Avant Garde is a progressive cultural movement which has brought novel and unconventional ideas into the field of art, literature, music, perception. It is almost impossible for this movement to exist devoid of fashion. Avant Garde, in very literal terms means ‘vanguard’ or ‘being ahead of time’.
But its meaning pertaining to fashion is far from its literary sense. In terms of fashion, this movement is identified by stepping outside the norms, and creating conventions of one’s own which is not defined by any particular discipline. The nature of aesthetic in this movement, is rather very personal, because it is created out of what the designer feels is aesthetic, and not what is universally accepted as aesthetic. If I try to explain it in simpler terms, it is different because, other movements encourage ‘thinking outside the box’, but this movement on the contrary, supports ‘living outside the box’.
This movement, much like other movements can be criticized on the terms such as its practicality, or how it can result in social isolation, or even bigger questions such as, ‘Even if one is set into this track, how far can he/she go?’ But looking at the present, it can be observed that it has gained immense popularity in the runaways, and even in the film or theatre industry.
Further, I would like to address a very important question of “Which designers follow it and can us as general public be a part of this movement?”
Before I move to the designers, I want to explain the second part of the question. Avant Garde fashion can be born out of any given wardrobe. Here, a lot of emphasis is given on breaking the norm of how a particular piece of clothing is worn. For example, in your opinion, there is a beautiful printed floral skirt which has a very distinct colour palette and doesn’t coordinate with regular coloured blouses. In this scenario, you can approach the idea of avant garde in two ways. First being, you can break the norm of which colour should or shouldn’t match with that skirt, and wear any blouse of your choice. Second, you can pull the skirt over your chest, pair it with a belt and optionally with a leather jacket, and style the whole thing like a tube dress. In this case, you are challenging the notion of how a skirt is to be worn.
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Now moving to the designer’s perspective, they try to achieve these looks by mostly experimenting with the stitching and styling aspect of it. They work on necklines, frills, shapes of the fabric, make it flexible and adopt less enclosed designs (with the use of buttons and hooks, or threads), and various other personalised patterns depending on the tone and mood of the collection. A lot of work is also focused around layering the outfit, experimenting with outerwear, and how scarfs and belts are wrapped. They also make use of what is conventionally termed as ‘absurd’ accessories such as huge heavy neckpieces, earrings with an undefined shape, hairpins and bracelets, etc. Asymmetry and monochromic designs are widely seen in as a part of this movement.
Avant Garde designers are not necessarily the most popular ones, but they have built a position of their own. Some of the well-known designers of this movement are, Yohji Yamamoto from Tokyo, Gareth Pugh from Britain, Rick Owens from America, Marina Yee from Belgium and many more who have influenced the Western and Asian parts. Indian designers such as Tarun Tahiliani, Amit Aggarwal and, Shantanu and Nikhil are also headed in the same direction.
The best sources of getting access to avant garde fashion in popular culture can be, following events such as Met Gala, Cannes Festival, Coachella festival, various movie award shows, and even celebrity weddings.
To conclude, participating in the Avant Garde movement is a daring manoeuvre and art needs to be appreciated in every form, so here I am.
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~ Upasana
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