Art has always represented a strong inspiration for fashion designers, but in recent menswear collections there were both direct and indirect references to artists who represent capitalist consumption, such as Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol.
This wouldn't be the first time such modern artists were referenced, yet it seems particularly apt to move from them in our times, since both Koons and Warhol's visually gratifying works embody at the same time the innovation and the shallow culture and banality of the society we're living in.
The art references started with Burberry Prorsum where Christopher Bailey came up with a collection mainly featuring sensible tailored pieces but punctuated here and there by macs, trousers, bomber jackets, collars and sandals in metallic fuchsia, blue, green and yellow.
Though the classic and sartorial pieces will probably be a much wiser investment, the vivid metallics gave an energetic touch to the collection. Apparently the colour palette was inspired by artist David Hockney and the hand-drawn geometric prints were instead influenced by the Bloomsbury Group and the work of painter, potter, and textile designer Duncan Grant. Yet those eye-popping metallics called to mind works of art such as Jeff Koons' gigantic high-gloss stainless-steel balloon sculptures. The shades and texture of the metallic pieces in this collection seemed indeed lifted from the artist's highly reflective balloon-like polychrome and chromium stainless steel coated sculpture entitled "Tulips".
Moschino moved from Pop Art and supermarket inspirations with Bill Shapiro and Rossella Jardini sending out not on a runway, but along the aisles of the food hall of Milan's Excelsior shopping emporium, models clad in suits, cardigans and shirts decorated with prints of Budweiser-like Moschino logos and "Fresh" detergent (spoof of Ariel washing powder).
Though the collection featured also more tailored (and wearable) striped suits and designs, the energetic pop pieces were definitely the ones that caught your eye displaying also a strong connection with Andy Warhol's Brillo Soap Pads. This is actually not the first time the fashion house successfully channels in its collections a sort of obsession with American consumer culture (remember its Mr Freedom-inspired collection?).
In a way it's interesting to see how themes such as banality, artificiality and falsity tackled by artists such as Koons and Warhol, could be applied to specific fashion collections, but also to the entire fashion industry, to its vampirical addiction for consumption and to the way the fashion media prompt and push consumers to buy the next "must-have" item. And while you could argue that clothes are just clothes with no art meaning attached to them, it was somehow impossible not to look at Moschino's Pop Art pieces and hear in your head The Clash's "Lost in the Supermarket", and not laugh thinking about fashionistas and fashion victims looking for "that special offer" - a "guaranteed personality."
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