crazy ugly beautiful

Sometimes I find myself watching the runway in complete and utter awe as some of the most intricate, beautiful or just fascinating pieces of art find themselves walking by. Other times I find myself just staring... staring at clothing that (in fairness, at least to me) doesn't seem to make much sense at all. As I've mentioned in a previous post, I thoroughly enjoy art without a purpose, but even those photos, painting or installations manage to filter a sense of light or inspiration other than just attempting to shock. 


So in looking at the most recent collection from famed, albeit whimsical designer Vivienne Westwood, I find myself just thinking... why? Each piece seemed slightly more ill fitted and slightly less appealing than the one before. As a fan of the classics, I can't deny the beauty of something that manages to take something simple and make it new or even something less classic, that finds a way to be sensational. I'm not sure, however, that I'll ever understand making things so far-out that they never seem to connect. 

At another show, set in the avante gard world of Paris Fashion Week, Thierry Mugler and Lady Gaga have teamed up to create a video launching both his newest line and her newest song. The song, from her album due out this May, titled "Born this Way" is just the base pumping background you might expect to hear at a fashion show created with Rico, the skeleton-looking face-tattooed mega model,  Formichetti used as his designer muse. 

Some runway witnesses seemed to feel the show was more of a display, a stylish installation rather than a fashion revelation. While fashion reviews admitted, there was slight disappointment regarding the slightly minimalist approach, they recognized that Nicola is trying to refashion a brand, not stage an exhibit. 

Lady Gaga, never one to shy away from the outlandish, speaks highly of her close friends latest line. "His brain throbs with misfit royalty, glamour as punk survival, attitude as liberation, style as revolution. Thierry Mugler has a way with legendary lifestyle and Nicola is just that: Epic Lifestyle, Freakdom, Gorgeous or Die, the 'fuck' in future poetry, the street in High-Fashion. Nicola Formichetti is Fashion's Freedom."

Taking it one step further, past the clothes, past the music, past the scene,  one modeling agency in NYC is touting their ability to take fashion a bit more tongue in cheek. Challenging the idea that anyone is too ugly to model, the firm, suggestively titled Ugly, founded in 1969, looks for unique models who are not considered traditionally beautiful. According to agency founder Simon Rogers, "beauty really does come in all shapes and sizes," and in the modeling industry, there's room for all. Looking to cover their bases, the firm does, against their creed have a sister agency, Rage which focuses on more traditionally beautiful models. 

Art is open for interpretation and fashion and design are definitely no different but if the goal becomes more to shock than to inspire, is fugly the new black?