iwish
Fashion as Art: 5 Designers Who Think Like Artists
Because art influences perception, even if you’re not in the runway reality. After these designers, you’ll start seeing fashion as a medium for self-expression, conflict, emotions.
Fashion can be functional, playful, trendy. But sometimes, it becomes a statement. Not about beauty, not about how “it fits,” but about how it feels.
Some designers don’t just sew — they create worlds, just like artists. They have a concept, a philosophy, and an inner language. And yes — they aren’t always comfortable, and they aren’t always understood, but that’s exactly what makes them art.
Some designers don’t just sew — they create worlds, just like artists. They have a concept, a philosophy, and an inner language. And yes — they aren’t always comfortable, and they aren’t always understood, but that’s exactly what makes them art.
“Clothing doesn’t have to be understood to be powerful. Art is not an instruction, it’s an experience.”
1. Alexander McQueen
Concept: beauty and death, strength and vulnerability, gothic and theatre
Inspiration: history, religion, anatomy, Scottish culture, pain
McQueen wasn’t afraid to address themes that fashion usually shies away from.
He created collections dedicated to violence, racism, war, and mental health. His show “VOSS” was a mad house on the runway. And the glass and feather dress from the “Widows of Culloden” collection is a poem about women and mourning.
Inspiration: history, religion, anatomy, Scottish culture, pain
McQueen wasn’t afraid to address themes that fashion usually shies away from.
He created collections dedicated to violence, racism, war, and mental health. His show “VOSS” was a mad house on the runway. And the glass and feather dress from the “Widows of Culloden” collection is a poem about women and mourning.
“You have to know pain to understand beauty,” he once said.
McQueen’s fashion is the body experiencing drama, a theatrical soul on the runway.
McQueen’s fashion is the body experiencing drama, a theatrical soul on the runway.
2. Iris van Herpen
Concept: the fusion of science, nature, technology, and emotion
Inspiration: neural networks, architecture, biology, water, space
Iris van Herpen sees fashion as a form of art and scientific exploration. She’s not interested in fabric for its beauty alone — she seeks to express movement, growth, and transformation. Her creations aim to visualize the invisible: energy fields, emotions, or the microstructures of nature.
She believes that clothing can become an extension of one’s inner world — thoughts, sensations, and dreams. Her work is a dialogue between the body and technology, between nature and artificial intelligence, pushing the boundaries of what fashion can mean and how it can connect us to the unseen forces around us.
Each of her collections has a name like an art piece:
• “Sensory Seas” — about the sensitivity of bodies
• “Hypnosis” — about infinite motion
• “Voltage” — about the electricity of emotions
Inspiration: neural networks, architecture, biology, water, space
Iris van Herpen sees fashion as a form of art and scientific exploration. She’s not interested in fabric for its beauty alone — she seeks to express movement, growth, and transformation. Her creations aim to visualize the invisible: energy fields, emotions, or the microstructures of nature.
She believes that clothing can become an extension of one’s inner world — thoughts, sensations, and dreams. Her work is a dialogue between the body and technology, between nature and artificial intelligence, pushing the boundaries of what fashion can mean and how it can connect us to the unseen forces around us.
Each of her collections has a name like an art piece:
• “Sensory Seas” — about the sensitivity of bodies
• “Hypnosis” — about infinite motion
• “Voltage” — about the electricity of emotions
“When people see my work and feel like they’re dreaming, then I know I’ve done it right.”
Iris van Herpen
Dutch fashion designer
3.Rei Kawakubo
Concept: breaking forms, anti-fashion, emptiness, and paradox
Inspiration: Zen, architecture, Japanese philosophy, death, and transformation
Kawakubo explores themes of freedom — freedom from beauty standards, gender norms, and traditional forms. Her designs provoke thought and emotion rather than offer answers. Through her work, she reflects on emptiness, destruction, rebirth, and the tension between body and garment. Many of her pieces function more like visual metaphors than wearable clothes.
Rei Kawakubo’s trademark is anti-fashion — fashion that goes against fashion. She doesn’t create to please; she creates to make people think. Her garments are not just clothes, they are philosophy in fabric — something you don’t just wear, but engage with.
In her collection “Lumps and Bumps,” models wore dresses with “deformations.” In “18th-Century Punk,” she fused historical fashion with anarchy.
Inspiration: Zen, architecture, Japanese philosophy, death, and transformation
Kawakubo explores themes of freedom — freedom from beauty standards, gender norms, and traditional forms. Her designs provoke thought and emotion rather than offer answers. Through her work, she reflects on emptiness, destruction, rebirth, and the tension between body and garment. Many of her pieces function more like visual metaphors than wearable clothes.
Rei Kawakubo’s trademark is anti-fashion — fashion that goes against fashion. She doesn’t create to please; she creates to make people think. Her garments are not just clothes, they are philosophy in fabric — something you don’t just wear, but engage with.
In her collection “Lumps and Bumps,” models wore dresses with “deformations.” In “18th-Century Punk,” she fused historical fashion with anarchy.
The Innovators:
“There are no limits – I endeavor to make clothes that didn’t exist before.”
4.Hussein Chalayan
Concept: fashion as memory, migration, disappearance
Inspiration: political crises, Cypriot culture, movement, science
Hussein Chalayan’s work is deeply intertwined with themes of memory, migration, and disappearance, where fashion becomes a vessel for telling complex stories about human experience. His creations do not simply present clothes; they invite reflection on identity, history, and the movements that shape us.
His inspiration comes from the turmoil of political crises, the rich heritage of Cypriot culture, the motion of migration, and the cutting-edge possibilities offered by science and technology. These elements combine to create a language of fashion that is both provocative and thought-provoking.
In his groundbreaking collections, Chalayan pushes the boundaries of what fashion can represent. His 2000 collection, for example, included a dress-table — a piece of furniture that transforms into clothing, symbolizing the fluidity of borders and identities.
In the “Afterwords” collection, models wore chair covers as skirts, evoking the idea of furniture as a symbol of home and belonging — but also of displacement, as refugees carry their homes with them.
Perhaps one of the most memorable moments in Chalayan’s work was in the “Inertia” collection, where a dress disintegrated on the runway, unraveling piece by piece as if it were disappearing before the audience’s eyes. This powerful imagery encapsulates his exploration of loss, identity, and the fragility of memory.
Inspiration: political crises, Cypriot culture, movement, science
Hussein Chalayan’s work is deeply intertwined with themes of memory, migration, and disappearance, where fashion becomes a vessel for telling complex stories about human experience. His creations do not simply present clothes; they invite reflection on identity, history, and the movements that shape us.
His inspiration comes from the turmoil of political crises, the rich heritage of Cypriot culture, the motion of migration, and the cutting-edge possibilities offered by science and technology. These elements combine to create a language of fashion that is both provocative and thought-provoking.
In his groundbreaking collections, Chalayan pushes the boundaries of what fashion can represent. His 2000 collection, for example, included a dress-table — a piece of furniture that transforms into clothing, symbolizing the fluidity of borders and identities.
In the “Afterwords” collection, models wore chair covers as skirts, evoking the idea of furniture as a symbol of home and belonging — but also of displacement, as refugees carry their homes with them.
Perhaps one of the most memorable moments in Chalayan’s work was in the “Inertia” collection, where a dress disintegrated on the runway, unraveling piece by piece as if it were disappearing before the audience’s eyes. This powerful imagery encapsulates his exploration of loss, identity, and the fragility of memory.
Chalayan Spring/Summer 2016
“Fashion is not enough. That’s why I combine it with film, science, and technology — to tell deeper stories.”
Hussein Chalayan
Cypriot-Turkish designer
5.Martin Margiela
Concept: Deconstruction, anonymity, fashion as philosophy.
Inspiration: Street fashion, material experimentation, breaking traditional ideas of fashion.
What makes him unique: Martin Margiela is a designer who fundamentally rejected traditional notions of fashion. In his work, he often employs deconstruction, material repurposing, and minimalist approaches, making his pieces both unique and revolutionary. He is also known for his anonymity: the brand Maison Margiela avoids emphasizing the designer’s name, allowing the focus to be on the ideas and products.
Margiela proposed the concept where clothing becomes not just a “look” but a philosophy: he repurposes everyday objects and transforms them into fashionable items. His collections often feature remade items or details that create unique silhouettes, challenging traditional beauty standards with the notion of functional existence and reality.
Inspiration: Street fashion, material experimentation, breaking traditional ideas of fashion.
What makes him unique: Martin Margiela is a designer who fundamentally rejected traditional notions of fashion. In his work, he often employs deconstruction, material repurposing, and minimalist approaches, making his pieces both unique and revolutionary. He is also known for his anonymity: the brand Maison Margiela avoids emphasizing the designer’s name, allowing the focus to be on the ideas and products.
Margiela proposed the concept where clothing becomes not just a “look” but a philosophy: he repurposes everyday objects and transforms them into fashionable items. His collections often feature remade items or details that create unique silhouettes, challenging traditional beauty standards with the notion of functional existence and reality.
“I think of fashion as a form of art, and art is about changing people’s perceptions.”
#lumen
instagram
behance
mail
CONTACTS
lumen@icloud.com
lumen.journal
@lumen.journal
lumen.journal
@lumen.journal
contacts
feedback
#lumen
feedback
