BREAKING RULES OF OLD TRENDS

INTRODUCTION

Postmodernism in fashion has developed over the past twenty years with designers such as, Comme des Garcons, Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood demonstrating its key elements. So how is been widely used over the past two decades, but trying to pinpoint one definitive meaning for the term is very difficult indeed. Taken literally Postmodernism means “after the modernist movement”, but there is more to Postmodernism than that. One thing that is certain are Postmodernism is a flexible term that can cover a wide range of art forms.

Originally, Postmodernism was a reaction to modernism. Postmodernism can also be used to describe the society in which we live in today; post modernity is a globalizing, post industrial world of media, communication and information systems. It is organized on the basis of a market orientated world of consumption rather than work and production, it is a world of culture in which tradition, consensual values, universal beliefs and standards have been challenged, undermined and rejected for diversity and differentiation.

NEW DESIGNS ARE INFLUENCED BY POSTMODERNISM

Postmodernism has embraced all forms of art, including the world of fashion, and fashion has recently embodied all of the major elements of postmodernism. This can be clearly seen on the catwalks and shows of the latest, popular fashion designers.

New designers are also using the postmodernist influences in their designs, changing the future of fashion by drawing on its varied past. Fashion has seen it all and done it all in the past five decades, and nothing is too controversial in the fashion world today. It is now normal to see models on the catwalk in a see-through dress, wearing nothing but their knickers underneath. While this would have been taboo thirty years ago, now people barely bat an eyelid. For many, the image shows the empowerment of today’s female models.

Post modernity was the era of modernism when excess and individualization began. Modernity conceived of the object in terms of production, post modernity conceives of it in terms of consumption. There wasn’t one set meaning to an object or a garment anymore. Both post modernity and its fashion were based on new and different ideas. This created a desire for new things and for the latest model. So there was a cycle of desire for endless difference. Now in most cases, our needs are met and the mystical value of something is more important than the use value.

The postmodern era emphasizes difference so there is no met narrative, meaning no right or wrong. This creates a lot of subjective confusion and creates what is known as the “postmodern crisis of meaning” in which people are overwhelmed by options and no longer know what to do with their lives.

CHARACTERISTICS

Postmodernism started from breaking rules and old traditions. People liked breaking the traditions and bringing something new as an art form .Postmodernism can be seen as an artistic style, or an approach to the making of things. The way something is constructed, the silhouette created and the status it gives the wearer or user. Andrew Hill points out, “clothing is no longer associated with the type of social hierarchies it once was”. For example, exposing female flesh in 19th century gave the impression of prostitution, whereas now it can signify any number of things such relaxation or wanting to appear attractive to the opposite sex.

Throughout the nineteenth century anything ‘detailed’ or ‘ornamental’ was judged feminine and inferior; and this distinction was carried on into twentieth-century modernism.

Besides the established designers and representatives of postmodernism such as Maison Martin Margiela, Vivienna Westwood, Comme des Garcons and Hussein Chalayan, more recently, also new designers are using the influence of postmodernism in their collections. Constantly looking forward to the future of fashion but drawing from its past.

abstract garment, bricolage, freedom , diversification , deconstruction in fashion design, deconstruction in traditional clothing, deconstruction of fashion structure , deconstruction of graphics, deconstruction of traditional material, use of contrast colors

FASHION AS GENDER EQUALITY

We have the same status as men in many aspects, to me; this image shows women’s empowerment. Although, some feminists would disagree, Elizabeth Wilson points out, Now, feminists have begun to explore the meanings of fashionable and other kinds of dress. This exploration has gone against the grain of traditional feminist suspicion of fashionable dress: many feminists reject fashion because of the way in which it reinforces the sexual objectification of women; for its association with conspicuous consumption and the positioning of women as economic chattels, as property, and because it is held to be uncomfortable and to render women helpless (high heels and pinched-in waists, for example, can impede movement).

Post-modernism doesn’t distinguish between high and low art forms. Some aesthetic forms of art were stereotyped as “feminine”, for example fashion, and then judged as being almost lower in class than the more “masculine” forms, for example, architecture. With Postmodernism there isn’t a rulebook to dictate to us the status of the different art forms.

CONCLUSION

But, that is what postmodernism is all about, embracing all opinions and not seeing just one explanation for everything. In conclusion, from my research into postmodernism and how it influences fashion I have learnt that there is much more behind an unfinished seam or a raw edge than meets the eye. Every, row weaved in the fabric, every line drawn by the designer, every button sewn on (or not) is intentional. Fashion in itself is postmodernism; it echoes the world we live in today. I have also found out that there is another side to art, the art critics who “deconstruct” the meaning of every art form and look at what even the smallest detail signifies.

Postmodernism in fashion is all around us, from eclecticism, to pastiche, to parody and deconstruction, fashion designers constantly use the new and old to create new looks in the strive to be “the next big thing”. Mass media means that fashion is so much more accessible today and it can reach far and wide, for the consumption of the consumer. Fashion seems to move at a faster speed today than it did thirty years ago, high street stores are constantly updating their lines to keep up with the public demand for “fast fashion”

POSTMODERNISM FASHION SHOW

-Manushi_20bdc026