4 Artists Who Have Inspired Fashion Over the Years

For decades, artists have played off of each other’s creative genius. Musicians write songs based on a poem, poets write based on a painting, while a painter may be inspired by a piece of music. With all of this co-dependence and domino-effect inspiration within the field of art, it is not surprising that many fashion designers use fine art as the inspiration for their work.

While some art-inspired fashion pieces can be as basic as a printed image on a dress or shirt, many other designers take their tribute above and beyond so you find their influence on clothes you regularly see online. To see a few of the ways art and fashion play off of each other, look no further than these artists that inspired clothing lines. Included here are a few of the artists who affected the most change and impact in the fashion industry over the years.

Andy Warhol

Perhaps the most well-known artists for his work in the fashion industry, Andy Warhol developed a distinctive style recognizable on clothing and fashion pieces internationally. Known for his ability to transform everyday objects into things of beauty, Warhol was most famous for items like his Campbell’s soup dress, the yellow banana, and a tribute to Marilyn Monroe.

Warhol used his art as a means for social change as well when he did a series of pieces on the electric chair as he brought attention to the death penalty controversy in the 1960’s. Warhol’s style is distinctively cartoony and colorful, perhaps the reason it lent itself so well to expression in fashion.

Salvador Dali

Perhaps most famously regarded for his surrealism painting The Persistence of Memory, which blends melting clocks with symbols of decay, Dali’s surrealism style of the 1930’s was ahead of its time, and did a great deal to influence the movement of haute couture. His lobster hat, and later designed lobster dresses, were incredibly striking and popular, and were even donned by the Duchess of Windsor.

Kazimir Malevich

Geometric abstract art made its way into the artistic scene of the 1920’s, due primarily to Malevich. His avant-garde, boldly colorful, and starkly geometric shapes did a great deal to influence, not only the artistic groups, but also the fashion of the time. Malevich’s style can still be seen in boldly geometric shapes arranged rhythmically on fabric; the cut and style of these clothing pieces was equally important for the impact.

Piet Mondrian

The distinctive painting style of Mondrian is instantly recognizable in his black and white blocked art checkered with yellow, red, and blue. This layout of paintings caught the eye of many designers and was particularly influential for Hermes, who designed bags and suitcases with the pattern. Since then, Nike, Topshop, Vivienne Westwood, Moschino, and many others have referenced his influential style.