Distorted is a word that is shroud in negative connotations, most commonly associated with things grotesque and ugly. However, like many words, its meaning can be appropriated within different contexts. I would like to bring the word “distorted” into the context of fashion and alter its meaning from “ugly” to something more along the lines of “an altered representation”. Perhaps the clearest way to summarise why the change of definition is because I believe that fashion, as in the wearing of garments, is a wholly transformative process. It is most commonly stated that clothes one wears is the perfect material representation of their own individual personality. As valid as this assumption (and practice) is, I believe the selection of a person’s garments has a higher purpose; to transform them into something distorted from their actual self. I present to you two juxtaposing examples. Take a masterfully sewn spandex dress from Azzedine Aläia circa the stereotypical 1980’s. The dress, at face value, does not present much a personality, however once adorned by the wearer, the creation emphatically curvatious and sensual woman comes too life. The central part of this equation is the dress itself, and perhaps equally the wearers confidence to actually wear it.

 

"Through wearing these designs, a person is no longer just wearing a bizarre outfit, they have transcended to the state of 'abstract living sculpture'."

 

On the other end of the spectrum, there are those clothes that distort a persons image in a more…abstract way. A particular style of clothing commonly referred to as “wearable art” (I do not possess the knowledge nor time to delve into the debate of whether fashion can truly be considered “Art”). A sartorial practice that transforms the wearer into something otherworldly, a form of apotheosis you may say. Take revolutionary designer Hussein Chalayan’s Spring/Summer 2000 collection ‘Zero Minus Now’. Exaggerated dresses of bubble-gum pink tulle, intricately sewn to mimic the movement of the human body, expanding and contracting as the model walked.