Artist Lucio Fontana became famous for slashing and piercing his canvases, hinting in this way at a hidden dimension beyond them. By cutting and slashing the surface of his canvases, Fontana transformed them into something more real, into physical presences that evoked the infinite spaces beyond them. Canvases turned into solid surfaces, with slashes and holes dancing upon them, creating luminous images in movement. 
But while Fontana slashed canvases, designer Jeremy Laing has used scissors to cut and pierce the fabric of dresses and tops from his Spring/Summer 09 collection. The effect is similar to Fontana’s art: the designer goes in this way beyond the fabric’s bi-dimensional screen, opening it up.
Fontana mainly used monochrome canvases, Laing opts for monochrome fabrics - in neutral colours such as black or white - that he slashes with horizontal or rhombic cuts appearing in symmetrical order to give an idea of sequential harmony. Falling at regular intervals and in the same sizes, Laing’s cuts create basic structures on the fabric. 
In some cases the designer over-imposes the slashed dress or top on another layer of fabric to make the slashes more mysterious, almost attenuating the intrinsic violence of the cuts. The quantity and quality of the slashes also changes: at times there’s just one vertical slit, at others there is a plurality of symmetrical slashes that expand with the movements of the wearer, changing their original shape and the original look of the dress. Slashed tops worn on the skin do not evoke cosmic spaces and unknown galaxies, as in Fontana’s case, but an enhanced sense of eroticism. 
The same sense of eroticism, but in a more aggressive key can be found in Rodarte’s S/S 09 collection. The Mulleavy sisters’ knits are ripped and torn, sometimes reduced to cobwebs, decorated with leather inserts and chains, while their tops are slashed sensually revealing the skin hidden behind them. Rhombic cuts pierce their leggings, contributing to give a futuristic, at times robotic, look. 
At exactly forty years from his death, it’s interesting to see Fontana’s ideas applied to fashion. To know more about Fontana you can check out the exhibition Fontana: luce e colore (Fontana: light and colour) at Genoa’s Palazzo del Doge, from 22nd October 2008 to 15th February 2009. The exhibition features 130 works and, apart from being a good introduction to Fontana’s art, it might also provide you with a few inspirations to slash and cut some of your old tops and dresses. Who knows, Fontana’s slashes might turn into one of the trends for next Spring.
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