Essay - How is the role of a designer different to the role of an artist?

How is the role of a designer different to the role of an artist? This has long been a question of great interest across a variety of fields amongst the arts. It is an important question to be answered so that it may allow a designer or an artist to help to be able to distinguish themselves properly within the industry. Is there a distinction? If so, this paper will uncover it. It will gather thoughts from key industry members from across the board to come to an informed conclusion about this matter.

Debates are happening regularly from industry leaders on this topic. Zandra Rhodes’ textile prints launched in the 1950s and were deemed too outrageous by the industry. This forced her create her own fashion line using her textile designs. Today, Zandra is an acclaimed textile and fashion designer with a legion of followers of her work.

‘I think fashion is an art form - you might call it decorative or applied art as opposed to fine art, but what's the distinction? Because the same amount of artistic expression goes into clothes, a piece of pottery or a painting.’ -Zandra Rhodes

Alice Rawsthorn is the curator for the designer museum in London. She shows fashion in her museum, promoting it as design and not art. She recently held an exhibition ‘Women, Fashion, Power: Not a Multiple Choice’ Which featured clothing and footwear that had empowered women by such designers as Christian Louboutin, Yves Saint Laurent and Herve Leger to name a few. Her regular feature of fashion in her museum proves that she is not an outsider, ignorantly categorizing it without any knowledge of the subject, but a curator that has an informed knowledge of the subject:

‘Fashion has a practical purpose, whereas art does not. The result may be as gorgeous as a vintage Balenciaga ball gown or an eloquent political metaphor for its time, but it is still an item of clothing intended to be worn. Why pretend that it is anything else?’ - Alice Rawsthorn

Zandra Rhodes makes an extremely valid response to this statement by Alice. If Alice’s argument is that Designers design practical items and artists do not:

‘I don't think the fact that these things were designed to be practical distinguishes them from fine art. You could say a painting is designed to go on the wall, but if it were made as a fresco, where it was part of the wall, would you say it was not art because it was practical?’ -Zandra Rhodes

Zandra Rhodes has come from an artistic background, her mother was a fitter for a couture house and later a lecturer in fashion. Zandra produces textile designs using painting and other mediums commonly associated with art. She then works these on the mannequin to carefully think about placement and colour before working them into a wearable garment. She sees this very much as art and she sees everyday the amount of work and artistic values that go into every piece she produces.

Alice Rawsthorn is from a different background, one that curates and does not work with fashion first hand in the creative sense. She graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in Art History where she typically studied paintings and sculptures rather than clothing. Therefore, whether consciously or unconsciously, making an early definition in her mind. By not working first hand with fashion she may not witness the creativity and artistic implements and inspirations that are used and worked into many garments and she may not see the similarity between the way in which an artist works and the way in which a designer works.

There are some designers who do not hesitate on this debate and formally identify themselves as artists, such as Elsa Schiaparelli, who stated in her autobiography that she thought of fashion design not as “a profession, but an art.” In contrast to this, many leading designers of the today reject this position, such as: Miuccia Prada, Karl Lagerfeld, and Marc Jacobs. Instead they view fashion and art as their own separate, even if highly complementary, entities. In fact, Yves Saint Laurent considered there to be such a space between the two fields that he is quoted as saying that, despite his legendary accomplishments as a couturier, “I am a failed painter.”

In 1983, the question ‘is fashion art?’ was a minor dispute, but it was soon brought to the forefront of everybody’s minds when the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute created an exhibition of Yves Saint Laurent's designs. The layout of the exhibition was in the same way as the museum would display works by Picasso and Monet. This angered many critics, who were forced to question whether an “applied” or “decorative” art should be held up on the same platform as fine art.

In recent years, where art is traditionally showcased, fashion has increasingly appeared alongside, the feeling that it has almost crept in the backdoor and has stealthily taken a seat alongside Monet. Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty started the realisation of this take over for the majority of people. The Victoria and Albert Museum has kept quiet on how much the Savage Beauty exhibition actually cost but only one glance inside the vast, never ending rooms, the sheer grandeur could tell you it’s a lot more than the cost assigned to the ancient ceramics exhibition down the hallway. Fashion is becoming increasingly recognised as an art. Sarah Burton was quoted as saying that Alexander McQueen was a ‘once in a generation talent who uses fabrics and embellishments to create sculptures… that just happened to be worn’. He is being painted as an artist and he is seen as an artist to many people who witnessed his work first hand. In some cases his clothes were not intended to be worn but more of a political statement.

This picture was taken from his Spring / Summer ’97 show: Walking on Water or La Poupee as it was later known. This metal ‘brace’ was a statement about restrictive fashion and was inspired by an artist named ‘Hans Bellmer’ who worked with dolls. This was clearly not a piece to be worn. It had no wearability or intention to be worn, recreated or sold in his store or to be produced in his collection. It had no practical purpose other than to be a one time political statement for his show.

Art can also be about political statements; Pablo Picasso created a painting named ‘Guernica’ and is acclaimed as one of his most powerful political statements, not just for Picasso but also for the art world. It was an immediate reaction in protest to the Nazi soldiers devastating bombing practice on the small town of Guernica during the Spanish civil war. His painting depicted the tragedies of war and the suffering of innocent people. If this is art, then why is Alexander McQueen’s not? They are both statements, both intended to shock, both intended to get a reaction and both intended to express their views. They are just expressed in different ways, one on a canvas and one on a wearable canvas. What is the distinction between the two creators? How is the role of a designer different to the role of an artist?

Ying Gao is a Montreal based fashion designer who uses complex sensory technology in her dresses. The interactive clothes react to an onlookers gaze by moving and lighting up. The dresses are made from super organza (the worlds lightest fabric) and sewn with glow in the dark thread. She then installed eye-tracking technology into the dresses so that they activate when they detect some ones gaze. She has also created garments that react to sound. Now, if we refer back to Alice Rawsthorn’s statement earlier on, her only distinction between fashion and art was that fashion was created for a practical purpose and art was not. These dresses were not created for a practical purpose, they were not created to be worn, they were created to be shown, to be viewed and admired in museums around the world. Does this make it art? Does this make it scientific? Does this make it fashion?

In further exploring clothing that incorporates different arts and sciences we come to Helen storey MBE. Helen Storey is a designer who finds new meanings for garments, her two most popular works being the ‘dress of glass and flame’ and her ‘catalytic’ clothing.

Catalytic Clothing explores how clothing and textiles can be used as a catalytic surface to purify the air around us, by using existing technology in a new way. Helen Storey and scientist Tony Ryan collaborated on this project. They are two people from very different backgrounds whose minds come together to create highly successful art / science collaborations.

The dress of glass and flame was, again, a collaboration between Helen Storey MBE and scientist, Tony Ryan. It is supported by: the Manchester Art Gallery, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the London College of Fashion. It is a remarkable artwork that explores and encases the chemistry of glass and flame.

‘Helen Storey has captured this alchemic process and kept it alive via a life-size glass dress that has, as its heart, a burning flame.' – Manchester Science Festival Edit

On the photograph on the left Helen Storey wears her dress of glass and flame. The photograph on the right hand side shows the dress in its full glory and alight as it would appear on its museum tour. This dress is most definitely not practical. Although it can be worn, it is not intended to be. Much like the work of Ying Gao, the creation is intended to be adorned in a museum instead of worn on the high street because, to the creators, it is not fashion, it is an art piece designed to be in a museum. Much like the typical artists work of paintings and sculptures, they are all designed to be admired and understood.

For somebody who has been educated in both aspects, one might say that they are very similar. Both research and work from inspirations before exploring possibilities and finishing with an end product or products. It might also be worth considering that there may be different levels of designers and artists and perhaps designers like Alexander McQueen have earned their artist title whereas designers who are just beginning may not have earned that title yet.

Designs that are shown at Fashion Weeks across the world, such as London, Paris, Milan and New York, tend to be more adventurous, avant-garde, ‘wearable art’, rich in research and the amount of time spent on them and in depth research into thoughts about the trends, colours, e.t.c. This then sets the tone for high street stores who water that garment down until it can be mass produced and commercialised. Is it fair to say then that there are different classes of designers?

It has clearly been shown that every artist, designer and key members of other occupations have their own informed opinions on this broad matter. We have included work and views from artists, designers, museum curators and scientists and every one of them has slightly varied views. How is the role of a designer different to the role of an artist? In review of the opinions and views collated within this paper, this solely depends on how the said artist or designer works in his or her own way. Does there have to be a definition? Can one not just look at their own work and decide for themselves whether, if it does cross into both jurisdictions, what they class themselves as? People will continue to have varied views on this matter until the end of time, as it is not a question that can be answered with facts, only opinions. Personal interviews are recommended for further research and evidence into first hand artistry and designer work.

References

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‘I think fashion is an art form - you might call it decorative or applied art as opposed to fine art, but what's the distinction? Because the same amount of artistic expression goes into clothes, a piece of pottery or a painting.’ -Zandra Rhodes

‘Fashion has a practical purpose, whereas art does not. The result may be as gorgeous as a vintage Balenciaga ball gown or an eloquent political metaphor for its time, but it is still an item of clothing intended to be worn. Why pretend that it is anything else?’ -Alice Rawsthorn

‘I don't think the fact that these things were designed to be practical distinguishes them from fine art. You could say a painting is designed to go on the wall, but if it were made as a fresco, where it was part of the wall, would you say it was not art because it was practical?’ - -Zandra Rhodes

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Museum, Design. 'Women Fashion Power'. Design Museum. N.p., 2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.

Picasso, Pablo. 'Guernica By Pablo Picasso'. Pablopicasso.org. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.

Rawsthorn, Alice. 'Alice Rawsthorn'. Alicerawsthorn.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.

Rhodes, Zandra. 'Biography'. Zandrarhodes.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 3 Apr. 2015.

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“a profession, but an art.”

Storey, Helen. 'Helen Storey Foundation'. Helenstoreyfoundation.org. N.p., 2015. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

Wilson, Bee. 'Fierce, Feathered And Fragile: How Alexander McQueen Made Fashion An Art'. the Guardian. N.p., 2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.

‘once in a generation talent who uses fabrics and embellishments to create sculptures… that just happened to be worn’