Fashion Inspired by Art: For the Love of Pop Art

The Artsy Sisters went AWOL in the last couple of days, but we're back now and we'd like to share with you one of our great loves - Art! Art influences everything, our culture, our perceptions, our mindsets and our individual and collective imagination. Art opens our minds to new horizons and helps us explore new heights. And when Art and fashion come together - nothing beats that! Over the years, we've all  heard lots and lots of references to Pop Art in fashion and have come to regard pop art-inspired fashion as fun, bold, graphic and funky - but most of us hardly ever bother to discover and explore the Art that inspired the fashion movement we've all come to know, and love. Which is why, we would love if you'd join us on a maybe lengthy tour of the Pop Art movement- and its influence on fashion as we know it today.

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... and then there was Pop Art!

We love to explore anything or concept that breaks away from the norm - and the Pop Art Movement, it defines that. Unlike most art that was being done before the 50's, Pop Art drew on popular imagery and popular culture for inspiration and sought to blur the boundaries between 'high art' and 'low art' - the notion was that there was (is) no hierarchy in culture, and (fine) art may borrow from any source, regardless of their context and history! Pop Art has been traced to the gathering of the 'Independent Group' in London in the the 1950's. This style of art came to the United States in the mid-1960s and was an expression of the optimistic spirit of the 1960's.

Andy Warhol(1928 - 1987)

Self Portrait c.1986

"How can you say one style is better than another? You ought to be able to be an Abstract Expressionist next week, or a Pop artist, or a realist, without feeling you've given up something.. I think that would be so great, to be able to change styles. And I think that's what's is going to happen, that's going to be the whole new scene."

Campbell's Soup 1 c.1968

  

       Diamond Dust Shoes c. 1980                                             Flowers  (Red) c.1964

10 Marilyns c.1967

Hamburger c.1985-1986                                                  300 SL Coupe c.1954

The Art of Mickey

 

 8 Elvises

                                  Superman c.1981                                       Roll of Bills c.1962

 

Mick Jagger Suite of 10 c.1975

 

                                     Gun, c.1981-82                                                  Jackie c.1964

Heaven and Hell are Just one Breath Away 1985-1986

Andy Warhol's works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. He made paintings/screen prints of famous public figures and American branded products and subsequently switched to silk screen prints which allowed these mass produced products to become mass produced art.The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the largest museum in the United States of America dedicated to a single artist

Roy Lichtenstein(1923 - 1997)

Roy Lichtenstein, 1985

"I suppose I would prefer to sit under a tree with a picnic basket rather than under a gas pump, but signs and comic strips are interesting as subject matter"

-Roy Lichtenstein

 Drowning Girl c.1963

                                         Maybe                                                         Sweet Dreams Baby

Sandwich and Soda

 Washing Machine c.1961

 

 I Can See the Whole Room!...and There's Nobody in It! c.1961

 BLAM! c.1962

WHAAM! C.1963

  The Ring (Engagement) c.1962

Vicki  c.1964

 Sleeping Girl c.1964

Roy  Lichtenstein was a leading American Pop Artist. His work was majorly influenced by popular advertising and the comic book motif. He used bold colors, black outlines, and tones rendered by Ben-day dots (a method of printing tones in comic books during the 1950s’ and 1960s’).

Jasper Johns (1930 - )

"I tend to like things that already exist"
-Jasper Johns

Three Flags c.1958
 

                     Target with Plaster Cast c.1955                               False Start c.1959

 
Coathanger c.1960

                     Numbers in Colour c.1958-59                                Coloured Alphabet

  Flag c.1954-1955
 
0 Through 9                                           Figure 5 c.1953-54

Painted Bronze c.1960

 

                               Land's End c.1979/1989                                    Thermometer

Map c.1961

Summer from The Seasons c.1987   Periscope (Hart Crane) c.1963

 

Eddingsville c.

 
Skull c.1973 

Fools House                                           Tantric Detail c.1980

 Device c.1962-3

Study for Skin c.1962 

Painting with Two Balls c.1960 

Although Jasper Johns early work drew on Abstract Expressionism's ideas and techniques, he took the art world in a new direction by endowing everyday objects with artistic importance, paving the way for Pop Art (and Minimalism). He is best known for his paintings and lithographs of flags, maps, crosshatching (late 1970s) and numbers as well as his integration of collages, sculptural elements and thickly applied wax, displaying everyday objects in new artistic light and thus creating a challenge to traditional definitions of objects and paintings. In February 15, 2011 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, becoming the first painter or sculptor to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom since Alexander Calder in 1977

Larry Rivers (1923-2002)

“One night in the early sixties I passed something on the Long Island Expressway just before the Queens tunnel that I must have seen for years. The billboard advertising cigars, Dutch Masters. I realized it was sort of perfect. It's weird isn't it? You're looking at Rembrandt - in neon! It was too much, it was irresistible.”
-Larry Rivers

The History of the Russian Revolution: From Marx to Mayakovsky  c.1965

Madame Butterfly c.1978

                             Queen of Clubs c.1979                 The Greatest Homosexual c.1964

Fashion Seated c.2001 

Fashion and the Birds: Blue Dress c.1997

Fashion and the Fish c.2001 

 Whose Lips are These? c.1969

Popcorn                                                                 Early Chaplin

 Head of A Man

Culture Boxes: Opera Divas c.1992 

                                  Open Camel c.1978                                                 Camel Quartet

Paris Review
Larry Rivers was an American artist whose work combines the brushy texture of Abstract Expressionism with figurative elements and a Pop art style. He was an earlier practitioner of appropriation techniques, and his paintings sample from art history, commercial products, celebrity imagery, and other styles and sources. According to Michael Kimmelman, NY Times Art Critic, "Rivers created an important bridge between the Abstract Expressionists and the Pop artists".

Richard Hamilton (1922-2011)

Four Self Portraits c.1990
"Popular (designed for a mass audience); transient (short-term solution); expendable (easily forgotten); low cost; mass produced; young (aimed at youth); witty; sexy; gimmicky; glamorous; and last but not least, Big Business." -Richard Hamilton, defining what Pop art means to him 

Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So 
Different, So Appealing? c.1956

Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So 
Different? c. 1992

                        Study for a Fashion Plate c.1969                          Fashion Plate c.1970 

Swingeing London 67 (1968-69)

Readymade Shadows

                                          Interior                                    A dedicated follower of fashion c.1980

Towards a Definitive Statement on the Coming Trends in Men's Wear and Accessories (b) c.1962

Epiphany c.1964      

 My Marilyn c.1965

                              Shock and Awe c.2008                              TiT c.2002

Interior With Monochromes c.1979

                                  Maps of Palestine                                      The Beatles c.1968

War Games c.1991

                    AAH! in perspective c.1963                     The House of Keyes c.1988

I'm dreaming of a black Christmas c.1971
Richard Hamilton is an English painter and collage artist, and is best known as a founding 

member of the British Independent Group, which arguably launched the mid-century Pop

art movement. Hamilton's 1956 collage Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So 
Different, So Appealing? is widely considered one of the first works of Pop art.

Claes Oldenburg (1929 - )

"I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something more than sit on its ass in a museum".
-Claes Oldenburg

Spoonbridge and Cherry (w/Coosje van Bruggen) c.1988

 

                                         Typewriter Eraser, Scale X (w/CVB) c.1999                              The Apple Core c.1990

Safety Pin, Blue c.1999

                             Balancing Tools                                          Soft Bathtub (Model)—Ghost Version c.1966                          

Crusoe Umbrella c.1979

Shuttlecock (w/CVB) c.1994

                                Dropped Cone(w/CVJ) c.2001                Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks

Match Cover c.1992

                              'Free' Stamp c.1985                                        Saw, Sawing (w/ CVB) c.1996

The Big Sweep (w.Coosje Van Bruggen) c.2006

Hat in Three Stages of Landing c.1982

 Bat Column c.1977                                       Clothespin c.1976

Bowling Pins (w/CVB) c.2000

 
Bottle of Notes c.1993

Geometric Mouse c.1969-71

The Swedish-American artist and architect Claes Oldenburg was an early figure in New York "happenings" and Pop art. He is best known for his floppy sculptures and larger-than-life public works of consumer goods, musical instruments, and everyday objects.Many of his works were made in collaboration with his wife,Coosje van Bruggen, who died in 2009 after 32 years of marriage.

Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008)

"I think a painting is more like the real world if it's made out the real world".
- Robert Rauschenberg

                       Untitled 'Combine' c.1963                      Eco-Echo IX 1992-93

Riding Bikes c.1998

Canyon c.1959

 

Satellite c.1955

                                Bed c.1955                                    Signs c.1970

Studio Painting

                          Retroactive 1 c.1964                   Untitled (with stained glass window) c.1954

Monogram

Factum I & II c.1957

                            1st Landing Jump c.1961                                        Octave c.1960

Interview

                                   Satellitte c.1955                                                      Pilgrim

Features From Currents #62

 BMW 635 CSi Art Car c.1986

Short Circuit (Combine Painting) c.1955

Untitled (Runts) c.2007

                  Aen Floga (Combine Painting) c.1962                         Winter Pool c.1959

  Untitled (Spread) c.1983

Dylaby (Combine Painting)c. 1962 

Robert Rauschenberg was a key figure in early Pop art. He admired the textural quality of Abstract Expressionism but scorned its emotional pathos. His famous "Combines" are part sculpture, part painting, and part installation. He was famous for his incorporation of junkyard objects in his works.

James Rosenquist (1933- )

"People say I use my billboard technique to make art. Baloney! I used my art technique to paint billboards".
- James Rosenquist

President Elect c.1960-61

                               A Free for All c.1976                                      Marilyn c.1962

 
Dishes c.1964

                                                       I Love You With My Ford c.1961

World's Fair Mural c.1964

No-No c.1990                                     Untitled c.2000

Dog Descending a Staircase c.1979

White Bread c.1964

Flowers and Females c.1989

Nails c.1973

Hey! Let's Go For a Ride c.1961

Moonbeam Mistaken for the News c.1963

The Facet

Fahrenheit c.1982 

                                    Car Touch c.1966                      Study for Fire Pole c.1967

 Bedspring c.1962

 Mirage Morning c.1974-75

F-111 c.1964

James Rosenquist is an American Pop artist whose paintings feature fragments of faces, cars, consumer goods, and other items in bizarre juxtapositions. With their realist rendering and attention to surface textures, his works take up the visual language of advertising and entertainment.


Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005)

{Source}
"I suppose I am interested, above all, in investigating the golden ability of the artist to achieve a metamorphosis of quite ordinary things into something wonderful and extraordinary..."

- Eduardo Paolozzi

I was a Rich Man’s Plaything (Bunk! collage series ) c.1947

                              Evadne in Green Dimension  c.1972                Wittgenstein in New York c.1964

Never Leave Well Enough Alone (from Bunk!) c.1972 

                              Sack-O-Sauce (from Bunk!) c.1972          Four Stills from the History of Nothing c.1962

It's Daring, It's Audacious (from Bunk) c.1972 

                                             Real Gold c.1950    Moonstrips Empire News: Secrets Of Internal Combustion Engine c.1967

Paolozzi was a founding member of the Independent Group.  His collage, I Was a Rich Man's Plaything (1947) was the first artwork to incorporate the word 'Pop' and is regarded in some circles to be the origin of the term, 'Pop Art'.  The collage contained cut-up images of a pinup girl, Coca-Cola logo, cherry pie, World War II fighter plane, and a man's hand holding a pistol, out of which burst the world 'POP!' in a puffy white cloud. He became renowned for taking objects out of their contexts (frequently the scrapheap) and placing them in new combinations, thereby imbuing them with fresh meaning.

Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004)

"I'd never painted anything before. I was quite content to take other people's work since I didn't care anyway about the subject matter. I approached subject matter as a scoundrel. I had nothing to say about it whatsoever. I only wanted to make these exciting paintings".

- Tom Wesselmann

Still Life with Liz c.1993

Still Life No.2 

Still Life No. 28

Still Life No. 6

Still Life #36 c.1964

 

                        Smoker No. 1 (Mouth, 12) c.1967          Interior No.2 c.1964

Still Life No. 61 c.1976

                                    Still Life No. 58 c.1972                    Smoker No. 9 c.1973

Study for Bedroom c.1977

 Fast Sketch Still Life with Fruit and Goldfish‭ (‬3-D‭)‬ c.1988-89‭

Bathtub Collage No.2 c.1963

                                  Still Life No. 20 c.1962                  Great American Nude No. 50 c.1963

Bedroom Study No. 2

                        Bedroom Painting No. 7                              Still Life No. 30 c.1963

Tom Wesselmann is widely regarded as a Pop Artist because in the early days of his career he painted still lifes of commercial foodstuffs and stylized but erotic bodies, or parts thereof.Tom Wesselmann never liked his inclusion in American Pop Art, pointing out that he made an aesthetic use of everyday objects and not a criticism of them as consumer objects: “I dislike labels in general and 'Pop' in particular, especially because it overemphasizes the material used. There does seem to be a tendency to use similar materials and images, but the different ways they are used denies any kind of group intention”. 


Robert Indiana (1928 - )

"Some people like to paint trees. I like to paint love. I find it more meaningful than painting trees."
-Robert Indiana

 
  Love c.1966-1999

Hope c.2008 

Art c.1972-2001

The Electric Eat c.1964-2007

                            The American Dream No. 2 c.1982       American Dream # 5" (The Golden Five) c.1980

Numbers 1-9 c.1983

 Robert Indiana is a prominent figure of the Pop Art movement. He created geometric art and incorporated everyday symbols, signs and letters throughout his art. His most famous sculpture is called "Love" and it was conceived in a time when the United States was consumed by the Vietnam War. It was a symbol of Peace and remains one of the most celebrated works within the pop art movement around the world.
FACT: Pop Art was originally called "Propaganda Art"!

The Pop Art Fashion Movement

Perhaps from our foray into the works of the pioneer Pop Art artists, you have also identified several fashion trends influenced by the Pop Art movement.  

Much Ado About a "Soup Can"

The original Pop art fashion movement was an artistic reaction to abstract art and design and much like  the originl Pop Art movement, it  challenged the domination of couture and bourgeois status dressing with the ironic use of advertising and everyday objects. It coincided with the youth and pop music phenomenon of the 1960's, and contributed very much to the fashionable, 'swinging' image of  London.

Many freelance fashion designers also took their inspiration from pop art and graphics including Thomas Sabo, Lisa Perry, Blumarine, Tommy Hilfiger, Liz London,  Erin Healy, Max Mara, Antonio Lopez, Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana, Moschino and Jean Charles de Castelbajac. 

Jean Charles de Castelbajac {Source}

Yves Saint Laurent certainly went down the pop art road with his Mondrian dress and the black and white block sheaths he introduced in the early 1960s. 

Yves Saint Laurent"Mondrian" day dress (autumn 1965) {Source} 

These days, clean bold lines, graphic pops of colour (think neon), large-scale geometric prints, illustrations and collages are a huge part of mainstream fashion and the formerly mundane have taken centre stage in our clothing and accessories - from advertising campaigns, billboards, food, supermarket products, tools, signs, flags and emblems, cars, bicycles, skateboards, planes, numbers, celebrities, cartoons, alphabets, words, home utilities, magazine layouts, comic strips, skulls, guns, newspaper clippings, the list goes on and on... 

POP! Goes the Heels!

Nicholas Kirkwood'Keith Haring',Gianmarco Lorenzi,Christian Louboutin,Jeffrey Campbell, Christian Dior, Le Silla
To get a feel of modern Pop Art fashion, see here and here.

Pop Art Fashion: "FUNKY" is the word!

From its inception in the 1950's, the pop art movement has been a revolutionary phenomenon and till date, popular culture continues to influence fashion designers, runway couture, mainstream fashion, our style and indeed, our lives.

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And there you have it - our guide to Pop Art. We hope you enjoyed this post as much as we enjoyed sharing it.  We would be extremely thrilled to know which of the Pop artists or works made the greatest impression on you. Have you noticed always wondered about the origin of Pop Art fashion as well? How has art influenced your life and your style? We'd love to share your thoughts, experiences and views, too! 

TheArtsySisters