JELENA ZDRAVKOVIĆ
College of Vocational Studies – Belgrade Politechnic, Belgrade, Serbia
jelena.zdravkovic@sbb.rs

INTERMEDIJALNOST I INTERTEKSTUALNOST U MODI KRAJEM XX VEKA. Studija slučaja: Rej Kavakubo
INTERMEDIALITY AND INTERTEXTUALITY IN FASHION AT THE END OF 20th CENTURY. CASE STUDY: REI KAWAKUBO

Journal 14/2018 (Museum of Applied Art), pages 32-40

Article category: scientific review

UDC:
7.05 Кавакубо Р.
7.038

Abstract (original language):
U ovom radu, odevni predmet i modna kolekcija posmatrani su kao delo, odnosno tekst, dok se moda u odevanju posmatra kao umetnički medij. Osnovna teza je da se u prikazima mode XX veka intermedijalnost i intertekstualnost pojavljuju uporedo. Ova dva koncepta su gotovo neodvojiva. Predmet rada je, pre svega, postmoderna moda, tj. strategije i postupci kojima se ona služi, a koji se mogu uporediti sa postupcima vizuelnih umetnosti, slikarstva, arhitekture i vajarstva koji su primenjivani u umetnosti avangarde, neoavangarde i postavangarde. U tom smislu su, kao studija slučaja, izdvojeni radovi konceptualne modne kreatorke Rej Kavakubo (Rei Kawakubo) iz osamdesetih i devedesetih godina XX veka. Rad se oslanja, pre svega, na poststrukturalističko tumačenje teksta Julije Kristeve (Julia Kristeva) i Rolana Barta (Roland Barthes), teoriju citatnosti Dubravke Oraić Tolić, kao i na teorije Irine Rajevski (Irina Rajewsky) i Pavla Pavličića.

Key words: (original language)
intermedijalnost, intertekstualnost, citatnost, moda, postmodernizam, Rej Kavakubo

Summary:
In this paper, garments and fashion collections are observed as a work of art or a text, whereas fashion itself is viewed as an artistic medium. The main hypothesis is that the 20th -century fashion shows simultaneously intermediality and intertextuality. These two concepts are almost inseparable. The subject matter of this paper is, first and foremost, postmodern fashion, i.e. its strategies and methods, which are comparable to the strategies and methods used in visual arts, such as painting, architecture and sculpture, during the avantgarde, neo-avant-garde and post-avant-garde periods. Accordingly, the work of Rei Kawakubo, a conceptual fashion designer, during the 1980s and 1990s serves as a case study. The paper relies on the post-structuralist interpretation of the text, shaped by Julia Kristeva and Roland Barthes, Dubravka Oraić Tolić's quotation theory, as well as Irena Rajewsky's and Pavao Pavličić's theories.

The strategies of conceptual artists emerged in fashion practice at the end of the 20th century. When Japanese fashion designers, among others Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, appeared on the Western European scene, they launched a reevaluation of accepted fashion rules and codes and the idea of toying with the Western European notions about the body. The hybrid created by joining elements of clothing from Japan and Western European fashion corresponds to what Julia Kristeva describes as the way in which the text reads history and incorporates itself into it. Rei Kawakubo uses Japan's heritage through quotations in order to make the reader face, among other things, the stereotypical representation of the Other in the Western post-colonial world. Kawakubo uses intermediality by applying structures and materials specific to a certain medium and transferring them to another medium, which is illustrated by the selected works. One of the selected examples is the collection Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body, which also provides an example of medial transformation.

The key conclusion derived from the concept of intertextuality is that the role of the reader is vital for the path the reception of the work will take. The reader finds that it is not a coincidence that they recognize the work/ text and that it coincides with their reading memories and knowledge, that the author has purposely planted other texts within the work, thereby creating a polysemic piece of art. On the other hand, intermediality, the relationship between two artistic media, leads to the “borrowing” of creating principles and their transfer into a different medium. In any case, the goal of both intermediality and intertextuality is the same – the establishment of a link that could be artistically productive, which the case of Rei Kawakubo certainly confirms.

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