By Gabrielle Kennedy / 01-10-2009

Opinions flew during the recent symposium that marked the opening of “The Art of Fashion: Installing Allusions” exhibition at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

“I don’t really believe there is a link between art and fashion,” says Belgium couture designer Christophe Coppens.  “For me, art is of the highest good.  I have so much respect for it, and fashion is the total opposite.  It’s about restrictions, money and economics.”

Coppens says he splits what he does into two categories and enjoys both – making cashmere scarves that sell in Bergdorf Goodman as well as creating unwearable pieces, like those he is showing in the exhibition.

“There are of course links between the two,” Coppens says.  “There are designers who push the boundaries, but the gap is still huge.  If you live in the world as an artist, there is no time for the funfair drama of fashion, which is full of obligations and requires the paying of lots of bills. I guess you could say that some designers are artists, but they are choosing not to live as artists, or they didn’t have the balls to really do it.  They opted for fashion instead, but of course that's just my personal opinion.”

In one of the most unpretentious and engaging deliveries of the day, Hussein Chalayan opted against a defense of any particular side and instead chose to, practically dismiss the topic as irrelevant.  

“Who cares whether it is art or fashion,” he said.  “It doesn't really matter.  All that matters are the ideas.  There are a lot of people in design who are doing more interesting work than people in art because they are critical thinkers … and as long as it moves people, who cares what you call it.”

Chalayan then went on to suggest that the categorizations of art, fashion and craft exist because of how the respective industries are organized and how they communicate their practice.

“It’s really narrow minded to draw borders,” he said.  “I don't like curators who get in a panic about this sort of thing.  They need to fill a certain framework and can't embrace all worlds.”

For the “Art of Fashion” exhibition Chalayan designed “Micro Geography,” a fashion (or art?) installation that strives and succeeds to create a new sense of life around the body.  A rotating model dressed in a floaty dress is immersed in water and flanked by two bonsai tresses.  Chalayan has said he was exploring the idea of creating a new sense, which becomes clearer after seeing the piece, which resonates a sort of disorientation.  One seems to feel the need to hear and smell the piece, and the striving to be sensually satisfied does find a different indefinable way to feel the work.

“All visual people are poor man’s musicians,” Chalayan said in his explanation.  “We are all trying to create sound because music touches us more than the visual.”

Coming back to the art as fashion debate Chalayan concludes that the general public is far better at embracing the mellifluous nature of high and low brow cultures. “There are magazines that specialize in architecture, design and fashion because in the real world as compared to in museums, everything is less fragmented.  People understand that in terms of lifestyle, it all comes together.”

Chalayan’s own professional struggle is to create work that finds a balanced poise between commercial and art (for want of a better word) pieces.   “I make the more extreme, unwearable things, but also clothes that I love to see people wearing on the streets,” he said echoing Coppens’ earlier sentiments.  “Not many designers have that, and it’s difficult but exciting to achieve.”

Difficult because once he attracts visibility for his extreme and experimental work, people become scared to approach his label for wearable items to purchase for their own wardrobes.


“The Art of Fashion: Installing Allusions” exhibition runs through until January 10th 2010.  It is curated by José Teunissen, a lecturer at ArtEZ and designed by Judith Clarke.

Part I of design.nl's coverage of this symposium is here.








Images: small top page -Hussein Chalayan, Finale Foam Dresses, collectie Inertia, Spring/summer 2009, Silicon Rubber. Collection Hussein Chalayan, London, Foto Chris Moore, Courtesy Hussein Chalayan.
large - "Micro Geography" Hussein Chalayan, 2009.  Photo Hans Wilschut
Christophe Coppens
Hussein Chalayan
Christophe Coppens, (Sint-Niklaas, 1969), Deer Cape, collectie Dream Your Dream, Winter 2005, Wool and Christal, 100 x 120 cm, Collection Christophe Coppens, Brussel, photo Marc Tops
Christophe Coppens, (Sint-Niklaas, 1969), No References, 2008. Photo Hans Wilschut
Hussein Chalayan, Airmail Dress, collectie Airmail Clothing, 1999, Tyvek, photo Matthew Pull, courtesy Hussein Chalayan
From the exhibition - Viktor & Rolf, Dress from The Fashion Show, Fall/Winter 2007/8, Centraal Museum, bruikleen H+F Collection. Photo: Peter Stigter, model: Maryna Linchuk

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