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FASHION MEETS PERFORMANCE: COSTUME, CLOTHING AND THE PERFORMING BODY // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2022. Issue 3 (33). P. 153-168

This interdisciplinary collaborative paper looks at the ways performing arts and fashion practices have impacted each other, such as the performative nature of some of the recent catwalk shows, including Dries van Noten’s 2021 collection and the late work of Alexander McQueen. The Body as presence, matter and meaning has become central to the arts both creatively and theoretically, with a sensory turn being emboldened by, for example, Affect Theory. Our paper notes the performative and body turn in fashion studies, and the way theatrical performance has emancipated the presence of costume – thinking of, in the UK, for example, the way Michael Clark’s early work collaborated with artists such as Leigh Bowery, the ethos of punk as an aesthetic, and the legacy of this innovation. We consider the move from the dominant gaze (director as uber author) to a more inclusive model, which recognizes that all participants, including costume designer, contribute to the ensemble creation of a performance – theatrical or catwalk. We also discuss the more recent move from made-from-scratch costume to the (adapted perhaps) found object as sustainable practice, from new and bought to second-hand, customised, recycled and upcyled. We include in our discussion the way some current theatrical costume designers have insisted on bringing their presence in the creative process to the fore, arguing for an insubordination of costume; and finally, we reflect on the difficult and slowly emerging issue of body emancipation, with changes in the modelling business including more faces and body types, and contrast this with examples of inclusive casting in theatrical performance. Finally, we consider practice as research as understood in UK universities. This model is used to capture what constitutes practice that should be taken seriously by the academic environment: the creation of “new knowledge” in ephemeral practice and durable reflective – and possibly argumentative – analysis. In writing this collaborative piece, speaking about performance fashion, about practice, and practice as research, the authors have inevitably mentioned resistance to isolation: isolation between disciplines, isolation between artists and theorists, isolation across boundaries, and the necessity of articulating ourselves so that we can speak the same language, understand each other and work together.

Keywords: fashion, performance, body, punk, prosthetics, dance, catwalk, Practice as Research