Wearable art

History and Origins of Wearable Art

• Wearable art emerged in the 1930s to 1960s as a wearable art movement, growing in importance in the 1970s.
• It was primarily based in the United States but found echoes in fiber and feminist arts worldwide.
• Wearable art inherits from the Arts and Crafts movement and artists used handmade clothing as a device for self-articulation.

Wearable Art in the United States

• The Wearable Art movement can be traced to the American Craft Revival.
• Wealthy patrons set up educational and museum institutions to support crafts education.
• Art schools played a crucial role in the development of the Art to Wear movement.
• The best-known galleries supporting Wearable Art were Obiko and Julie: Artisans Gallery.

Wearable Art Outside the United States

• Wearable art is harder to identify as an independent artistic movement outside of the United States.
• Renewed interest in traditional textile crafts sparked the interest of artists worldwide.

Contemporary Wearable Art

• Wearable art declined as a distinct movement in the late 1990s.
• Contemporary wearable art integrates technologies in garments and explores new manufacturing techniques.
• Fashion-originating works question everyday wear with provocative pieces.
• Trashion artists create art garments out of trash.

Major Exhibitions, Events, and Organizations

• Museum of Arts and Design has hosted exhibitions on Wearable art since 1965.
• Other notable exhibitions include Art for Wearing, Art to Wear, Artwear: Fashion and Anti-fashion, and Off the Wall: American Art to Wear.
• Events like the World of Wearable Art Awards and Australian Wearable Art Festival celebrate wearable art.
• Organizations like Fiberworks Art Center for Textile Arts, World Shibori Network, and World Textile Art are involved in wearable art.

See also: Fashion accessories, Steampunk, Wearable computing.

References:

• Leventon, Melissa (2005). Artwear: fashion and anti-fashion.
• Schon, Marbeth (2004). Modernist jewelry 1930-1960: the wearable art movement.
• Dilys Blum; Mary Schoeser, eds. (2019). Off the wall: American art to wear.
• Ryan, Susan Elizabeth (2009). Social Fabrics: Wearable + Media + Interconnectivity.

Wearable art Data Sources