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Avant-Garde Fashion: A Case Study of Martin Margiela  

Reddy-Best, Kelly L. (Department of Consumer & Family Studies/Dietetics, San Francisco State University)
Burns, Leslie Davis (School of Design and Human Environment, Oregon State University)
Publication Information
International Journal of Costume and Fashion / v.13, no.2, 2013 , pp. 1-13 More about this Journal
Abstract
We studied the meaning of the term avant-garde in relation to clothing of the 1980s and 1990s by examining the media's perceptions of Martin Margiela, a Belgian deconstructionist designer who was often labeled as avant-garde by journalists, scholars, and fashion critics in the late 20th century. A five-step content analysis method described by Paoletti (1982) was used to conduct the research. Newspaper and magazine articles in the 1980s and 1990s were analyzed using a set of existing avant-garde characteristics developed by Crane (1987) to determine if those journalists' perceptions matched the characteristics described by Crane. Results indicated that the journalists' critiques and descriptions matched the avant-garde characteristics described by Crane (1987). Including a subjective element to the conceptualization of the term explains how journalists described Margiela's designs despite Japanese designers' use of similar techniques before him. We (re) conceptualize the term's latter 20th century meaning and shifting dialogue to include a subjective element.
Keywords
avant-garde; content analysis; fashion; Martin Margiela;
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