What Is Behind A Great Masterpiece

[toocoolforyah]

What is behind a great masterpiece, is it a great mind behind it or is it the art.
Are designers revolutionizing fashion or is fashion like a circle going round and round.

 

[leyla m.]

WOW, is that an essay question??

im sorry but i need pages and pages to explain and express myself on that

im even scared to start

put very shortly from what i have studied about the history of fashion from the beginning of times:

FASHION works in a CIRCLE. what goes around comes around at one poitn or another... the thing that makes it interesting is that EXTRA touch added by a designer

 

[Scott]

Usually its a combination of creativity,craftsmanship and integrity. So in answer to your first question,both the mind or personality and the work itself.

Revolutionary,depends on what kind of designers you're talking about. Some are some aren't.

 

[Spacemiu]

I think fashion starts from seeing what is in teh world, what sint in the world, what we whant tos ee in the world what we whant to express and hwow e whant to express it and hwo we whant people to feel it.

I think many esigenrs and revolutionaries some are not , soem go in circles, soc reat some thing enw from soemthing old, soem create form soem thinge sl.

 

[ignitioned32]

It depends. Most fashions are like in a circle, so what was made before will soon come back, it's the touch of the designer who does it/brings it back that makes it modern/makes it there own. Like Marc Jacobs or Phoebe Philo. Though there are some designers working in fashion who are real revolutionaries. Like the in the 60's, Courreges

 

[Atelier]

The first time I was in Milan, I went to one of the Armani stores as a gawker. While there, barely $1 to my name and looking like a tourist, I was offered refreshments and treated with the utmost class.

But that's not my point. Getting to it now.

Two American frat boys were also there. They too looked like they were Eurailing. College sweatshirts, the works. One of them tried on a pair of slacks.

Instantly he looked like a million goddamn dollars. That's a masterpiece. Nothing complicated. Just something well-made, comfortable to wear and totally beautiful.

 

[Scott]

Regarding,round about fashion,it is only revolutionary if its been twisted and reworked into someting completely one's own and fresh and exciting. There are not alot who can do it and keep it from feeling like they're repeating but the one's who can are totally revolutionary to me. Marc Jacobs is certainly not one of those,imo.

 

[Lena]

Originally posted by toocoolforyah@Dec 13th, 2003 - 11:39 pm
What is behind a great masterpiece, is it a great mind behind it or is it the art.
Are designers revolutionizing fashion or is fashion like a circle going round and round.

to start with there are only very few 'masterpieces' being created in our times, nothing like the turn of the century, the 30's or the '50s fashion's creative explosion in our days. Like with art circles, fashion designers are too over excited by the past to create with an open mind, so even when they attempt a 'revolution' they seem doing so with borrowed material.

reasons behind this?
*The common hatefull quote 'everything has been done already' is damaging designers creativity from day one.
*Our lifestyles are not based on 'occasions' as they were during the past, and design has to be creative but in a functional way. Poiret and Mme Gres were dressing women that partied in a different way than today. People are a bit bored of dressing up and there are less occasions for this.
*Craftmanship is somehow 'lost'. Mass production leads people to forget 'how to do things' if you get my point. As a designer, i have a real hard time to employ people that actually know how to create a garment in the good old construction ways... or to adapt to new patterns.. saw them a 'creative' pattern and they might run away screaming
*nostalgia can be quite harmful for new designers, people like the great masters of design, researched new shapes and worked as if there was no past in history of costume, hence the masterpieces of Christobal Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Gres etc.
Today, it is considered 'legitimate' to pay a fortune for lux copies (see Nicolas G. huge flop for Balenciaga, where he copied -to a T- those famous 'patchwork' looks from a dead and long forgoten LA designer... how sad and poor creative wise, it was the begining of the end for Nicolas )

 

[TheSweetest]

What is behind a great masterpiece, is it a great mind behind it or is it the art.
Are designers revolutionizing fashion or is fashion like a circle going round and round.

I think the only thing behind great masterpieces is pure talent. I think they natrually understand clothing DESIGN really means and they start creating apparel that makes ppl look better than ever. Not everyone with a clothing line is talented and we all know that.

I believe that no matter what, clothing come back around eventually. I don't quite know why though Nevertheless, I do love it. Vintage inspired clothing is the best!!!

 

[purplelucrezia]

Fashion is an endless cycle and the recycling has been going on for centuries. It is not a contemporary phenomenon. Just think of the 1920s, which borrowed from Egyptian fashion and the Empire period (early 1800s) which was inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans. (Incidentally, I also love vintage clothing!)

 

[Spacemiu]

Originally posted by Lena@Dec 14th, 2003 - 3:08 am

*The common hatefull quote 'everything has been done already' is damaging designers creativity from day one.
*Our lifestyles are not based on 'occasions' as they were during the past, and design has to be creative but in a functional way. Poiret and Mme Gres were dressing women that partied in a different way than today. People are a bit bored of dressing up and there are less occasions for this.
*Craftmanship is somehow 'lost'. Mass production leads people to forget 'how to do things' if you get my point. As a designer, i have a real hard time to employ people that actually know how to create a garment in the good old construction ways... or to adapt to new patterns.. saw them a 'creative' pattern and they might run away screaming
*nostalgia can be quite harmful for new designers, people like the great masters of design, researched new shapes and worked as if there was no past in history of costume, hence the masterpieces of Christobal Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Gres etc.
Today, it is considered 'legitimate' to pay a fortune for lux copies (see Nicolas G. huge flop for Balenciaga, where he copied -to a T- those famous 'patchwork' looks from a dead and long forgoten LA designer... how sad and poor creative wise, it was the begining of the end for Nicolas )

so true

when constructing garments a rarely relie on aptterns i try to start with some thing simple and try to make it form the ground up to try to fidn new shapes and forms.

 

[Scott]

Well,I don't really think there's anything wrong with looking at the past in regards of shape and construction as an influence,not to mention to study the craftsmanship and detail entailed on those works. I think the problem lies within the designer's focus;too much are most gleamed over specifics so they then tend to copy what they see and not actually rework and experiment with what's inspired them. The Belgians,imo,are the only group of designers going strong these days that are able to master,studying the past elements of design whilst still keeping it all extremely fresh,exciting and innovative.

 

[Angelica]

Originally posted by Lena@Dec 14th, 2003 - 2:08 am
Today, it is considered 'legitimate' to pay a fortune for lux copies (see Nicolas G. huge flop for Balenciaga, where he copied -to a T- those famous 'patchwork' looks from a dead and long forgoten LA designer... how sad and poor creative wise, it was the begining of the end for Nicolas )

Actually, Kaisik Wong, the designer Ghesquiere "borrowed" from, was a San Francisco-based designer.

A few articles about Kaisik Wong > 1, 2

A Kaisik Wong patchwork vest, above.

 

[Lena]

yes, thats the guy Nicolas G. stole the look from, i mean its not even 'insprired' by, Balenciaga actually riped of the design.. ironically enough, that was the beging of the end for Nicola's hype-ness..

Kaisik Wong=really talented and so very original

thanks for the link and input angelica and excuses for forgetting Wong's name

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Well actually there's a worldwide fashion conspiracy...all great masterpieces are designed by ME but I have other people's names put on them because I'm so modest...


Quality of materials and tailoring is obviously important. I wouldn't like to say about the rest though...

 

[ignitioned32]

I never said Jacobs was revoloutionary, please!

 

[Angelica]

Originally posted by Lena@Dec 17th, 2003 - 1:22 pm
yes, thats the guy Nicolas G. stole the look from, i mean its not even 'insprired' by, Balenciaga actually riped of the design.. ironically enough, that was the beging of the end for Nicola's hype-ness..

Kaisik Wong=really talented and so very original

thanks for the link and input angelica and excuses for forgetting Wong's name

Yup, "inspired by" is putting it mildly, I suppose. His hand was caught in the cookie jar and Ghesquiere had to admit to it because it was blatant, no?

I can never remember how to spell Wong's first name myself and had to look it up.

I agree, Wong was very talented. He never enjoyed commercial success even if some department stores picked up his line occassionally. By all accounts, his heart was never into creating commercial items and had the soul of an artist. He was much more interested in creating one of a kind pieces for a small clientele.

 

[Spacemiu]

Originally posted by Angelica@Dec 18th, 2003 - 6:33 pm

Yup, "inspired by" is putting it mildly, I suppose. His hand was caught in the cookie jar and Ghesquiere had to admit to it because it was blatant, no?

I saw an inetrviews with him , and all he said was that he was happy peopel where looking at his "influences"

i adore kaisks stuff, at least this whole situation brought him some renewd attention, shortly after that the famosu vintage store Decades had a huge collection of his work for sale.

 

[ignitioned32]

In defense of Nicolas G. (It sounds like his a rapper now? ) , he never said that what he did for S/S '02 was his own and original. He said he was influenced by the work of a late Dutch designer Koos van der Ackker. I think even before Kaisik Wong did those Koos did it first. So there's no saying Ghesquiere copied.

 

[Lena]

Nicola's G reputation was clearly damaged for good when Hintmag first brought up the Wong-Baleciaga scandal (Wong was a minor designer back in the 70s, i bet Nicolas thought he could clearly get away with this and present the idea as his own ) His explanation was something like "it was a hommage blah blah' well, if it was a hommage he should had brought up the work of Wong himself, instead of posing as the designer of the Balenciaga patchwork collection until Hintmag came around...

Ironically enough, the patchwork balenciaga was one of Nicolas biggest hits, if only it was his own idea...

If designers cannot create something new, they can go home or get in a sabbatical mood, or go away on vacations, no need to rip others off
"inspiration"? "homage"? please
I call them cold blooded copy machines, they dont deserve being regarded as creative at all, creativity is the opposite of copying (in my book)