Cutting-Edge Fashion Pieces Showcased as Art Objects in This Exhibit

Fashion straddles a sometimes uncomfortable line between art and commerce. In some ways, we view fashion pieces as art objects—sitting back to take in new collections as they’re paraded down runways, staging museum retrospectives of the works of famed designers—but most of the time we treat fashion as a practical, pedestrian part of life. We all wear clothes, after all, and most of us buy ours in mass-market, thoroughly unartistic environments, fully aware that thousands of others will be wearing the exact garment we are. Amsterdam’s brand-new Gallery Schuit is choosing to overlook all that’s jejune about the world of fashion, and is presenting a new exhibit that focuses on fashion solely as art.

Schuit’s group exhibition features the work of four emerging designers, Diek Pothoven, who’s also a co-founder of the gallery, Jim Hu, Joanne Vosloo and Max Zara Sterck, showcasing works they created as students sheltered from the commercial design realities of markets and sales. "All the pieces were made without any commercial restrictions and are representing the inner creative mind of the artist,” Pothoven tells The Creators Project. "We noticed that after a graduation collection of most academies the clothing pieces end up in the closet or under the bed. It would be a shame if the collections would disappear and the academic bubble would pop. The graduation pieces are cutting-edge and should be able to be bought."

Jim Hu, whose work we’ve previously covered, presents pieces create with his 3D weaving technique. "Max Zara created her own weaves that shape into form after steaming,” writes Pothoven. "For me this is an interesting subject because of my research in constructing shapes without seams and totally reconstructing clothing pieces. Joan Vosloo brings her sketches to life on the human body. She blows up her illustrated world to wearable drawings.

The exhibit doesn’t just showcase the finished pieces, it allows visitors to see how they were made. Each designer has their own room in the exhibit that serves as a sort of workroom museum. “We represent their vision and give the spectator full insight in the total process, from concept to finished garment,” Pothoven writes. "You are being drawn in and can look through the eyes of the designer."

"Once again it is not about just designing,” he says. “The aim is about inventing."

To learn more about Gallery Schuit, click here.

Related:

Artist-Designed Fashion Shop Invades Miami Beach

From Comme des Garçons to Cowboys in Cologne, 'Wanted' Mag Mixes Fashion and Art

Glitch Fashion Is Front and Center At Tokyo Kaihouku's Design Showcase