Fashion as the Other of art. The position of clothing design in the avant- -garde art and in the contemporary era

Abstract

_{Analyzing the relationships between art and fashion, I will refer to the category the Other/ identical. For several decades, it has been popular in the humanistic debate, subject to various interpretations (Derrida, Foucault, feminism, post-colonialism). In the meaning adopted here, just as the Other is a condition for the existence of the identical, so, I believe, fashion is a point of reference for art. It functions as an element allowing art to build its identity on being different from it. This situation was particularly evident in the first half of the 20th century. In the introductory part of my paper, I will present some examples of avant-garde artists' involvement in the design of clothing treated on an equal footing with artistic activity. For the Futurists and Constructivists, the Other and the identical were equal. The second part of the paper describes the situation that arose at the end of the 20th century, when equality between the Other and the identical took a different form. The identical started imitating the Other – art now resembles a fashion show, advertising photography or a luxury boutique. This reveals the anti-nomical character of art, its secret connection with fashion, anticipated by Theodor W. Adorno. Contemporary art no longer has the strength to resist it. They blend into the aesthetic visual sphere.}