In an exercise of establishing the zeitgeist with mutual influence, the intertwining of art and fashion is inevitable in the materialisation of human expression. For example, Phoebe Philo mentions Hannah Höch, one of 192 female artists highlighted at this year’s biennale, as an inspiration for her Autumn Winter 2014 collection for Celine. Although not immediately apparent, the asymmetrical placement of buttons, accent brooches and contrasting prints are reminiscent of the German Dada artist’s photomontage style of reconstructing composition, especially when considering underlying allusions to the agency and liberation of structures binding women during the Weimar period.
The subliminal transfer of ideas and creativity, as a result of cross-disciplinary dialogue, can also be apparent in fashion beyond just design, revealing itself in scenography, accompanying music and even literature. American Modernist sculptor Ruth Asawa, another featured artist of the 2022 Venice Biennale, attended the Black Mountain College with the likes of Josef & Anni Albers, Robert Rauschenberg, Franz Kline, John Cage, Cy Twombly and Willem de Kooning, none of whom are designers themselves but have exerted an immense and undeniable influence on numerous fashion designers. This incubator of creativity, the Black Mountain College, and its experimental and holistic approach to the study of art, is further explored by Dr. Monica Titton in “Art and Freedom” featured in A Magazine Curated by Lucie and Luke Meier. What the institution represents, for the purposes of this selection at least, is the innate collaboration that multidisciplinary exchange fosters.