Ask Angie: & others: what is avant-garde (to you)

I hope this doesn't get too wordy, but I want to make sure I explain what I mean.

What is avant-garde?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. It's weird how my mind gets lost down these rabbit holes, but that's where I've been this week. I think it started when I found Strawberry Couture on etsy. Some of those hats are pretty awesome and I want most of them. They're mostly something I haven't seen before, and they're definitely different from what I see around my area in the rural American south.

I've watched my fair share of Project Runway (and "all stars"), and have to say that over the last few seasons that I watched, I was pretty disappointed in the "avant-garde" challenges. A lot of it wasn't new or different at all; some of it was downright weird without striking me as avant-garde; much of it was actually boring.

Anyway, after discovering those hats (and a couple of really interesting shops like this one) on etsy, this is a question that has been rolling around my brain.

I've looked up the dictionary definition, but I'm still curious: what is avant-garde to you? Is anything REALLY avant-garde anymore? I mean, even Rick Owens', Margiela, McQueen, and other edgy designers don't seem weird anymore (at least to me). Is my perception skewed, since I tend to favor dystopian (and sometimes even downright weird) looks?

I'm especially interested to hear from Angie, since she shops for a living and has probably seen it all, but I value what all of you think about it. Thanks for your input!

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7 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Avant-garde sensibilities defy trends - (just like Modern Retro sensibilities do). They are new - or old - and experimental. Bespoke. Non-Traditonal. Not the norm. Your custom finds are avant-garde.

The waters are muddied when avant-garde becomes trendy. An oxymoron of sorts.

cindysmith

Veteran

Thank you, Angie. That actually really does help me understand better. It helps me see that some of it is, indeed, my perception; and some of it is the mainstream acceptance of some of the designers I mentioned (Margiela for H&M, for example--which was definitely a bit of a shocker, and the similarities between H&M divided pieces and some Rick Owens pieces).

Anonymous

Oh!!!! I know. I know.

Unfortunately, this is the type of term that I cannot define in words. I can point to pictures and say this is what I mean. But I do know it when I see it.

jacquez

Active Member

I think that like Sterling, I know it when I see it.

These are unusual and interesting, but not avant-garde, for example.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/stadtkindpotsdam

I think there has to be a sort of offputtingness to avant-garde, in a way, which I think is what I like about it.

Ledonna N.

Somethings that are outside the normal or mainstream. I've been called that in the way I choose to dress. I just think it's normal for me and my friends.

The hats are lovely

Sterling: yes. Exactly. Sometimes I don't know how to describe it but I know it when I see it. I can look at something and thing "avant garde" but can't put my finger on what makes it so

Jacques: I too like things that are a bit off, or off-putting. And not just in my clothes. I like a lot of architecture & interior design styles/elements that could be considered very masculine (huge fan of brutalism), and I'm pretty sure it is off-putting to most people I know. Also, that shop has some really neat hoodies!

LeDonna: I like your answer. I find it beautiful that you (& your friends) think it's normal, all that creativity in the way you dress. There's an energy to your 'fits and I love it. Also, I'm glad it's not just me that thinks those hats are amazing!

Jaime

Interesting question. I would not call those hats avant garde but I am not sure I can explain it. As Angie says, avant garde defies trends up until the point it becomes a trend. Retro looks, as I see it, borrow from trends of all different time periods regardless of what is on trend now. Arty looks also move outside of trends but in a particular way that seems different than avant garde. So I guess I am left with the job of distinguishing arty from avant garde, but, nonetheless, I would put the hats in the former.

Suz

What Shevia said. But if they were made of some sort of sleek woven fabric or suede they might be avant garde.

Thank you and I think Avant Garde depends greatly on viewpoint

approprio

I'll be the one to point to the elephant in the room. Avant garde is undefinable because it doesn't exist in fashion at the moment. The conditions don't allow for any serious pushing of boundaries. I follow that end of fashion quite closely and there's really very little out there. It's been about a decade, maybe even two, since there have been any major stylistic interventions.

Innovation is happening, but it's mainly among menswear designers like Craig Green. I'd point to Demna Gvasalia and Sacai, but they're recycling what they learned respectively at Margiela and Comme des Garçons. There are also movements emerging in response to the ethical problems of consumerism, which you can see in Green's work, and some very interesting new stuff coming from growing economies in the Far East, like Korea and Taiwan.

I wouldn't call my own style avant garde, nor Ledonna's, but I do think we're both concerned with the same thing, which is using our style to sidestep trends as far as possible and make the most of our clothes no matter when they were made, through reuse and customization. Given the nature of fashion right now and all the problems it faces, that might just be what comes next.

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