The Fashion Passion

This week marked the end of an era as Alexander Wang took Nicolas Ghesquiere’s position as head designer for Balenciaga.

This transition met Wang with harsh criticisms. The argument was Wang’s style was too modernly casual for the iconic house’s detailed style.

Still, Karl Lagerfeld defended the young American designer. Lagerfeld explained Wang was the right choice because his background and methods will completely renovate the house Ghesquiere rebuilt.

Lagerfeld has always lobbied for new designers because he believes in progress. He takes his craft seriously, yet finds it completely frivolous. He explains fashion as a world of paradoxes, belonging to future designers who can accept both halves.

Fashion is the creative abuse of a physical need. People will always need clothes to cover their bodies. But the art is transforming ordinary objects into an extraordinary vision.

You could survive eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day, but no one subjects themselves to that monotony — and that is the appeal of fashion.

Fashion is a physical representation of the life cycle, and it allows pedestrian participation. It isn’t a painting that idly hangs on a wall. It can be worn and carried throughout your life. What makes a successful designer is the dynamic relationship they share with the world around them.

A static state doesn’t make things timeless. It’s the way fashion is able to adapt that makes it a fluid art. It creates a snapshot of a moment, but it is always taking pictures.

As the self-proclaimed heir to Mr. Lagerfeld, I’ve found the solution to Karl’s woes in the passion in my favorite young designer.

Jackson Van Matre has the pure passion Lagerfeld requests. Unabashedly unashamed, he created himself within the confines of his rural Indiana home. It’s his chameleon spirit that allows him to create timely and timeless deigns.

While the new talent is waiting for his show to start, I look to the future and see his success. His creative abuse of a basic need makes his work both essential and trivial, but astounding nonetheless.

­— mwalschl@indiana.edu