Collage by Vogue
Is fashion art? That centuries-old question is addressed in “Costume Art,” the new exhibition that set this year’s Met Gala theme. Whatever your thoughts on the subject, fashion’s fascination with fine arts is well documented. Maybe that can be partly explained as the attraction of opposites, the eternal (ars longa) versus the ephemeral.
Looking back in history, we see that Madame Grès and Madeleine Vionnet, using draping and bias cutting respectively, channeled classical ideals of beauty. Elsa Schiaparelli worked in tandem with Surrealists to create pieces that spoke to the interwar years. Among Yves Saint Laurent’s many tributes to art, which included references to Piet Mondrian, the Ballets Russes, Georges Braque, Vincent Van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso, was one to Schiap herself. Zooming forward, when Marc Jacobs was at Louis Vuitton in the 2000s, his high-profile collaborations with Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami, and Richard Prince set the template for innumerable art-fashion mashups to come. Some of these have been collected to form a fashion lover’s intro to Art History.
Andy Warhol
Philip Treacy, fall 2003 couture
Andy Warhol, 1981
Junya Watanbe spring 2023 menswear
Andy WArhol and his Marilyns.
Junya Watanbe spring 2023 menswear
Versace, spring 1991 ready-to-wear
Claude Monet
Claude Monet, Nymphéas: Sun Effects, 1897, oil on canvas; Balmain resort 2026 and Christian Dior, fall 2026 ready-to-wear
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo, The Broken Column, 1944, oil on masonite; Jean Paul Gaultier, spring 1998 ready-to-wear and Creatures of Comfort, spring 2017 ready-to-wear
George Stubbs
George Stubbs, A Horse frightened by a Lion, 1770, oil on canvas; Stella McCartney, fall 2017 ready-to-wear
George Stubbs, Whistlejacket, 1762, oil on canvas; Chloé, spring 2001 ready-to-wear
Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico, La piazza d'Italia, 1917, oil on canvas; Off-White, fall 2016 ready-to-wear
Giuseppe Arcimboldi
Giuseppe Arcimboldi, Rudolf II of Habsburg as Vertumnus, c1590, oil on panel; Comme des Garçons, spring 2018 ready-to-wear
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907, gold leaf, oil on canvas; Christian Dior, spring 2008 couture
Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1490-1510, oil on wood; Carven, fall 2014 ready-to-wear
Alexander McQueen, fall 2010 ready-to-wear
Valentino, spring 2017 ready-to-wear
Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock, Reflection of the Big Dipper, 1947, paint on canvas.ready-to-wear; Sacai, fall 2019 ready-to-wear and Proenza Schouler, fall 2017 ready-to-wear
Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau, Self Portrait, c. 1924, pen and ink on paper; Christian Dior, spring 1999 couture
Jean Fouquet
Jean Fouquet, Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels, 1452, oil on canvas; fall 2016 ready-to-wear
Jean-Michel Basquiat
A 2006 exhibition of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work in Milan.
Valentino, fall 2006 ready-to-wear
Comme des Garçons Shirt, fall 2018 menswear
Katsushika Hokusai
Katsushika Hokusai, The Great Wave off the coast at Kanagawa, c. 1830, woodblock print, Christian Dior, spring 2007 couture
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci, La Gioconda (Mona Lisa), c. 1503-c. 1517, oil on panel; Marine Serre and Romeo Hunte, both fall 2026 ready-to-wear.
Niki de Saint Phalle
A collaborative sculpture installation by Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, and Per Olof Ultvedt, at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, 1966.
Anna Sui, fall 2016 ready-to-wear
Christian Dior, spring 2018 ready-to-wear
Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian, Composition with Large Red Plane, yellow, black, grey and blue, 1921, oil on canvas; a 1965 Saint Laurent Mondrian dress, reshown in 2002.
Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, c. 1478, tempera on panel; Dolce & Gabbana, spring 1993 ready-to-wear
Vanessa Bell
Vanessa Bell, Music Room Vase, 1932, painted and glazed earthenware; Burberry, fall 2014 ready-to-wear
Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh, Irises, 1889, oil on canvas; Saint Laurent, fall 2017 ready-to wear and Yves Saint Laurent, spring 1988 couture.
Rodarte, spring 2012 ready-to-wear
Maison Margiela, fall 2014 couture
Wilfredo Lam
Wilfredo Lam, Femme-Cheval, 1943, oil on canvas; Diotima, fall 2026 ready-to-wear
Yves Klein
Celine, spring 2017 ready-to-wear
Yves Klein, Anthropometria of the Blue Epoc on view in Brazil in 2001.
Altuzarra, fall 2026 ready-to-wear
