>POSTMODERNISM:
Postmodernism is a broad cultural, intellectual, and artistic movement that
emerged in the mid-20th century as a reaction to the Modernist ideals of
progress, certainty, and objectivity. It is often characterized by skepticism,
irony, playfulness, and a questioning of established norms and values.
Postmodernism challenges the idea that there are universal truths or fixed
meanings, instead emphasizing relativity, multiplicity, and subjectivity.
Postmodernism in fashion isn't just about the clothes people wear, but how
clothing can reflect the complexities, contradictions, and fluidities of modern
life.
• It is anti-modernist, anti-haute couture (fashion as a form of ugliness,
breaking the codes of classical beauty; fashion as self-mocking).
• It appropriates imagery from earlier historical or cultural eras, or use
materials from other contexts (pastiches = combinations of ideas, styles,
images, textiles, colors or patterns).
• It can be used as a social or political marker, as it has the capacity to
advertise an individual’s representation of self as well as critiquing society in
general (deconstructionist techniques, symbolic imagery, or the juxtaposition
of different materials or images in the work create a visual paradox).
• It embraces new technological materials and methods.
>ANTI-FASHION
The concept of fashion as anti-fashion challenges traditional ideas about
clothing, style, and beauty, seeking to subvert the rules of mainstream fashion
by rejecting conventional notions.
Anti-fashion actively works to question, disrupt, and often critique the very
systems that sustain the fashion industry, including ideas around consumerism,
gender, class, identity, and conformity. Anti-fashion is opposed to the idea of
following trends or fitting into the mass-market definition of beauty and
desirability. Anti-fashion often involves the deconstruction or deliberate
distortion of mainstream fashion tropes. This can include the repurposing of
everyday or "ugly" items into high-fashion statements, or using fashion as
a form of social commentary, critiquing consumerism.
>PUNK
Anti-fashion has often been defined as a form of nihilism/revolution, as a
revolutionary break with tradition. Exaggeration and distortion in dress
emerged in the late 70s and 80s when British punk recreated the most
nihilistic fashion worn since the French Revolution.
Effrontery in dress, obscenity in language and offensiveness in behavior
characterized the urban punk warrior. Punk fashion used visual violence.
Elements of contrast and contradiction proliferated in the costumes of the
street punks, whose tribal and ritualistic body accessorizing suggested
metaphoric links to earlier societies considered primitive by the modern
Western world. Johnny Rotten decided that it would be fitting to wear torn
trousers and garbage bags cut up to make T-shirts as an outrageous method of
presentation, a new aesthetic. Shiny gold industrial fabrics and plastic-
coated cottons were used also with metal fastenings including zippers,
studs, and safety pins. Punks became increasingly hostile in their dress
adding tribal mutilations, body piercing and swastika tattoos, and accessories
that symbolized their obsession with bondage. They wore lavatory chains
around their necks, used tampons as decorative accessories and featured
pornographic imagery on their t-shirts. Their clothing was dirty, usually
tattered and ripped, defied with obscenities and held together with pins and
strings. For the punks, fashion become ugliness, an external form of visual
intrusions.
>VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
Vivienne Westwood’s career in fashion began with a strong connection to the
punk movement, Her work during the 1970s and early 1980s is characterized
by its rebellious, anarchic spirit, which not only influenced fashion but also
challenged the cultural norms of the time. Westwood’s journey into fashion
began with a focus on street culture, subversion, and DIY (bricolage)
aesthetics. She opened a shop called Sex, recalled in 1981 World’s End, that
became the epicenter of the punk movement. Her partner Malcolm McLaren
designed clothes that embodied the anarchic energy of punk. The garments
were deliberately provocative, often featuring slogans, provocative imagery.
The clothing was raw, distressed, and infused with a sense of anger and
rebellion, using elements like safety pins, ripped t-shirts, and leather jackets to
express discontent with society.
By the early 1980s, she started to incorporate historical and romantic
influences into her work. The Pirate collection marked a turning point in
Westwood's career as it moved away from the raw, street-level fashion of punk
into something more sophisticated, yet still rebellious. The Pirate collection
featured dramatic silhouettes, including billowing shirts, high-waisted pants,
and corsets, all fused with Westwood’s punk sensibility. The collection was
inspired by the 17th-century images of pirates and the romantic notion of
rebellion and adventure. While the designs were more
opulent/rich/imponent.
Westwood’s exploration of historical themes continued in the 1980s with her
Buffalo Girls collection. This collection drew inspiration from American
frontier history and Native American influences, combined with a bit of a "Wild
West" aesthetic. It showcased oversized plaid shirts, cowboy hats, and leather
jackets, once again fusing historical references with a modern, punk spirit. This
collection was part of her larger aim to explore themes of rebellion not just
against fashion, but versus conventional ideas of beauty, class, and
gender.
The Punkature collection, “punk” + “couture”, meant to juxtapose the raw,
rebellious energy of punk with the refined techniques of traditional haute
couture. It was Westwood’s way of reinterpreting couture by subverting its
conventions. She used the elegance of haute couture but fused it with the
rawness and unkempt elements of punk.
With the Witches collection she began to experiment with folklore, fantasy,
and history. The collection was inspired by the concept of witches.
From the mid-1980s onward, Westwood’s collections became more focused on
historical references, particularly English and European history, but always
through her distinctive punk lens.
Anglomania celebrated British identity, she used of tartans, plaids, and punk
symbols intertwined with elements of British heritage.
In the 2000s, Vivienne Westwood began to integrate activism more explicitly
into her work. She used her platform as a designer to advocate for
sustainability, ethical fashion, and political activism. The Climate
Revolution (2014) was not just a fashion collection but part of Westwood’s
larger campaign to raise awareness about climate change.
Some of Westwood’s most innovative work came from her early years, when
she used underwear as outerwear. This move also highlighted the role of
fetishism in sexuality, an issue that was assuming greater importance in
critical thinking about the cultural construction of sexuality. Her designs
consistently engaged with feminist ideas of empowerment, subversion, and
the deconstruction of traditional gender roles. Westwood used fashion to
challenge societal norms, reclaim women’s power, and make bold feminist
statements.
Her collections have celebrated the autonomy and complexity of women, she
used fashion as a platform for personal and political expression, proving
that clothing can be a powerful tool.
>WOMEN ARTISTS
Women artists in the 70s and 80s also adopted a much more blatant and
provocative stance in their work. Judy Chicago became infamous for The
Dinner Party where a large triangular table was set with symbolic ceramic
plates in homage to women’s history, that plates featured a floral-like sculpture
that was supposed to represent the female vulva, these seem to be the most
appropriate media for parodying sexist society.
Barbara Kruger used graphic design to create a series of provocative posters
that challenged the perceived stereotyping that women had endured for years.
Untitled portrays the previously held belief that consumerism creates identity.
Cindy Sherman uses clothing and performance art to depict stereotypical
roles that women play in society in her Untitled Film Stills. Her methodology
is based on constructing individual personas to reconstitute the identity of
self and to mimic mass media’s configurations of femininity. The series is both
humorous and devastating at the same time.
