Fashion loves art, and designers love to pay tribute to artists—Yves Saint Laurent put Piet Mondrian on his graphic mini, Miu Miu collaborated with John Wesley, Dior’s Kim Jones has worked with Peter Doig, and Louis Vuitton handbags brandish Yayoi Kusama dots, to name just a few. But what if an artist was directly asked to make something that was inspired by a designer? For this portfolio, that’s exactly what happened. We asked 10 artists from different parts of the world if they would respond to recent collections. Vogue paired each one with a particular designer, and the artists had complete freedom to do what they wanted.
Free artistic invitation
Photographed by Adrianna Glaviano, Vogue, December 2023.
Elizabeth Colomba On Christopher John Rogers, Nonchaloir
“Here, time takes on an almost fictional quality. Her presence seems to traverse the boundaries of conventional chronology, existing in a parallel reality—an era that only exists within the realms of imagination, a time that never truly was.”
Paul Chan ON Rick Owens, video stills from Fifth Season Treer 3
“Thinking about what ‘fits’ us, not only physically but metaphysically, is interesting. Because if our ideas and beliefs are treated less like immaterial substances that somehow underwrite the unchanging essence of who we are, and more like garments, then we may be more apt to try on new ideas and concepts, the same way we try on a new piece of clothing.”
Wangechi Mutu on Dior, My Belly Flower Sucking Bird
“Fashion or clothing—embellishments, body art, anything we place upon the naked body—is a very special and personalized form of expression and communication, either subliminal or overt…. I think that art and fashion are always dancing around one another, and often stepping on each other’s feet. I create in search of meaning; with fashion, we search for ways to mean something to one another, in how we appear.”
Na Kim on Bode, High Noon
“The line that delineates art from non-art is so interesting to me. So many things make art art, and I think it often boils down to having a point of view, or evoking a specific feeling or mood, which I think fashion often does.”
Ragnar Kjartansson on Ralph Lauren, Dawn or Sunset, Who Cares?
“I just found the idea fun, that a man with glasses taped together by a Band-Aid, living
in Reykjavík, should respond artistically to Ralph Lauren in Vogue. Irresistible absurdity.”
