Artmaxxing?

Have yall heard of this?

I read, only the intro, of an interesting take on Artmaxxing in the fashion world in an effort to decentralize the commercialism of the fashion and transform it into an art piece. I didn’t read the whole thing, because I’m not a paid subscriber. I had never heard the term and a cursory google search shows the most relevant post (to me) about it is a KAWS article in Interview a few months ago.

Viktor and Rolf 2015

The same week as the Andjelic newsletter dropped I saw a comment floating around on Substack asking “Do fashion labels know there are other artists besides Basquiat and Warhol?” that of course got lost before I could screenshot. Another person posted a photo of a sitting area at a J Crew with a nice array of interesting art books saying that “Anyway, imagine how much more the jcrew book selector (“curator”?) must make than anyone involved with the production of these books / than people who give an actual shit about them” to which I responded why can’t the J Crew person care about the books? I didn’t get an answer.

So in order it seems to be fashion - don’t do too much with art, do more with art but also not like that.

This season most prominently Dior had Ruscha and Gucci is doing Longo. There are probably a few more that I am missing because I haven’t been paying as close attention as normal* but I’m sure I missed a few. A lot of events at LACMA is bringing the spotlight on the museum through a fashion lens and of course Dries Van Noten opening their foundation seems to be the different side of the same coin.

Fashion collabs with artists aren’t new, although more prolific and recognized, and of course more artists are doing things than Basquiat and Warhol, you just didn’t notice. Even at the non-couture houses Uniqlo they have Hoksai and PAC Sun has a deal with the MET. I can think of Scharf and Boafo and Yanko and Weyant and Weyant and Taylor and Sherman and and and those are just the recent ones off the top of my head.

Creative worlds feed off each other music, reading, film, art, fashion, poetry, architecture and more. Sometimes it’s a beautiful natural collaboration, sometimes it’s a surprising juxtaposition, sometimes it’s a rip off and sometimes it’s a bust. The thing about the three takes above is so much more that…it can never be right. It will always be wrong to some people and to try an win at the perfect balance feels like a waste of time when we should be striving for creative expression and fruitful collaboration.

*Is anyone else bored. I’m so bored. Fashion is so boring. It’s either everyone in the same beige new drop or a fight for the most interesting archival piece to wear to a weird photographed brunch or themed for a movie. It’s not fun or interesting. I’m so tired of seeing stylists povs, not because they aren’t great, but because they are too great. I want to see mistakes and personal POVs again. I’m desperate for an imperfect human touch. I have an essay in drafts called a year with no stylists…May have to come soon.