International Journal of Costume and Fashion

Vol. 13 No. 2, December 2013, pp. 1-13

Avant-Garde Fashion: Avant-Garde

Fashion
A Case Study of Martin Margiela1)

Kelly L. Reddy-Best* ․ Leslie Davis Burns

Department of Consumer & Family Studies/Dietetics, San Francisco State University, USA*
School of Design and Human Environment, Oregon State University, USA
(Received August 13, 2013; Revised November 19, 2013; Accepted November 29, 2013)

Abstract We studied the meaning of the term avant-garde in relation to clothing of the 1980s and
1990s by examining the media’s perceptions of Martin Margiela, a Belgian deconstructionist designer
who was often labeled as avant-garde by journalists, scholars, and fashion critics in the late 20th
century. A five-step content analysis method described by Paoletti (1982) was used to conduct the
research. Newspaper and magazine articles in the 1980s and 1990s were analyzed using a set of exist-
ing avant-garde characteristics developed by Crane (1987) to determine if those journalists’ perceptions
matched the characteristics described by Crane. Results indicated that the journalists’ critiques and de-
scriptions matched the avant-garde characteristics described by Crane (1987). Including a subjective ele-
ment to the conceptualization of the term explains how journalists described Margiela’s designs despite
Japanese designers’ use of similar techniques before him. We (re) conceptualize the term’s latter 20th
century meaning and shifting dialogue to include a subjective element.

Key words avant-garde, content analysis, fashion, Martin Margiela

Journalists, critics, and scholars often employ the word avant-garde when interpreting, critiquing, and an-
alyzing art, architecture, film, and fashion. However, the meaning of the term avant-garde is often
ambiguous. The characteristics used to determine if an artist or designer or their work is avant-garde are
often not consistent among the journalists, critics, and scholars analyzing their work; these characteristics
frequently change from year to year and differ among disciplines, which reflects the constantly shifting
and social construction of meaning in different contexts. The term avant-garde is continuously bandied
about in magazines, newspapers, and fashion-show reviews making it difficult to conceptualize. The pur-
pose of this study was to analyze the meaning of the term avant-garde as it relates to clothing in the
last twenty years of the 20th century by analyzing one designer, Margin Margiela, who was frequently la-
beled as avant-garde. Journalists’ use of the term avant-garde to describe Margiela’s designs in the 1980s
and 1990s, a time period during which many designers had a similar design aesthetic, brings to question
the conceptual underpinnings of the term. We suggest a possible need to include a subjective element in-
to its definition.

Corresponding author: Kelly L. Reddy-Best, e-mail: [email protected] 1

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IJCF Literature Review

Vol.13 No.2 Definitions and Uses of Avant-Garde
According to several scholars, the first usage of the term avant-garde in relation to the visual arts is not
definite. Calinescu (1977) discussed the use of the avant-garde idea and its metaphorical relationship with
the military and art in the first quarter of the 19th century. Poggioli (1971) stated that one of the earlier
uses of the term avant-garde was in the mid-19th century. Laverdant (1845) wrote a passage titled de la
mission de l’art et du rôle des artistes which discussed innovative artists and their relationship to
humanity. Laverdant wrote:

Art, the expression of society, manifests, in its highest soaring, the most advanced social ten-
dencies: it is the forerunner and the revealer. Therefore, to know whether art worthily fulfills
its proper mission as initiator, whether the artist is truly of the avant-garde, one must know
…
where humanity is going, know what the destiny of the human race is Along with the hymn
…
to happiness, the dolorous and despairing ode To lay bare with a brutal brush all the brutal-
ities, all the filth, which are at the base of our society (as cited in Poggioli, 1971, p. 9).

These claims by Calinescu, Poggioli, and Laverdant highlight that the initial usage and discussion of the
phrase was most likely in the 19th century, although its exact date is unknown.

Crane (1987) researched the multiple definitions of avant-garde and identified that the term is em-
ployed differently among various groups of artists and art critics. Crane stated that some authors “use
the term to refer to almost any art movement while others apply it to certain types of art styles rather
than others, generally those that are in opposition either to dominant social values or to established artis-
tic conventions” (p. 11). These ideas are visible in the arguments by Bensman and Gerver (1958) and
Burger (1984), which highlight that the differeing opinions of authors can contribute to the lack of
clarity. Bensman and Gerver (1958) argued that an avant-garde artist “attempts to paint in a way that no
one else has painted before but uses a body of artistic ideas based on preivous art tradtions” (cited in
Crane, 1987, p. 13). Burger (1984) identified that “the label of avant-garde should be reserved for artists
such as the Dadaists and the Futurists, whose works attacked the institution of art itself on the grounds
that modernist art, as a result of its preoccupation with formal aesthetic issues, has ceased to comment
on its social environment” (Crane, 1987, p. 13).
Crane (1997) also discussed the difficulty of distinguishing between avant-garde and postmodern ap-
parel designers. She attributed the difficulty of distinguishing between the two to the chaotic and rapidly
changing nature of apparel post-1960s when the de-centering of dominant fashion began. Prior to the
1960s, fashion influences predominantly “trickled down” from high fashion designs in Paris (Simmel,
1904). Then, after the 1960s, fashion influences began to “trickle up” (Field, 1970) or “trickle across”
2 (King, 1963) as styles were adopted from the youth on the street or other subcultural groups. Fashion
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innovators at that time no longer only looked to high fashion for the latest trends. In Crane’s (1997)
Avant-Garde
view, the dominant convention to which apparel designers were compared in order to determine their Fashion
level of innovation were the French high-fashion designers. However, once the postmodern era began in
the 1960s and styles began emerging from different areas, the comparison to the French high-fashion de-
signers seemed obsolete and caused scholars to question what determines a designer as avant-garde as
well as what the conventional dress is that new or avant-garde designs should be compared to.

Avant-Garde Apparel Designers and Artists

Whereas the definition and characteristics of the term avant-garde are ambiguous and varied, many schol-
ars have frequently studied artists and designers and described them as avant-garde. Crane (1997) identi-
fied Elsa Schiaparelli as the first avant-garde fashion designer in the early 20th century. She incorporated
surrealist ideas into her designs by creating “outrageous experiments in which artifacts and body parts
were placed in unusual locations, such as a hat in the form of a shoe” (Crane, 1997, p. 128). The next
set of famous avant-garde designers after Schiaparelli came from Japan. Kawamura (2004, 2006), Tortora
and Eubank (2010), Mears (2008), and Crane (1997) all state that the Japanese designers of the 1980s,
including Issey Miyaki, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo, characterized a new and innovative type
of creativity; the authors often used the adjective avant-garde to describe their design aesthetic. Mears
(2008) stated that the three designers “had a profound impact and did much to change the direction of
avant-garde fashion …they redefined contemporary fashion” (pp. 95-96). Kawamura (2004) explored the
perception of the Japanese designers in the West and why their designs were considered avant-garde. She
reviewed a range of newspaper and magazine articles to gain insight into these designers’ acceptance by
the Paris fashion system. Kawamura (2006) used Crane’s (1987) framework of avant-garde characteristics
to develop and form part of her argument. She reported that their new styles were characterized by
monochromatic, asymmetrical, and oversized looks and that they “destroyed all previous definitions of
clothing and fashion” (p. 202). Kawamura compared these new and original concepts by the Japanese
with “the rules of fashion set by orthodox, legitimate Western designers such as Chanel, Dior, and Saint
Laurent” (p. 202).
Crane (1987) studied seven different art movements in New York City between 1940 and 1980 and
analyzed the redefinition of the aesthetic content of art. She argued that as each 20th century art move-
ment emerged, it raised new questions and tested new boundaries. Based on her research, she identified
the following as underlining characteristics of artists who can be considered avant-garde: (1) “redefines
artistic conventions”; (2) “utilizes new artistic tools and techniques (e.g., the elimination of the easel by
Jackson Pollock)”; and (3) “redefines the nature of the art objects, including the range of objects that
can be considered as artworks” (p. 14). She described that artists may also be considered avant-garde
based on their production and distribution of art and whether or not it “redefines the organizational con-
text for the production, display, and distribution of art” (p. 15); yet, the three characteristics previously
listed were the most important evaluation in being considered avant-garde. She stated that any artist who
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revived styles or an aesthetic from a prior time period most likely would not be considered avant-garde.
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Spicer (2009) analyzed the perception of four American avant-garde artists’ exhibitions between
Vol.13 No.2
1950 and 1964, including Pollock, Rothko, Rauschenberg, and Johns by British art critics and journalists.
Spicer (2009) provided a thorough analysis of the perception of those artists by analyzing press cuttings,
journal articles, institutional records, and correspondences. However, he did not compile and provide the
specific avant-garde characteristics of those artists.
Both apparel designers and artists described as avant-garde pushed the boundaries of accepted con-
ventions within the discipline in the specific time period. Their new ideas were initially perceived as
shocking, and the public did not readily accept them. Major differences for the artist versus the designer
to be considered avant-garde were to whom and to what they were being compared. For apparel design-
ers, it was the high-fashion designers in the French fashion system, and for the artists it was the recent
art movements. While there was a difference in whom and what they were being compared to, both ar-
tists and apparel designers disrupted the system of ideas.

Martin Margiela
After the Japanese avant-garde designers began showing in Paris in the 1970s, scholars identified another
group of “avant-gardists” from Belgium that emerged on the fashion scene. One Belgian designer, Martin
Margiela, had a major impact on fashion viewers by putting deconstructionist designs on the runway. His
new designs were often described as shocking and avant-garde.
Deconstruction is a philosophical approach developed by Jacques Derrida and employed by many
American literary critics (Norris and Benjamin, 1988). Deconstruction has been used extensively in liter-
ary criticism and later had an influence on both architectural and apparel design. Ellinwood (2011) stated
that deconstruction began influencing fashion in the 1960s and was first seen in French fashion designer
Sonia Rykiel’s work, then later in designs by Vivienne Westwood, Yohji Yamamoto, and Martin
Margiela. Gill (1998) described deconstructionist fashion design as a type of “new thinking in fashion”
and a process where “the garment-maker is simultaneously forming and deforming, constructing and de-
stroying, making and undoing clothes” (p. 28). The deconstruction philosophy translated into fashion in a
literal and visual sense. Designers influenced by deconstruction placed seams on the surface of garments
and left threads unclipped.
Several authors described Martin Margiela’s high fashion designs as avant-garde and inspired by
Derrida’s critical theory of deconstruction. Tortora and Eubank (2010) stated, “Martin Margiela, a Belgian
designer, became one of the best-known of the deconstructionists fashion designers who made clothes
with seams located on the outside, linings that were part of the exterior, or fabric edges left unhemmed
and raw” (p. 617). In many scholarly and press articles, authors described Margiela’s deconstructed fash-
ion as avant-garde; however, characteristics of the term avant-garde were often ambiguous. We aim to
investigate if Margiela and his deconstructed aesthetic were appropriately labeled as avant-garde. Though
previous authors have analyzed the perception of avant-garde artists and designers, scholars in the fashion
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discipline have yet to specify which aspects of fashion characterize a designer or his or her garments as
Avant-Garde
avant-garde in the last two decades of the 20th century. Kawamura (2002) documented that Japanese de- Fashion
signers in the 1980s were appropriately considered avant-garde though, their redefinition of sartorial con-
ventions because they introduced different ways of wearing a garment, deconstructed garments, and chal-
lenged normative gender-specific clothing. This investigation expanded on Kawamura’s work by exploring
the next wave of innovative designers in the late 20th century.

Method
For this study, similar to Kawamura (2002), we used Crane’s (1987) framework of avant-garde character-
istics to investigate and analyze the media’s perception of the Belgian fashion designer Martin Margiela,
who is often identified as avant-garde. We chose Crane’s framework because her work was the result of
a rigorous analysis of many 20th century artists and art movements that were considered avant-garde, and
it allowed for an objective analysis of the ambiguous concept “avant-garde.” We examined all newspaper
or journal articles with descriptions of Martin Margiela’s work in the 1980s and 1990s using the content
analysis method described by Paoletti (1982). The following research questions guided us and were ad-
dressed by this study: (1) Did the media’s perceptions of Martin Margiela in the 1980s and 1990s match
other identified avant-garde characteristics? and (2) Was Martin Margiela appropriately labeled as avant-
garde in the context of the postmodern era?
We used the nonreactive, quantitative content analysis research method as described by Paoletti
(1982). The first stage of the content analysis method as described by Paoletti (1982) is to determine the
objectives of the study. The second stage involves creating the instrument with which to measure the da-
ta, and the third stage is concerned with identifying sources to use for analysis in the study. In the
fourth and final stage, the, data is systematically recorded using the instrument and then analyzed with
suitable statistical procedures.
The instrument used to measure the data for this study contained the three categories of avant-
garde identified by Crane (1987) including redefine artistic conventions, utilizes new artistic tools and
techniques, and redefines the nature of fashion, including the range of objects that can be considered as
fashion. The first category, redefine artistic conventions, is operationalized as the redefinition of the aes-
thetic of apparel designs such as different or new silhouettes, looks, or styles. Silhouette refers to the
shape of the garment, look refers to the combination of garments, and style refers to the garment(s) dis-
tinctive features. The second category, utilizes new artistic tools and techniques, is operationalized as
non-traditional or new sewing or construction techniques and new construction tools. A traditional con-
struction technique refers to sewing with clean finished seams and edge treatments, and traditional tools
refer to sewing needles, sewing thread, and sewing machines. The third category, redefines the nature of
fashion, including the range of objects that can be considered as fashion, is operationalized as new or
unconventional materials or fabrics and utilizing new spaces or ways to promote designs. Conventional
apparel design materials are items such as fabric, thread, and notions. Conventional ways designers pro- 5
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mote their designs include fashion shows with young, thin models on runways surrounded by seats for
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the audience.
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We found the sample of articles through ProQuest Newsstand database by searching the key words
“Martin Margiela” in newspaper and magazine articles between the years 1980 and 1999. We found 776
articles written in English by journalists that mentioned Martin Margiela; 564 of these articles contained
descriptions of his work, and 212 of them mentioned only Margiela’s name in the article. Out of the
564 articles that described Margiela and his work, 141 identified him as avant-garde, original, or in-
novative, and the remaining 423 articles described his work without referring to him as avant-garde. We
coded the 141 articles that identified him as avant-garde, original, or innovative using a data sheet devel-
oped from Crane’s (1987) categories of avant-garde. We used the verbal unit of analysis for the study
and looked for underlying implicit meaning in the content of the texts. After all articles were read, we
re-read each article to ensure all descriptions of the designs were noted. Finally, we reported and ana-
lyzed the data using frequencies.

Results
All articles found in the database that mentioned Margiela dated between 1989 and 1999. Table 1 illus-
trates the number of articles found per year that mention Margiela’s work and if the author of that ar-
ticle described him as avant-garde or not. In the 141 articles in which Margiela was described as
avant-garde, innovative, or original, 75 included the idea that Margiela redefined the aesthetic of apparel
designs such as new silhouettes, styles, or looks, 32 articles that Margiela utilized new artistic tools and
techniques, and 55 that he redefined the nature of fashion, including the range of objects that can be
considered as fashion. The results indicate that the media’s perceptions of the Belgium designer Martin
Margiela in the 1980s and 1990s do match Crane’s (1987) categories of avant-garde characteristics. In
the following section, we report the results from the content analysis that address the first research ques-
tion, “Did the media’s perceptions of Martin Margiela in the 1980s and 1990s match other identified
avant-garde characteristics?”

Table 1
Number of Articles Found Per Year That Described Margiela’s Work
Total # of Articles Described as Not Described as
Year
Found Per Year Avant-Garde Avant-Garde
1989 10 1 9
1990 20 10 10
1991 18 4 14
1992 43 10 33
1993 113 39 74
1994 38 7 31
1995 28 3 25
1996 24 3 21
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1997 56 16 40 Avant-Garde
1998 107 23 84 Fashion
1999 107 25 82
Totals 564 141 423

Redefined Artistic Conventions

The first category of Crane’s (1987) characteristics of avant-garde, “redefined artistic conventions,” re-
ferred to the redefinition of the aesthetic of apparel designs such as new silhouettes, styles, or looks.
Traditionally, garments adhere to the proportions and shape of the body and include both front and back
pieces. Margiela redefined artistic conventions by introducing distinct silhouettes such as garments with
unbalanced proportions (Spindler, 1996) and oversized looks (Snead, 1993). He made “one-armed jackets”
(Blanchard, 1997, para. 4) and tuxedo jackets that were “knee length” (Graham, 1999, para. 4) with
drooping shoulders and sleeve lengths that extended far past the fingertips, making the jacket impractical
for everyday wear. The most notable silhouettes that redefined the aesthetic of garments were designs
that were missing traditional pieces, such as skirts without a back or as one journalist described them,
“backless slips” (White, 1997, para. 3). In 1998, Margiela created a “sweater front” that was composed
of only a front pattern piece with no back, which was designed to be worn over another garment
(French, 1998, para. 8). Marilyn Blaszka, owner of a high-end women’s apparel store in Chicago who
carried Margiela, explained that he is “among the intellectual designers who are re-thinking what a gar-
…
ment is they don’t do the conventional like a skirt with a front and a back” (Buck, 1993, “What a vi-
sion” para. 2).
In articles where Margiela was labeled as avant-garde, his aesthetic was often described as decon-
structed (Morra, 1991) or anti-fashion (Buck, 1992, May 6). One journalist explained that “you couldn’t
tell if they were rags or real clothes” (Morra, 1991, para. 7), and another explained that it looked like
he had created clothes and “destroyed them in order to make a fresh start” (Horyn, 1992, para. 2). His
styles have also been described as “shabby chic” (Snead, 1992, para. 3), “thrown together” (Schiro, 1990,
para. 10), and “underground classics” (Buck, 1991, September 11, para. 1). The deconstructed look of his
clothes often featured “jagged, unraveled, shredded and bunched hems, linings, sleeves, necklines and
cuffs” (Snead, 1992, para. 3). Threads were frequently left hanging and he permanently stitched in creas-
es to create a slept-in look (Morra, 1991). His clothes were often “frayed, distressed, misshapen, [and]
wrinkled” (McCue, 1993, para. 7). He presented,jackets and shirts with “sleeves ripped off,” (White,
1997, para. 5) and jackets designed with the sleeves inside out (Menkes, 1997, March 14).
Margiela created styles that challenged conventional ideas of where the parts of a garment are
located. For example, he created a skirt that had one finished pant leg sewn to the back that hung free-
ly off the hem (Menkes, 1998). He sent “jackets with mismatched parts” (Buck, 1992, March 25, “Off
to the Salvation Army,” para. 6) down the runway and introduced dresses that incorporated “men’s trou-
ser fronts as aprons” (Graham, 1998, para. 11). He also created belt buckle toe rings that the models 7
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wore in his 1992 runway show (Zwerin, 1992). In these types of garments, Margiela played with ideas
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of where traditional parts of garments are sewn and worn.
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Utilizes New Artistic Tools and Techniques
The second category of Crane’s (1987) characteristics of avant garde, “utilizes new artistic tools and
techniques,” refers to non-traditional or new construction techniques and tools. Journalists identified vari-
ous new artistic tools, techniques, and materials that Margiela used to create his designs. Seams are the
major structural component of all garments; typically seam allowances are turned towards the interior of
the garment and created using a needle and thread. Margiela’s signature non-traditional construction tech-
nique was that he often placed seams (Schiro, 1990) and darts on the exterior of the garment and fre-
quently left threads hanging after seams were sewn (Buck, 1991, September 11). Once the seams were
perfectly finished on some garments, they were “delicately re-opened” (Mora, 1993, “Martin Margiela’s
approach” para. 4), juxtaposing his high-quality construction techniques against deconstructed techniques.
He also replaced traditional construction techniques such as stitching by utilizing safety pins to attach
sleeves to garments (Morra, 1993).
Margiela also chose to replace traditional cutting techniques with slashing, ripping, and tearing
(Buck, 1991, September 11). While Margiela had knowledge of and was known for his master cutting
techniques, he frequently ripped parts of the garments away to create a tattered or shredded look
(Hochswender, 1992) and produced garments that had “sleeves raggedly cut off just below the shoulder-
…
line” (Buck, 1989, para. 8). One journalist wrote, “the buttonholes, the topstitching are perfect but then
he plays around, ripping things apart” (Buck, 1991, September 11, para. 9).
In 1999, Margiela was praised as the “innovative Belgian designer” (Coppage, 1999, para. 1) who
“set the trend” (Hughs, 1999, para. 1) by creating unique surface designs by dipping garments in agar
and treating them with “mold, bacteria and yeast” (Hughs, 1999, para. 2). He worked with a micro-
biologst to utilize 15 different strains of bacteria that would create different mold colors. This experiment
turned white- and beige-colored garments made from cotton or denim into garments that looked as
though they were created from suede or velvet (Copage, 1999).

Redefines the Nature of Fashion, Including the Range of Objects That Can Be Considered as
Fashion
Crane’s (1987) third category of avant-garde, “redefines the nature of fashion, including the range of ob-
jects that can be considered as fashion,” refers to new or different materials or fabrics and new spaces
or ways to promote designs. Journalists stated several times that Margiela used new or innovative materi-
als in his designs such as grocery bags (Buck, 1989), broken glass for vests (Spindler, 1993, October
11), recycled fabrics from discarded clothes (Spindler, 1993, July 25), tailor’s tape (Lawrence, 1990), and
anti-theft tags (Graham, 1999). Margiela wrapped garbage bags around clothes (Spindler, 1993, July 25),
8 cut up old denim jeans to create skirts (Morra, 1993), made tops out of clear plastic (Buck, 1991,
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September 11), created blouses from delicatessen bags (Buck, 1989), and took jacket and dress linings
Avant-Garde
out of old garments to create independent garments (Morra, 1993). He also designed bras that were Fashion
made of papier-mâché and surgical masks (Buck, 1991, September 11), used plastic dry-cleaner bags to
create dresses (Buck, 1992, March 25), and made a coat out of a duvet cover (Menkes, 1999).
The manner in which garments were distributed and promoted in retail stores and at fashion shows
also redefined the nature of fashion. Margiela’s iconic presentation of garments often included men wear-
ing laboratory coats. These coats were seen on associates in his retail stores (Menkes, 1997, October
16), and at his 1996 runway show, men in white lab coats escorted guests to their seats (Spindler,
1996). Then again, in 1997 during the presentation of his new line, the white lab coats appeared on
men who held out the “fold-flat ‘paper-bag’ inspired collection” (Menkes, 1997, October 16, para. 15).
Margiela also chose unconventional spaces and models to promote his collections, which caused
heightened media attention. Journalists described the fashion show spaces as both bizarre and astonishing
(Cunningham, 1990). Spaces included old supermarkets, old theaters, Salvation Army, abandoned markets,
and a former electric-motor workshop (Evans, 1998; Hochswender, 1990). Margiela’s 1991 runway show
was held in an old metro station, where atendees spilled out into intersections above (Buck, 1991,
October 23). Instead of using young and slender models at his 1998 show, Margiela hired ordinary
women between the ages of 30 and 50 (Delap, 1998).

Discussion and Conclusion

Uses of the characteristics previously stated are examples of what determines a designer as avant-garde
in the 1980s and 1990s according to Crane’s (1987) characteristics. Margiela’s dialogue with the fashion
system in the last two decades of the 20th century reveals his play and negotiation with the conventions
of acceptable fashions. His garments, distribution, and promotional events earned him the status with oth-
er conceptual and edgy designers coming out of Japan. However, how innovative were his designs in
comparison to the previous Japanese designers who also showed their designs in Paris and during a style
period without a predominant trend leader?
Margiela challenged the chaotic nature of fashion in a time period where extremely loose rules of
fashion existed and during an era when “anything goes” (Farrell-Beck and Parsons, 2007, pp. 266-267).
The 1960s saw the beginning of these fashion changes where “no one style was going to win general
acceptance” (p. 183). This trend continued throughout the last half of the 20th century. Margiela was a
prominent high-fashion designer in the 1990s, and this era in particular had an eclectic mix of styles;
few people obediently followed the fashion media, trends, or trend forecasts (Farrell-Beck and Parsons,
2007). Fashion influences simultaneously “trickled down” (Simmel, 1904), “trickled up” (Field, 1970), and
“trickeld across” (King, 1963) as individuals constructed their appearance from a bricolage of available
materials and influences. High fashion therefore was often perceived as less shocking due to the accept-
able styles available to each indivdiaul. As Kawamura (2006) noted, the Japanese were considered
avant-garde when compared to the dominant Western designers such as Chanel and Dior. Therefore, de- 9
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spite the abundance of acceptable styles in the 1990s, when compared to other high-fashion designers
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such as Chanel who presented clean-finished styles, Margiela’s deconstructed looks were interpreted as
Vol.13 No.2
avant-garde by journalists.
Kawamura (2004) explained that the Japanese redefined the concpets of fashion by presenting un-
conventional designs. Kawakubo, Miayaki, and Yamamoto presented styles such as monochromatic, assy-
metrical, and oversized looks. A close examination of the descriptions of Margiela’s designs, construction,
and aesthetic are similar to what Kawamura (2004) describes. For example, several of Kawakubo’s gar-
ments displayed deconstructed characteristics in the early 1980s. A 1984 scarf designed by Kawakubo
had unfinished edges. In 1983, Kawakubo designed a T-shirt with uneven hemlines and holes. The pre-
viosuly described Kawakuobo designs can be found in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s online collec-
tion by searching 2005.173.18 and 1995.209.3 respectively. These and several other examples highlight
their similar design aesthetics; however, Marigela produced these designs ten years later. When consider-
ing Crane’s (1987) notion that revivied styles from prior time periods are not considered avant-garde, we
must either reconsider our acceptance of Margiela as an avant-garde designer or reconceptualalize the
term avant-garde to include a subjective interpretation of “newness”. The length of time inbetween the
launch of the Japanese designers’ and Marigela’s designs was enough for him to be interpreted as new
and innovative.
The distance between Margiela’s release of deconstructed designs and Rei Kawakubo’s earlier re-
lease of similar deconstructed designs beginning in the early 1980s highlights the idea that our percep-
tion of newness can be shaded over time. The enormous power of the press heavily influences the inter-
preation and conceptualization of our cultural surroundings. The Japanese designers before Margiela used
similar design techniques; therefore, describing Margiela as ahead of his time may be an overstatment
from the press or an indication of their desire for a topic that will sell the story. One cannot doubt the
edgy and innovative techniques Margiela employed throughout his entire brand. Journalists perceived
Margiela’s designs as avant-garde despite the fact that similar design aesthetics were evident in the early
1980s. Therefore, adding a subjective element to Crane’s (1987) description of “new” may be in order.
Indeed, Rogers (2003) describes innovations in relation to perceived newness, rather than meeting a crite-
rion of being first on the market. As such, Margiela’s designs were perceived by the journalists in the
context of high fashion design in the late 20th century as new and innovative. .

Implications and Suggestions for Future Research

These findings enhance our current understanding of conceptual and avant-garde fashion in the 20th and
21st centuries. This research provides meaningful implications for apparel designers who hope to chal-
lenge traditional conventions of dress. Aspiring avant-garde apparel designers can use these findings in
the future in order to analyzye the fashion system and to challenge themselves to push the boundaries of
design and create new and innovative design ideas and aesthetics.
The term avant-garde will continually be ambiguous due to the complex nature of what constitutes
10
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Vol. 10 No. 2, December 2010, pp. 1-

the conventional means of a time period and the continually changing socio-cultural influences on the
Avant-Garde
particular context. Adding a subjective element to criteria for conceptualizing the term will add to the Fashion
ambiguity. This idea highlights the need to continually reexamine avant-garde designers in different time
periods and geographic locations. Many other designers past and present have been frequently labeled as
avant-garde, including Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, John Galliano, and Alexander McQueen.
We suggest conducting an analysis of the other designers labeled avant-garde in both dress history texts
and the media and comparing those findings to understand the changing nature of avant-garde fashion.

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