modern art. Sometimes it's decorative, sometimes it's technical and

sometimes it's meant to showcase an issue, an experience, or highlight an important topic but it's always meant to spark a conversation, like all art

McQueen's Fall *2008 collection.

provocative*
finding all my damn spelling mistakes now ahdjksa