Is Fashion Art?

In a recent interview, Karl Lagerfeld continued the ongoing debate as to whether Fashion is Art. He felt that any designers who consider themselves artists are 'second rate'. This arguement has divided the fashion industry and designers such as Marc Jacobs, Miuccia Prada and Coco Chanel also believed that fashion is not art.
I, however, feel that fashion IS art. Art is an expression of creativity and manifests itself in many forms, not all of these through the traditional architecture, sculpture and painting mediums. It amazes me how can people such as Damien Hurst and Tracey Emin be called 'artists' if fashion designers are not.

Fashion is a way of sculpting the human body and producing designs to show beauty, emotion and personality. Examples such as YSL's Mondrian dress, show the ease at which a work of 'art' can be translated into a fashion design and can be used to sculpt the human form. The influence of paintings on fashion is repeatedly showing up on the catwalk - a recent example is Rodate's collection inspired by Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'. This influence of art on fashion is similar to the influence of art on art. No 'artists' come up with completely new concepts without being influenced by art of the past and the same can be said for fashion.

Admittedly fashion on the highstreet is not as much an art form as High Fashion as it is more concerned with the neccessities of the public, rather than the aesthetic quality of the clothes, but High-Fashion designers such as Alexander Mcqueen did not create clothes to be worn, he created clothes to amaze, shock and sculpt beauty using the human figure.

Some designers who agree that fashion is art are: Schiaparelli, Paul Poiret and John Varvatos.

This debate will continue to be argued for years to come, however my opinion is: anyone who uses their creative ability and imagination to create beauty in any form is an artist. Fashion is not a Fine Art, and will never fall under that category, however it is an art form which is influenced by, and influences, other art forms, and designers should be recognised as artists, just as sculptors and painters are.

The full article about Karl Lagerfeld's comments and other designers point of view is available here: http://artinfo.com/news/story/805583/is-fashion-art-karl-lagerfeld-puts-the-debate-back-into-the-spotlight-by-dismissing-the-notion?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+artinfo-all+(All+Content+|+ARTINFO)

YSL's Mondrian Dress:

Alexander Mcqueen:

Rodarte: