Erté-style wearable art eveningwear created for a specified target market

Abstract

Wearable art is a wondrous form of self-expression for both the creator and the wearer, but it also offers the viewer a remarkable experience. The "wearable" aspect of wearable art makes it uniquely relatable to a viewer. Most people engage in the act of wearing clothing every day. Therefore, a piece of art that is also wearable allows the viewer or viewers the opportunity to relate to an art object as a somewhat familiar part of every day life, while also responding to the, perhaps less familiar, yet extraordinary aspects of the object that make it "art". This study explores the process of creating wearable art from beginning to end. In addition, the researcher proposed and then modified a new model for creating and viewing wearable art, based upon models proposed in previous studies. Wearable art was created, based on the work of famous fashion designer and illustrator Erté, as well as the wants and needs of a specified target market. First, a content analysis of the work of Erté revealed important elements of the inspiration source. The researcher then gathered target market information by conducting interviews with a sample of five women between the ages of 40 and 70. The information revealed by the content analysis, along with the target market information informed the design of three wearable art garments which were then viewed and assessed by the original target market participants. The participants gave the garments consistently high scores in response to almost every question included in the post-assessment survey, suggesting a high level of satisfaction.