Fashion scholarship has prospered since the 1980s. Yet in spite of the stimulating research in this field, principally in the domain of design, gender, media and cultural studies, only a handful of scholars have written about fashion�s relationship with the artworld. This, inspite of the artworld increasingly drawing upon the idiom of fashion - �the new�, �the now� and hype, and the evolvement of sartorial fashion into an exciting new artistic medium as the result of an increasingly experimental attitude towards design. This thesis considers the idiom of fashion as part of art-making, and how we might critically approach fashion design as a visual arts practice. The relationship between fashion and the artworld is explored using the ideas of intersection, interplay and collusion. In utilising these ideas to explore the rapport between fashion and the artworld the multi-faceted nature of fashion�s relationship with the artworld, the slippages between the commercial and creative imperatives of fashion, are brought to the surface. This project grew out of a �debate� emerging in the 1980s and 1990s and occurring in articles and exhibitions which sought to identify and elaborate on a closer rapport between fashion and art. Based on this �debate� six sites of connection are considered, beginning with a discussion on writing about fashion from a visual arts perspective, and where a range of proponents and proposals are considered. The thesis then shifts to an analysis of the February 1982 special issue of Artforum which featured a garment designed by Issey Miyake on its cover. This is followed by an exploration of the value attached to fashion in the artworld. The fashion designer�s self-construction as a visual artist is the subject of the next chapter, followed by a look at the emergence of Conceptual Couture - ideas-based fashion. The final chapter considers fashion in the exhibition environment.

Fashion scholarship has prospered since the 1980s. Yet in spite of the stimulating research in this field, principally in the domain of design, gender, media and cultural studies, only a handful of scholars have written about fashion�s relationship with the artworld. This, inspite of the artworld increasingly drawing upon the idiom of fashion - �the new�, �the now� and hype, and the evolvement of sartorial fashion into an exciting new artistic medium as the result of an increasingly experimental attitude towards design. This thesis considers the idiom of fashion as part of art-making, and how we might critically approach fashion design as a visual arts practice. The relationship between fashion and the artworld is explored using the ideas of intersection, interplay and collusion. In utilising these ideas to explore the rapport between fashion and the artworld the multi-faceted nature of fashion�s relationship with the artworld, the slippages between the commercial and creative imperatives of fashion, are brought to the surface. This project grew out of a �debate� emerging in the 1980s and 1990s and occurring in articles and exhibitions which sought to identify and elaborate on a closer rapport between fashion and art. Based on this �debate� six sites of connection are considered, beginning with a discussion on writing about fashion from a visual arts perspective, and where a range of proponents and proposals are considered. The thesis then shifts to an analysis of the February 1982 special issue of Artforum which featured a garment designed by Issey Miyake on its cover. This is followed by an exploration of the value attached to fashion in the artworld. The fashion designer�s self-construction as a visual artist is the subject of the next chapter, followed by a look at the emergence of Conceptual Couture - ideas-based fashion. The final chapter considers fashion in the exhibition environment.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Laura Edmondson, Florida State University, School of Theatre. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed 6/15/04). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--West Virginia University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 38 p. : col. ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-38).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-86). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-86). Also available on the Internet.

This thesis examines the relationship between art and fashion in order to first, justify fashion as an art form, and second, demonstrate the applicability of critical theory to the study of fashion through an examination of Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2006 menswear collection, titled “Killa,” presented in Milan, Italy, in 2005. “Killa,” loosely based on William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies and its 1963 film adaptation, opens with crisp, white, tailored suits worn by neatly groomed models. Steadily throughout the collection, these tailored suits are exchanged for wide-legged, cropped shorts, and tanks in browns and beiges. By the end, models appear on the runway with painted faces, wild hair, and highly patterned, dark-colored body suits and billowing capes. While “Killa” appears to demonstrate the narrative regression from civilized to savage demonstrated in Golding's novel, this thesis argues that McQueen's collection actually strives to promote a more positive ennobling of the Other. A careful study of his life and career suggests that McQueen perceived himself as the Other within the community in which he worked and lived. Frustrated by frequent misinterpretations of his work and false accusations of his character, “Killa” becomes McQueen's ultimate confrontation with Otherness. Positioning the Other at the climax of an elite fashion show, represented by Mesoamerican designs depicted through the highest quality tailoring, McQueen's Other is respected and revered, rather than looked down upon. In this way, McQueen challenges the perception of his own character within the fashion community. Ultimately this thesis seeks to demonstrate the necessity of the application of critical theory to objects of fashion. As demonstrated through the case study of McQueen's 2006 menswear collection, this academic consideration has the potential to reveal important overlooked meanings within the art of fashion. This suggests that McQueen's work, as well as the work of other contemporary fashion designers, merits more thoughtful and careful interpretation in the study of postmodern art history.

This thesis argues that the work of the artist David McDiarmid is to be read as an enactment of late twentieth century gay male and queer politics. It will analyse how both the idea and the cultural specificity of ???America??? impacted on the work of this Australian artist resident in New York from 1979 to 1987. The thesis examines how African American music, The Beats, notions of ???hip??? and ???cool???, street art and graffiti, the underground dance club Paradise Garage, street cruising and gay male urban culture influenced the sensibility and the materiality of the artist???s work. McDiarmid???s cultural practice of dress and adornment, it is proposed, forms an essential part of his creative oeuvre and of the ???queer worldmaking??? which is the driver of his creative achievements. The thesis proposes that McDiarmid was a Proto-queer artist before the politics of queer emerged in the 1980s and that his work, including his own life-as-art practices of dress and adornment, enact a mobile rather than fixed gay male identity.

This thesis argues that the work of the artist David McDiarmid is to be read as an enactment of late twentieth century gay male and queer politics. It will analyse how both the idea and the cultural specificity of ???America??? impacted on the work of this Australian artist resident in New York from 1979 to 1987. The thesis examines how African American music, The Beats, notions of ???hip??? and ???cool???, street art and graffiti, the underground dance club Paradise Garage, street cruising and gay male urban culture influenced the sensibility and the materiality of the artist???s work. McDiarmid???s cultural practice of dress and adornment, it is proposed, forms an essential part of his creative oeuvre and of the ???queer worldmaking??? which is the driver of his creative achievements. The thesis proposes that McDiarmid was a Proto-queer artist before the politics of queer emerged in the 1980s and that his work, including his own life-as-art practices of dress and adornment, enact a mobile rather than fixed gay male identity.

This thesis argues that the work of the artist David McDiarmid is to be read as an enactment of late twentieth century gay male and queer politics. It will analyse how both the idea and the cultural specificity of ???America??? impacted on the work of this Australian artist resident in New York from 1979 to 1987. The thesis examines how African American music, The Beats, notions of ???hip??? and ???cool???, street art and graffiti, the underground dance club Paradise Garage, street cruising and gay male urban culture influenced the sensibility and the materiality of the artist???s work. McDiarmid???s cultural practice of dress and adornment, it is proposed, forms an essential part of his creative oeuvre and of the ???queer worldmaking??? which is the driver of his creative achievements. The thesis proposes that McDiarmid was a Proto-queer artist before the politics of queer emerged in the 1980s and that his work, including his own life-as-art practices of dress and adornment, enact a mobile rather than fixed gay male identity.