Altered Inspiration: All-Over Print

High fashion prides itself on its artistic integrity and the ability to reinvent what is typically seen as just garments to cover one’s back. But upon further inspection, a trend that keeps crawling back on all surfaces of the industry is the excessive use of inspiration and straight-up borrowing. While inspiration and borrowing someone else’s intellectual property has brought us some of the most iconic pieces, how much of fashion’s creativity is truly original, and how much of it is borrowed from existing art? This question is becoming even more relevant in the era of AI-generated art, where the line between inspiration and replication is blurred further each day.

One piece, in particular, expresses this notion in 2013, featuring a painting by Brian Calvin. 

Raf Simons x Brain Calvin S/S 13 T-shirt featuring a painting by Calvin

This piece was part of RAF Simons’ SS 13 collection.  In an interview with ‘dazeddigital.com’, Raf Simmons stated that he took a step back and pondered what he wanted the collection at the time to represent.

‘References to music and youth, of course, the way that I grew up, the way I used to live my life, and how I started the brand,’ said Simons.

He went on to further address the LA scene that influenced his designs at the time, saying the LA band scene had a relaxed, carefree feel. 

That is where Brian Calvin’s work fits into Simon’s narrative. His works featured portraits and landscapes featuring the coast and young women.

Since Brian Calvin was placing these murals of young women all around LA at the time, this seemed like a perfect piece to encapsulate Simons’ vision of the LA scene.  

Similarly, Juan Takahasi of legendary Japanese brand Undercover has utilized all-over prints in a way that directly pulls from pre-existing works.

In this instance, he created a collection heavily referencing the popular film ‘A Clockwork Orange’ by director Stanley Kubrick.  In an interview with ‘hypebeast.com’, Takahashi explains, ‘I have always been fascinated by movies that express humanity’s duality, or make me feel anxious. 

  Unlike Simons, Takahashi does not have this profound story about his entire fashion discography leading up to this collection.  As far as it seems, this is merely an ode to Kubrick’s themes that encompasses the movie and how he sees those themes within himself. 

UNDERCOVER “A Clockwork Orange” Nylon Parka FW 19

 These two creatives are highly regarded in their field.  They have been creating for years, harboring their names in their designs.  But if not for the original work of Brian Calvin or Stanley Kubrick, what direction might these collections have taken?

Simons expresses themes of his younger days as a designer and wants to juxtapose his future and past with this collection.  Seeing that Simons had a seventeen-year career to ponder over, why not be more creative?

Likewise, in Takahashi’s instance.  Why show appreciation for ‘movies that make him anxious’ with just all-over prints of movie scenes? More could be done than this.  Not simply using other artists’ pieces to express one’s vision. 

This same message has been reflected currently with AI art.  Simons and Takahashi are using art to articulate their emotions because that’s how they feel.  But it does not change the fact that they are reusing someone else’s art for their benefit. 

When Simons was talking to DAZED magazine, he would express references to music, youth, and his upbringing.  Also mentioning the relaxed and carefree feel of the LA scene at that time.  It’s almost as if his interpretation mimicked the prompt someone would put into Midjourney, and Brain Calvin’s paintings are the result of it. 

What makes these two techniques so attractive is the appeal to a vast audience of just visuals.  The all-over print encompasses the entire garment, making it eye-catching from the start, just as ridiculous AI Images capture the attention of social media goers every day.  It has an immediate aesthetic impact.

Unlike fashion, other forms of art, like films or music, tend to emphasize transformation rather than direct replication. Constantly pushing boundaries should be the goal of art, and not the same interpretation over and over again. As AI-art makes its way to a more mainstream utilization, the challenge for fashion is to discontinue this nostalgia and innovate.

AI art in this moment in time is the epitome of taking something that is pre-existing and modifying it to one’s personal taste.  I feel fashion is not far from this.  It is something that has been happening for quite some time.  Every piece now is a callback to one era or one niche.  The' trend' seems to make this cycle so prevalent.  But even the industry foregoers of the fashion world fall victim to this cycle.  Fashion does not need to fall under this monotony. Hopefully, the art in fashion design can come from a collection of fresh ideas and not a reference trough.