is fashion art

Learn Indian Art Through Fashion Designing

Indian culture is very diverse. Divided in 29 provinces, Indian culture has got lot to offer. Each province has its own independent culture, which uniquely contributes in making this country so vivid and rich. Right from religions, spirituality, festivals, language, cuisines, and languages to literature, epics, dance, drama and clothing, everything speaks volume about this country.

Indian clothing is rich in embroidery and intricate designing. Popularly known as Indian karigari, this reflects expertise work of Indian culture. There are different forms of embroidery found here related to different provinces respectively. Like, if you go to Jammu and Kashmir, much of thread work on pashmina will be found. Going down to south will introduce you to kanjiwaram silk, which speaks of classiness and elegance. One of the famous embroidery arts is zari ki karigari, which is very commonly found on most of ethnic Indian women attires. Originated in the interiors of central India, it used to be main occupation of certain communities in Uttar Pradesh.

Zari embroidery is basically intricate metal designing done on traditional wears like sarees, lehengas, suits and others. It takes a lot of time, expertise and labour to come up with a good work. One thing that has remained common over ages is that it is done manually by artisans. Designs might have changed over years, but the grace of this karigari is still the same. In fact, zari embroidery contributes a major share in the overall segment of Indian handicrafts.

The growing popularity of Indian embroidery has influenced fashion conscious people around the world. Not only Indian designers, fashion professionals across globe have shown their inclination towards Indian art. In fact, in a lot of fashion institutes , these traditional embroideries are now included as a part of fashion designing courses. Students are given an overview of the intricate traditional designing and are told with their applications. Fashion professionals infuse traditional embroideries and art work with modern designs to give a different look. This pattern is very common these days.

Zari embroidery is one of the oldest art works of India. In certain parts of the country, it is still the main occupation of lot of tribal people. Very few people are left in the original region and this because of the growing competition in the market. Our government is needed to take substantial efforts so as to preserve our cultural heritage. In Delhi there are many such exhibition and Melas are conducted where one can easily get oldest art works of the country.

Is Fashion Art?

A couple of instant coffee granules miss the cup as they often do first thing in the morning. With slow sleepy swipes, I mop them up while I wait for the kettle to boil. If I've managed to convey the right number of coffee granules from the coffee jar to my mug, and added precisely the right amount of sugar, milk and hot water, then it will be a good cup of coffee. But if I don't get ratio exactly right, it's yuck, which goes to show that there's an art to making a decent cup of java. Or is there? An art to making coffee, I mean.

The question of what constitutes "Art" with a capital T has been around for a long time. People pretty much agree that making a good cup of coffee is not an art but there is still a lot of dissent about certain modes of expression like writing, movie making and fashion. There is the idea that fashion cannot be an art because it evolved from sewing and tailoring which is a craft even though tailoring has been referred to as "architecture" and the draping of fabric across the body as being "sculptural". Many designers make references to art and artistic theories and concepts in their work yet are nevertheless relegated to the ranks of the frivolous where haute couture is viewed as the fetish of the financially well-to-do. And once haute couture and runway collections have been watered down for consumption by the general public then they are seen as nothing more than financial commodities and functional apparel in the marketplace.

Another reason why fashion is not considered to be art is because, as with film making, a number of people performing different functions take part in the creation of a garment, such as the designer, fabric producer, pattern cutter and seamstress to name but a few. Because designers often don't work alone to produce a garment, they don't fit with the traditional view of the artist as a solitary genius and are therefore not considered artists even though their vision of what the garment will look like is their own.

In short, there is no clear-cut answer as to whether fashion is Art or not because there are so many ways to interpret and use an individual garment. It can be seen as protection from the elements, an expression of belonging to a particular socio-cultural group, as a personal form of expression when it is worn, or in its purest sense, as the embodiment of the vision of its creator, the designer. Because fashion is so fluid and open to interpretation, it fits in with the theories of many disciplines and forms of expression, of which Art is only one.

Art Deco Fashion - The Flapper

The women's liberation movement was making significant progress in the early 1900s. The 1920's and 1930's saw many countries grant women the right to vote - including the USA, England, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Brazil, The Philippines, amongst many others. During WWI, women across the globe went to work to fill the employment void created when men went off to war. Many continued to work after the war and began to demand equal pay for equal work.

This new sense of freedom and liberation created huge changes in the lives of women everywhere. Attitudes were shifting and the progressive, modern women of the 1920s started rebelling against tradition. They no longer wanted to be associated with the prudish, Victorian values and did everything possible to radically distance themselves from the traditional, feminine image.

Women started wearing their hair and skirts short, got their drivers licences, started smoking, drinking, kissing and petting (oh my!) in public, wore heavy makeup and danced the Charleston at the hottest jazz clubs of the day. These young women came to be known as Flappers, "in reference to a young bird flapping its wings while learning to fly" (Wikipedia.com). An just like a bird flapped its wings to fly the coop, the women of the 1920s also flapped their wings, symbolically speaking, to escape convention and oppressive tradition.

Characteristics of Flapper Fashion:

• Masculine forms - bustless, hipless, boyish shapes
• Streamlined
• Short hemlines (mid calf to just a smidgeon above the knee)
• Tubular silhouette
• The Cloche (domed or bell-shaped) hat
• The classic, beaded, fringed 'Charleston' dress
• Geometric, angular shapes and designs
• Rolled down stockings