Avant-garde

Avant-garde is an experimental, conceptual style that deliberately breaks the established rules of cut, form and the very purpose of clothing, bringing fashion closer to art. Avant-garde designers (Rei Kawakubo / Comme des Garçons, Martin Margiela, Issey Miyake) explore atypical silhouettes, asymmetry, deconstruction, volume and unusual materials, often placing concept above wearability. Such clothing can shock, provoke or bewilder, because its aim is not to adorn but to pose a question, to challenge notions of beauty and the body. Avant-garde is fashion's laboratory, where ideas are born that later 'seep' into mass clothing. It is a style for the bold, who see dress as a means of self-expression and artistic statement.