Fashion & Art: The New Marriage

Ever since Yves Saint Laurent created the Mondrian dress in 1965, fashion and art have been spinning towards one another like two halves of a magnet. One only needs to look at the last seasons to see the evidence of fashion houses using the fine arts as an inspiration. The Byzantine mosaics appearing in last season's Dolce Gabbana collection being one of the more successful examples.

Meanwhile, more and more photographers have been making the jump from galleries towards fashion, bringing in new creativity. Robert Mapplethorpe may have been a mistake, but contemporary success stories include Ryan McGinley (here for Stella McCartney) and this season, Collier Schorr and Viviane Sassen.

Collier Schorr: Masculinity

Collier Schorr, Jens F. 2005

Andrej Pejic, for Dossier Journal Spring 2011

Collier Schorr for Brioni, S/S 2014

Viviane Sassen: Contrasts & Colours

as featured in the 2011 MoMA show 

"moon rocks" for POP Magazine in 2012

Viviane Sassen for Missoni, S/S 2014

It was only a matter of time, then, that the blurred line between artist and designer is now being further erased. Raf Simons recently announced that contemporary artist Sterling Ruby would be "taking over" his label for the A/W 2014 men's collection shown in a couple of weeks. Ruby had previously designed Simons' Tokyo flagship store and collaborated on a collection, but this time it seems to be more than a collaboration. 

Simons announced: "What interests me now is to say that this is not just a collaborative thing, not just asking someone in my field to do the knitwear or the bags. This is all the way, all the way. There is not one shirt, one shoe, one sock that is not from our mutual thinking process.” 

Sterling Ruby in his L.A. studio

The interior of the Raf Simons' store in Tokyo

Raf Simons x Sterling Ruby collection Spring Summer 2010

The show is possibly the most anticipated of January's Paris fashion week. What Picasso for Dior or Magritte for Lanvin would have looked like will remain speculations for fashion historians. As for the love between art and fashion now, we only have to stay tuned.