Three seemingly unassociated but equally romantic works—Jan van Eyck’s haunting, religious oil paintings, Georgia O’Keeffe’s famed image of an ethereal, decaying cow skull, and a genetically engineered blue rose were pulled together by the designer into one achingly amorous theme. “I was inspired by the process of creating something new. Part of it was the uncursing of the rose and part of it was spiritual,” explains Gurung. -Vogue.com
Always always finding the process of inspiration fascinating. Thinking about it, it would appear that there are three main motivations for design: a woman in a narrative, an object, and for the sake of the garments themselves.
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Some collections are designed for a specific person. That collection can tell a story, and the onlooker understands who the woman is. Inspiration may come from a film, a historical person, a celebrity, a book. There is a story. There is a person. Styling, hair and make-up drive home the point. Story tellers: McQueen, Galliano, Dsquared2.-
Other collections are less obviously created for one woman. They may lack a narrative, and the identity of their woman is less clear. These collections are inspired from everything else in the world: art, photography, architecture, nature, objects, and so on. They look for ideas outside of the fashion world and transform them into clothing. Prabal Gurung is today's example.-
Finally, there are clothes that are designed to be clothes. They are functional and practical and don't have an elaborate back story that explains their creation. They are designed to fit a need, to be comfortable, to be flattering, to fill a void, to fit a budget, to save on wasted scrap fabric. Less exciting perhaps, but it's no less noble than the other inspirations - just more to the point.
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