UNWEARABLE : A Meditation on Wearing

Q. What does it mean to wear something? 
WH. Looking at UN-WEARABLE fashion garments might get us closer to an answer.

 I agree. But how and why?

By looking at unwearables we are are removing the immediate reasons, the logical, the first thoughts for wearing - our base needs of comfort: wearing clothes to protect from the elements and to avoid being arrested for indecent exposure. The furthermost thing from this is Avante Garde Unwearable fashion. It is definitely not created to aid us in this way - quite the opposite for some garments are so restricting that you cannot move your arms, let alone sit down. 

 A long (and incomplete) list of designers creating un-wearable fashion:
- Rei Kawakubo 
- Yohji Yamamoto
- Iris Van Herpen
- Victor & Rolf
- Gareth Pugh
- Maison Martin Margiela
- Hussein Chalayan
- Alexander McQueen
- Bea Szenfeld
- Phillip Treacy
- Craig Green
- YSL
- Yiqing Yin
- Manuel Bolano
- John Galliano
- Christian Dior
- Gary Card (calls himself a set designer)
- Yegor Zaitsev
- XuMing
- Guo Pei 
- Jean Paul Gautier
- Pierre Cardin
- Ivana Pilja

 There are many a long list of designers creating unwearables (you can see one of these lists above).  But...these designers do not only create unwearables (fashion is also about business after all. Therefore it is more useful to look at the individual garments in more depth.  The degree of wearability (or rather un-wearability) varies between garments but they all have an element of shock. To better understand this concept I have ranked them below. This ranking is based on a personal perspective and ofcourse would change depending on culture, location and the individual. 

Here is a Definition of unwearable. It extends the concept of 'not being able to be worn' to not just function but also colour!

 Defn: 

unwearable in British

(ʌnˈwɛərəbəl)
adjective
not suitable for wear or not able to be worn
The suit was unwearable.
a bulging wardrobe of expensive yet unwearable outfits
an unwearable shade of orange
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers


 The Degrees of Un-wearability:  

 10%  too much for the everyday person (what the haters would say maybe dramatic, impractical or just a bit fugly) but they can be worn, and often are to events by grande and probably important FASHUUUN people.
Alexander McQueen
Valeska Jasso Collado 


 20-40% getting more and more restricting to movement and more and more likely to be criticised by the general public or adored by the arty folk.
Hussein Chalayan

Iris Van Herpan
50% you can still walk and sip a cocktail you just can't sit down easily. You walk into a room and people are thinking 'she is a vision of another planet' or just 'WTF?'
Maison Martin Margiela
Bea Szenfeld

Victor & Rolf
60 - 80% getting more and more restricting to movement and less and less likely to be worn anywhere except a runway. No drinking in these garments...(but when you can afford one of these you can probably have someone on standby with a cocktail and straw). 
Gareth Pugh
Comme des Garcon

90% can be worn, only standing or walking down a runway with great discomfort to the model.
Phillip Treacy
100% well then that is just not fashion is it (a musing for another time perhaps?)
Click for the Pics aka My Pinterest Board of unwearables

 In the next post, I will explore the individual garments that stood out to me and using knowledge of Contemporary Arts to get closer to an answer to the question of 'what does it mean to wear something?'. 

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