ART AND FASHION

The art of designing and constructing clothing has evolved throughout the ages, from its primitive beginnings as protection from the elements to the elevated beauty of  20th Century haute couture, when fashion design reached its zenith with the great  couturiers: Poiret, Patou, Chanel, Balenciaga, Vionnet, Dior, Schiaparelli, Charles James.

Highly influential to the haute couture  was the barbaric splendor of the Ballets Russes.  Presided over by the brilliant impresario,  Serge Diaghilev,  it gained world wide fame, not only for the magnificent Vaslav Nijinsky, but for the artistry of its premier designers, Leon Bakst and Alexandre Benois, whose sumptuously exotic costumes and sets were to have a lasting impact not only on fashion but on all aspects of culture and the arts.

These were artistes, their canvas was the female form;  their materials were embroidered silks and satins, taffetas, velvets and brocades, ribbons and lace.   Scissors, muslin, pins and marking chalk were the tools with which to mold and sculpt the fabric to the body, adjusting for beauty of vision and grace of movement.

With this fashion entered the realm of art.