1. 1. I find Hussein Chalayan’s ‘Burka’ to be more art than fashion. He challenges ‘ideas such as modesty, identity and feminity’ by presenting ‘models wearing different length burka inspired creations with nothing underneath them, with some of the model's being completely naked except for a mask and sandals.’ The garment is usually the main attraction in a runway show although in Chalayan’s case it was simply burkas and masks that was the ‘garment.’ When looking at these pieces you don’t think of whether you like the garment but you are more trying to depict what Chalayan is trying say with this piece. It isn’t something a buyer would purchase or any celebrity for that matter to wear to a red carpet event. The contyraversal piece Chalayan’s ‘Burka’ to me is more of a piece of art rather the next big thing in the fashion industry.
-Misanthrope. (n.d). Retrieved July 31, 2011 from
-Art Tattler. (n.d). Retrieved July 31, 2011 from http://arttattler.com/designhusseinchalayan.html
2. 2. By creating an installation piece which is purely for advertising purposes is still accounted as art for me. It doesn’t change the meaning of art for me either. Most art works are trying to present an idea Chalayan is also trying to convey an idea with The Level Tunnel. He is trying to “give the visitor a full body experience of the LEVEL vodka brand.” He is trying to present to his audience the idea and experience of this new product rather than say something about today’s society as most artists tend to do. By collaborating with a company it affected Chalayan’s work in the sense that he had to incorporate the promoting company. For eample in ‘Repose’ Chalayan had to incorporate “long strip of Swarovski Elements lit by LEDs.”
- Behance. (n.d). Retrieved July 31, 2011 from http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-LEVEL-Tunnel-(Absolut-Vodka-Hussein-Chalayan)/701114
- Swarovski. (n.d). Retrieved July 31, 2011 from http://brand.swarovski.com/Content.Node/ourinitiatives/fashion/hussein/Swarovski-Hussein-Chalayan-FINAL-Release.pdf
3. I think ‘postmodern art’ would be one. This film is postmodern because it explores technical ideas such as extracting cells from garments belonging to various women in order to “examine their DNA sequences.” I think this concept of ‘modern art’ inspired Chalayan to further evolve his ideas about his film so that it is as contemporary as his designs are.
I also find that ‘pop art’ played a role in influencing Chalayan’s film. “The Independent Group (IG), founded in London in 1952, is regarded as the precursor to the pop art movement. They were a gathering of young painters, sculptors, architects, writers and critics who were challenging prevailing modernist approaches to culture as well as traditional views of Fine Art. The group discussions centered on popular culture implications from such elements as mass advertising, movies, product design, comic strips, science fiction and technology.” I feel that this exact influence was what led Chalayan to explore so many different areas in art and design such as making this film.
-Wikipedia. (n.d). Retrieved July 31, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_art
-Hussein Chalayan. (n.d). Retrieved July 31, 2011 from http://www.husseinchalayan.com/#/art_projects.absent_presence.overview/
4. I think in fashion design it is ok if the designer didn’t personally make the garment without any help as Julia stated that it is “standard practise,” although I think the opposite when it comes to paintings. Fashion is an industry where there are secondary people who nearly have just as much input as the designer does, people such as the assistant designer or perhaps the sample machinist has a better way to go about making the perfect French seam. Paintings on the other hand I find to be very personall in the sense that you are usually creating a piece which expresses your own idea therefore you understand it the best. Also there is usually only one piece being produced rather than various samples like in fashion. I feel like there is no excuse for having a group of people work on an art work unless of course it a massive project or an installation then it would be unfortunate to only work by yourself. I also feel that it is important that when the artist has personally made an art work it coveys their idea better as like I said before only the artist fully understands the ideas you don’t expect an assistant to be on the exact page as the artist.
I found Chalayans work very interesting in the way that there are different interpretations of meaning when you look at the work from a fashion and then art perspective. Using art to sell products opens up a new niche. Postmodern ideas play a role in his works which give an open to interpretation feel. When an artist develops and makes his own work there is an emotional tie to the piece which makes it more unique.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that fashion isn’t something you would wonder about trying to figure out the meaning behind it but is more about the appreciation of the garment itself.When I look at Chalayan's work ,I find his fashion art work is interesting,but not because of the garment.I was more amazed by his ideas how he trying to convey the message through his fashion work.That's make me think twice about his work.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that Chalayan's work is more focused on art rather than into fashion industry.
I like the way you say about paintings compared to fashion,there is usually only one piece being produced rather than various samples like in fashion.After seeing all Chalayan's work it made me realise that fashion is not about how beautiful is the garment,but is about how you try to make the audience think deeper about your work.
I agree when you say that he "he challenges ‘ideas such as modesty, identity and feminity’ in his works. The Burka work can be seen as shocking as the burka is not worn the way it is originally designed fro such as covering up the body and skin, at it is something that is part of a certain culture, and I believe that it should be respected. Though it is a interesting piece of work as it can be seen as a series and be seen of art. It is ironic to see how this work is potrayed as it tends to reveal more of the female body through the different pieces, thus showing the opposite of what the burka is suppose to do.
ReplyDeleteHussein Chalayan is a great designer that combines the design features of architecture adn fashion and in some ways possibly spatial because he uses space and turns that space to match his fashion adn other designs. I agree with you when you say that fashion are garments which are made to be amazed. Fashion has grown dramatically in the past few years and artists who combine art and fahsion together are also becoming well known such as Chalayan himself. Pop art has in some ways influenced him to produce his film of absent presence because of the style and the meanings behind this film he has garnered alot of attention about the actual world we live in.
ReplyDeleteI read over your blog again and you said "Fashion isn’t something you would wonder about trying to figure out the meaning behind it but is more about the appreciation of the garment itself." In some ways this is true in other ways it isn't. I disagree there will always be this appreciation of the garment and its maker however there will always be this sense of what were the intentions behind the work. In the 2012 Chanel Haute Couture Collection models walked down the stairs in the audience with shoes that had bright lights on them. It looked like the night sky, thousands of stars scattered across the universe. " This one was inspired by gps...something that people have on their screens of their cars" Karl Lagerfeld (n.d). Karl continues to talk about how with a brand like Chanel the focus must always be on the dress because people see it all over the world. When you work at that level in the industry people are going to question the aesthetics and ideologies.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the point that you made saying "When looking at these pieces you don’t think of whether you like the garment but you are more trying to depict what Chalayan is trying say with this piece." in the way that in an automatic way I too didn't look at the pieces as fashion when I first looked at them, to me they were like an art piece, however these were the last pieces of a collection on the runway, as well as the afterwords coffee table skirt, where are prior to those end pieces were fashion garments that were normal pieces in a runway show that would be able to wear off the runway. So therefore these end pieces are used like art pieces to create an interest in something rather than just a garment runway show, he puts them in cleverly for something to talk about and some discussion also to test the boundaries of the public and to show that he is not just a fashion designer there is more knowledge he has and skills and more important things to talk about.
ReplyDeleteI found that Hussein Chalayan's works are totally new to me and made me a fright when I see her works first time. To me I have never seen fashion works like that in my life.
ReplyDelete"fashion are garments which are made to be amazed" I strongly agree with this statement on your opinion. Also about her film works, Pop art ginve her a intentions to create the
movie film and influenced Hussein Chalayan. It garnered alot of attention about the actual world we live in.
I would have to agree with idea that Chalayan’s work is more art than fashion, although both art forms are similar. His work ‘Burka’ is really interesting in a sense where he takes something that is seen traditional and makes it so that it’s perceived as art. The idea that the traditional use of the Burka is to cover the face and the whole body is supposedly covered as well, where as we see his models wearing the Burka’s with no clothes on. This makes me question the purpose of this idea. Why would he take something traditional and exploit it with the nude models? I find this work most interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment on how it is acceptable for fashion designers to not necessarily create their work themselves as it is common practice in that industry. I feel that in other artforms such as painting, it really depends on the style of art, for example, a stencil artist may cut out their own stencils, but the final work is the work which has been sprayed onto whatever surface which the artist theoretically could have gotten anyone to spray onto, and in my opinion the finished work would still be the person who designed and cut the stencil, as opposed to the person who sprayed it onto the canvas or wall.
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