Fashion for a lot of people can be a way to express yourself. Even if it is considered unoriginal, the way we dress can be a great way to express our personalities and interests. People often dress to fit in to certain boxes, Avante garde in fashion is considered experimental and unorthodox, this helps push the idea that fashion can be anything and also worn by anyone no matter gender, race and ability . The examples chosen reflect the diversity of fashion as well of the use of colour, relating to Edward Tufte’s theory of colour.
Within this image the clothing represents a bird and uses bright colourful feathers incorporated onto a waistcoat in order to pull this off. In contrast to the feathers, the models skin and waistcoat are muted grey/white in colour as well as the background behind her also, this brings out the harshness of the feathers and draws our focus, making the bird instantly recognisable. This aligns with the third rule in Tufte’s theory of colour that large area background or base colours should do their work most quietly, allowing the smaller, bright areas to stand out most vividly. The colours used also reflect what the image is trying to convey (a bird) as the colours reflect nature, being in tune with a bird’s colouring. Tufte states that natures colours are familiar and coherent possessing a widely accepted harmony to the human eye, this works well as despite the clothing being something you wouldn’t see it is still familiar through nature. These colours found in nature include blues, yellows and greys of sky and shadow, you could argue the grey background is a representative of the sky within the photograph. The avant-garde is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society therefor the use of a bird as a way to express alternative fashion perfectly represents this definition, it can be argued that avante garde usually sticks to black and white clothing however this is done within this image in order to bring out the colour palette of the feathers as the rest of the image is grey/white.
“If you opt for a monochromatic outfit – in black, white, or gray – this will give you room to combine more textures and cuts and to focus on highlighting the details of the garments and the overall composition. However, this doesn’t mean that all avant-garde looks are in black and white. You can opt for bold, contrasting or complementing colors to showcase your color mixing skills” Gongini (2021)
This relates to Tufte’s theory of colour also as he states grey muted colours contrasted as a background works well.
References:
Pintrest: Pin.it. 2021. [online] Available at: <https://pin.it/62zDpl4> [Accessed 16 November 2021].
Article: Barbaraigongini.com. 2021. HOW TO DRESS AVANT-GARDE: WHAT GOES INTO AN OUTFIT. [online] Available at: <https://barbaraigongini.com/universe/blog/how-to-dress-avant-garde-what-goes-into-an-outfit/> [Accessed 16 November 2021].
Edward Tufte: Tufte. E.R., 1990. Envisioning Information. Cheshire, Connecticut: Graphics Press. (pp. 81-93).