I think my take home from this is that you cannot really buy (especially from corporates) edgy or avant garde styles. Is my friend that wears a flower in her hair and dresses up her rain boots with tinsel on the rugby sideline edgy - I think she is- she is defying her environmental norm by being creative and different (and DIY).

Minimalism is also marketed to us - buy the one perfect black dress or pair of jeans - but minimalism cannot be found on the shelf. I almost feel as a style concept Minimalism needs to be renamed because buying items to be a minimalist is quite back to front.

I do have a minimalist relative or two - they never buy clothing until they need it, and they keep/wear it for a very long time. They borrow clothes and gear, use the library, rarely update phones or home decor. When we holiday together they do take one pair of shorts and one pair of jeans for a three week trip. I doubt anyone would describe him as stylish but he is usually appropriate.

No way there's already an arrière garde! Oh, I have something now to confront all the family architects/minimalists with at the next gathering!

This thread is amazing. One small peep - I think minimalism as a lifestyle/approach to clothing needs to be distinguished from Minimalism the design principle.

From the above links:
minimalism the lifestyle: minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it.
Minimalism the design principle: In visual arts, music, and other mediums, minimalism is a style that uses pared-down design elements.

Rachy, you are so smart and so right, it is practically the dark ages out there.

Sorry that is probably me "muddying the waters". I agree there is a difference between the design/style minimalism vs the lifestyle/environmentally conscious minimalism.

Welllllll.... now you've all got much too tricky for me! That's why I called on Liz, because I knew I couldn't contribute! The intellectualism of the discussion is too much! But I agree that Rachylou is a seer.
I don't believe anyone would ever call me edgy, and certainly not avant-garde or minimalist. But some of my items do get called cool or amazing, and that's enough to make me happy

I can see you, tho, Jenni, enjoying a bit of the avant garde here, a bit of edge there (!)

Maybe not so much minimalism, tho...

Do you think it would make sense to distinguish between avant-garde design/style and avant-garde lifestyle/thinking?

Harmonica, I do think that distinction holds. It is possible to embrace one and not the other. If you think back to modernism...it had a deeply conservative strain, no? Ditto most other strongly ideological schools of design...because, you know, "purity."

Fabulous discussion, Gaylene, Liz, Rachylou, Shevia, and all!

And Harmonica...I saw the church in Akureryi. Though it was not open...loving Iceland!! Very cold today, though....

harmonica: maybe the descriptor we're looking for here is deconstruction?

I hesitate to grace this middle-aged postmodern hangover with the title of avant-garde, but as an artistic and philosophical response to fashion it performs roughly the same function, which is to challenge our assumptions about functionality, culture and the body. This seems to be a common thread which brings together a certain minimalism and the ever-elusive edge, so I suppose it's the closest thing we have.

If I was really clever, I'd have thought of this yesterday, but then we would never have found out about the critical importance of fashion's arrière-garde, which is clearly this year's Shock of the New.

Suz - Glad you're having a good time!
approprio - I think you are on to something with deconstruction and the challenging of "assumptions about functionality, culture and the body". As for "arrière-garde", it's beyond my intellectual capacity.