Fashion as Art: Artful Fashion

Since the rise of the modern fashion system in the late 19th century, fashion has had a complex and interdependent relationship with art. We will explore the representation of fashion in art, the adoption of art for the promotion of fashion, and the use of fashion as art. Additionally, this lecture will explore how fashion photographers must negotiate the tension between the need to present details of garments with a desire to evoke something more elusive, a fantasy or a dream. Elizabeth Kessler, PhD, is a lecturer in Stanford’s Program in American Studies as well as the Department of Art & Art History. Her diverse interests include the role of aesthetics, visual culture, and media in modern and contemporary science; the interchange between technology and ways of seeing and representing; the history of photography; and the representation of fashion in different.