Mad about fashion or Mad Fashions?

Everyone should know that quilting has been around forever. Yet modern designers spit and accuse each other of ripping off their designs.

In January it was reported that Giorgio Armani pointed fingers at Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana for ripping off his idea for quilted trousers. The idea has been around longer than Armani! Check out the art to the left -- quilting and fashion have been arm in arm for centuries.

Although not a slave to fashion nor usually within a decade of being considered 'fashionable' I find myself hearing bits and seeing pieces of fashion trends. And what I'm seeing and hearing is all about 'embellished' and 'quilted' and 'appliqued' as being hot, hot, hot!

And when I hear those terms -- embellished, quilted, and appliqued -- I'm there! It's almost as good as a quilt show!

Check out Carolina Herrara's appliqued dress from her Spring 2009 collection in the photo below.

According to the Fashion Directory, precision laser cut patterns, ribbon embellishment on filmy fabrics like tulle and chiffon (see below) and butterflies are in -- appliqued, embroidered, and print. The dresses in the photo below are respectively designed by: Preen, Rodarte, Alexander Wang, Chado Ralph Rucci from left to right.

Anything a fashion designer can do with a piece of clothing -- a quilt designer can do with a quilt -- fringe, folds, bejeweled? Oh yeah!

Remember Michelle Obama's inauguration ball gown embellished with Swarovski crystals? I saw it first on a quilt!






Black, white, lemongrass and assorted yellows are good choices for your fashions this year -- or so I've heard. It seems like they're good choices for art quilts, too.

Art and fashion have always been connected whether consciously or not. Artists are usually the most in tune with current trends and feelings and needs of people or cultures or civilization in general.

An interesting article about art inspiring Yves Saint Laurent is up at the News 24 site and demonstrates how Van Gogh, Braque, Matisse, Picasso all inspired the fashion designers collections. It seems that "art was a physical need even stronger than a passion" for Saint Laurent and when he needed to find peace or calm -- he found it in an art exhibit or gallery.

Quilters know he could have slept peacefully -- under a quilt. Talk about 'piece-makers.'

This may be the year you make your quilted art into wearable art. WOW (World of Wearable) Art has quite a display of 'wearable art' -- a bit outrageous, but maybe not when compared to runway styles of top designers. And after a visit to Bernina's fashion show in Houston last fall, I see some skilled designers coming up with some pretty and spectacular designs incorporating intricate techniques in the construction. Check out this entry in the last Bernina fashion show by Toni Carroll.

Is wearable art a part of your wardrobe now or in the future? If not -- why not?

NOTE: AP reports: An auction held in Paris to sell some of the art collections of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his longtime partner Pierre Berge included pieces that influenced Laurent's fashion. For example "Piet Mondrian's 1922 painting 'Composition in Blue, Red, Yellow and Black,' with rectangles of saturated colors that inspired Saint Laurent's 1965 shift dress, sold for euro19.2 million ($24.6 million)."