Documents 

The encounter between art and fashion has been a rapidly growing phenomenon over the last decade, with major international artists working with top fashion houses to produce contemporary masterpieces that challenge the traditional boundary between these two dynamic cultures. Includes five chapters that feature concise essays with profiles of the key designers, break-out stories about the avant- garde projects and interviews with the leading lights of the art-fashion crossover phenomenon. [editor summary]

Not A Toy is the world's first comprehensive investigation into the growing influence of today's character culture on contemporary fashion and costume design. International artists create playful dresses, avant-garde costumes and hairstyles, re-inventing the human body and sending their radical, new characters onto the catwalk and beyond. The vast, colorful compilation, edited by Greek cultural organization for fashion research Atopos, highlights an international scene of established designers and introduces surprising, upcoming talents. [editor summary]

colorful survey of the often provocative and always highly creative relationship between art and fashion.
A crocheted wool coat of exuberant textures and glowing colors, a dyed and pleated silk vest of baroque sensuousness, a headdress of ribbon intricately ruched in the shape of a leaping fish, an evening gown made from shredded dollar bills, a kimono that carries art appliquéd on its sleeve―these are just a few of the beautiful, imaginative, even surreal works of wearable art included in this richly illustrated book, published to accompany an exhibition at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Melissa Leventon shows that wearable art is the latest in the long line of aesthetic dress reforms that began with the Arts and Crafts movement. She then traces the history of this art form as it developed out of the hippie styles and studio fiber art of the 1960s and 1970s until today, highlighting many of the leading practitioners and discussing its characteristic forms and processes.The works brought together range from pieces that are only technically wearable to one-of-a-kind works that are at home either on one's back or on one's wall to limited-edition luxury clothing.

La mode et le mouvement surréaliste entretiennent, dès l'origine de ce dernier, nombre d'affinités. "La beauté sera convulsive ou ne sera pas", déclarait André Breton dans les années trente. Cette maxime pourrait servir de devise à l'univers de la mode. Née du rêve d'un créateur, elle est, au sens propre du terme, surréelle. Un escarpin rouge métamorphosé en bibi, un gant aux longs ongles dorés, un manteau bureau, une robe homard... les surréalistes ont décousu la mode bourgeoise pour lui donner le goût du "scandale". Aujourd'hui, le génie d'un Salvador Dali, d'un Max Ernst ou d'un René Magritte continue d'influencer les plus grands créateurs, tels Yves Saint Laurent, Jean-Paul Gaultier, John Galliano ou Serge Lutens..

Si l'on connaît bien l'imaginaire fabuleux de Gustav Klimt et ses portraits de femmes fatales ou mythiques, on sait moins que l'artiste s'illustra également dans la mode. Avec sa compagne Emilie Flöge, qui dirigeait l'un des salons de couture les plus en vue de Vienne, il créa des robes réforme , participant ainsi au mouvement révolutionnaire qui bousculait alors la Vienne artistique et bourgeoise. En photographiant ces modèles pour une revue, Gustav Klimt devint le premier photographe de l'histoire de la mode.