How interesting an art is fashion?

One of the New York Met Gala stylists is sharing tips for wearing a corset to an evening do. ‘Breathe a lot in the morning,’ he tells the Gucci Podcast, with a discernible smile, ‘and by the time you put on the dress, you’ll be full of oxygen.’ The image of a puffed-up toad comes to mind.

It’s a bit nuts, isn’t it, the fashion world? The Met Gala is the ball where anything goes – the costumes are witty and extreme – but even so the commentary on it can be pretty earnest, especially in the American press. The stylists on this podcast speak of dressing celebrities like disco balls to reflect their evening personalities, and of relinquishing control to the fashion house. That ‘shirts become vessels for conversations’ is a piece of gospel everyone just knows.

It may be wrong to ask whether the Gucci Podcast takes itself too seriously. Mocking fashionistas is an elite sport which it is only really worth playing as an insider. Doing so from the sidelines just makes you look haughty and out of touch because, like it or not, fashion is art, and permeates everything. A better question is: how interesting an art is fashion?

A recent episode of the podcast featured an interview between host Shahidha Bari, an academic at the London College of Fashion, and ‘full-spectrum artist’ Julian Klincewicz, who’s designed shoes for cool-guy brand Vans. ‘Full-spectrum artist’ in Klincewicz’s case means filmmaker, photographer, designer and, er, skateboarder. ‘Being, like, a video artist is kind of carte blanche to just … do whatever,’ he says, sounding every inch the Californian dude. ‘Being an artist’, in the broader sense, ‘is a way of viewing the world.’