The History of Minimalism in Fashion

MAL AUTUMN / WINTER 21

Fashion + Lifestyle

MINI

Vol. 1 Issue 30 | ES €5.50 IT €5.00 FR €8.00 GB €5.00 USA $10.99 Linda Evangelista
Photographed by Steven

Meisel, Vogue, January 1997

27

02 What is minimalism?
06 History
10 Commes Des Garçon
16 Yohji Yamamoto
21 Issey Miyake
28 Martin Margiela

Jil Sander
Autumn/Winter 1988

01I S S U E

Maria Buccellati, Cristina Cascardo,
Marpessa Hennink, 1989
Dolce & Gabbana

35 Ann Demeulemeester
39 Helmut Lang
46 Jil Sander
52 Calvin Klein
57 DKNY
61 Bibliography

70

MINIMALISM: Wall Drawing #260 at San
Francisco Museum of Art,
A MOVEMENT 1975
OR A
LIFESTYLE So LeWitt

Minimalism by definition is a style or
technique that lacks adornment or
decoration according to Merrium
Webster's dictionary. It has a long history,
but was nameless until the late 1950’s
and early 1960’s when minimalist art
came into popularity. Abstract
expressionism was the popular art
movement of the time until a new wave
of artists pioneered the minimalist
movement. Their goal was to whittle
down to the essence of an object,
reducing each element that wasn’t truly
necessary. These artists used neutral
colors, clean lines, matte finishes, and
industrial materials to achieve their goal.
Artists would use things like wood, metal,
and aluminum. This new style of art
favored anonymity and lack of emotion
over the loud and symbolic work of
abstract expressionists like Pollock,
Rothko, and Kline. Minimalists avoided
such things and instead brought
attention to the materials used in each
piece.

mimimal | 02

Some of the most influential artists of the
time were Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Sol
Lewitt, and Dan Flavin. One of the leaders of
the minimalist movement, Donald Judd, was
quoted describing his works as “the simple
expression of complex thought”. The quote
so accurately describes the inspiration and
purpose of not just his works, but the entire
movement, which spread to music,
architecture, interior designs, and fashion.
When it comes to minimalism within
fashion, it’s all about less is more, leaving
garments in their purest state and using
expert craftsmanship, and form.

The Maison Martin Margiela
Atelier in AnOther Magazine
Autumn/Winter 2008
Photography by Daniel Stier

Commes Des Garçon

There is a large emphasis on simplicity, harmony, balance, and

function. Calvin Klein put it best when he explained

minimalism as


“a philosophy that involves an overall

sense of balance, knowing when to

take away, subtract.”




Clean lines and simple silhouettes are an essential part of
minimalist fashion, but that does not mean it can’t be avant
garde or exciting. Minimalist designs don’t often use
ornamentation, but when they do use it, it's to enhance the
structure and construction of the garment. Fabric and form are
also central elements to minimalist design, just as it was to the
art movement. By deconstructing garments down to their bare
bones, the minimalist designers are free to play with material,
shapes, and lines.

mimimal | 05 Clare McCardell

Although there was no official name for it at the time, minimalist fashion did exist
before the 1960’s. By taking a look back into history one can see that minimalism
repeatedly comes into fashion in times of economic downfall and social development.
Minimalism was always the indicator of economic cycles and technological
development. Looking back at the turn of the 20th century, women were just starting
the suffragette movement, fighting for their right to vote. This inspired designers like
Jean Patou and Coco Chanel to design garments that were less form fitting and more
masculine, pieces that a modernized woman would find useful. Moving into the 30’s
was the start of the great depression. Styles evolved and changed during this time, but
minimalism remained in fashion.

Jean Patou 1920's

YROTSIH Silhouettes drew tighter to the body, but clean lines, muted colors, little to no
embellishments, and creative new fabrics kept the garments minimalistic. Designers like
Madeleine Vionnet, who is credited with creating the bias cut dress, were crucial to this
time. Designing pieces women could still feel beautiful in despite what was going on in
the world. After World War I, Mariano Fortuny created the Delphos dress, a simple shaped
dress, made with two panels of thin silk cut flat, resembling a kimono. He was the first to
bring cultural references from places outside of Europe and the Americas into minimalist
fashion, later copied by minimalist designers like Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto. In the
40’s and 50’s a more extravagant and feminine style came back into play, like “The New
Look” by Dior, but by the 60’s the minimalist movement in art had started and it’s
influences quickly spread to fashion. At this time designers such as André Courrèges,
Pierre Cardin, and Mary Quant, who were not minimalist designers, did use minimalist
ideals and principals in their own works. A driving element of the minimalist art
movement in the 60’s was the use of unconventional and raw materials in place of
traditional craftsmanship. These designers used this ideal when developing their own
designs, such as Courreges and Cardin’s space collections, which used unconventional
materials like PVC and acrylics. Reed Crawford, another fashion designer at the time, was
also enthralled by this futuristic style. One of his most famous works was a hat he coined
the "Dollar Princess" and was made of silver milk bottle caps.

mimimal | 06

Madeleine Vionnet, 1933

MADELINE VIONNET

An American female minimalist designer at this time by the
name of Claire McCardell had the revolutionary idea of creating
a collection of six interchangeable garments. Her hope was to
help women get dressed with ease in the mornings by creating
a capsule wardrobe collection. This was extremely successful,
and later copied by Donna Karen. McDarell, while not as
famous as Vionnet, was an important minimalist fashion
designer, before the concept even existed. She is well known for
designing sportswear and swimwear that women could finally
feel comfortable and fashionable in. Moving into the 80’s, the
world shifted back towards high glamour and sexy silhouettes,
meaning minimalist fashion was nowhere to be found. That
was until the late 80’s, when two of the most influential
minimalist designers arrived in Paris.

YROTSIH

mimimal | 08 Vogue
Claire McCardell

Reed Crawford "Dollar
Princess" hat
1966

Pierre Cardin
Space Age Collection
1960's

André Courrèges. Dress,
1968.

Cellulose acetate/styrene-
butadiene copolymer, rayon,
silk, cotton, metal.

New York: The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 2012.182.

Rei Kawakubo defined a JAPANESE MINIMALISM

generation and changed fashion COMMES
DES
forever when she first brought
GARÇON
her now world renowned label

Commes Des Garçon to Paris in

1981. During a time of high

fashion, high glamour, power

suits, and Versace, Kawakubo

dared to be different. She

shocked and disturbed the

French critics with her dark,

moody, and seemingly

unfinished garments. Kawakubo

had a very strong aesthetic, and

a strong vision of how women

should dress. She did not

believe in a submissive woman,

in dress or attitude, which is why

she named her brand Commes

Des Garçon, meaning “like boys' '

in french. It is said that the idea

for the name came from the

French song 'Tous les garçons et

les filles' by Françoise Hardy.

Others believe that the

inspiration for the name came

from the French slang term

“Garçonne”, which was a term

used to describe flapper.

Flappers were girls in the 1920’s

who dressed and did their hair

like boys, and held a boyish

demeanor. These girls were

young, confident, and

unconventional. Designers like

Chanel were pioneers of the

Garçonne girls, designing

clothes not meant to show off

the figure of a woman, but

instead hide it. Commmes Des Garçon
Body Meets Dress, Dress
minimal | 10 Meets Body
S/S 1997

Commes Des Garçon is typically described as Avant Garde and Anti-Fashion, both
of which are true. Despite this, her work, particularly the ones produced in the 80’s
and 90’s are widely considered minimalistic, or at the very least the forefather of
minimalism in fashion. There were a few factors contributing to this perception,
the most obvious being the color palette used by the Japanese designers like
Kawakubo during the 80’s and 90’s, pure black. Their predominant use of black
was unheard of at the time, and the Japanese designers in Paris during this era are
even credited with introducing black as a color in fashion. Like the minimalist artist
Donald Judd said, Commes Des Garcon used the simplicity of their clothing to
express complex thoughts and ideas. Most notably, that of a modern woman who
was independent, defiant, and self sufficient.

One of her most famous collections was called Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets
Body, better known as the 'Lumps and Bumps' collection of Spring/Summer ‘97.
This was a collection of dresses stuffed with oddly shaped padding to distort the
shape of the model's body. Distorting the human form of the models played with
another one of minimalism's key requirements, anonymity. By taking away the
silhouette of the body, something so important to most consumers and designers,
Kawakubo gave a sense of invisibility to its wearer who could no longer be
identified as human. Besides the occasional bright color, there was nothing special
about these dresses other than the odd filling. Take that away, these were simple
and basic dresses that could be found in any department store. People were
amazed at her ability to convey such complex ideas with so minimal fabric.

minimal | 11

Commmes Des Garçon
Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets

Body
S/S 1997

minimal | 12

Autumn/Winter 1993
Photography by
Cindy Sherman

Spring/Summer 1995

'Sisters' Photographed by Jim Britt
in 1976

Used for Commes Des Garçon
Campain in A/W 1988

YOJHI YAMAMOTO

Yohji Yamamoto made his debut in YoYamamoto S/S 1983.
Paris having come from Japan the Cotton, synthetic coating, shell.
same year as Rei Kawakubo in 1981.
Him and Kawakubo had similar

aesthetics and ideas of what fashion National Gallery of Victoria Online
should look like, even though they
claim to have never shared their ideas Collection, Melbourne.
with each other. When Yamamoto first

came on to the scene, he also chose to
stick with a muted color palette, using Photo of Reactor 4 several months
mostly black for all of his collections. It after the disaster in Cherynobl
was the unfinished and tattered look
that shocked most people.

Many of his early works, instead of
being adorned with sequins or
embroidery, were decorated with holes
and tears. This style was insensitively
coined as “hiroshima chic”. Though
there was no way to know it, these
Japanese designers foreshadowed a
darker, more violent society that was to
come in the 90’s with their
deconstructed and violent collections
in the 80’s. Despite it being a happy
and colorful time within fashion, and
within world events such as the
destruction of the Berlin Wall, much
more somber and scary times were
right around the corner. This may be
why fashion in the 90’s was so
overtaken with the minimalistic style.
Major events like Cherynobl and the
Columbine shooting gave the decade a
scary undertone that was perfectly
communicated through Yamamaotos
clothing.

minimal | 16

Yamamoto S/S 95 A 1935 design by Madeleine
Vionnet.
minimal | 17
Spring/Summer
1935 design by Madeleine Vionnet. 1995

Spring/Summer
2015

Traditional Japanese Kimono

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Yamamoto
Autumn/Winter 2006

Yamamoto
Autumn/Winter 2010

Yamamoto
Spring/Summer 2000

ISSEY

Known as one of the top minimalist fashion designers, Issey
Miyake is a Japanese designer who arrived in Paris in the early
80’s alongside Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto. Miyake is
known for his oversized silhouettes and creative cuts, which
played with the ideas of gender norms. Perhaps most known for
his ‘pleating’ technique that can be seen in many of his runway
collections. This technique was done in an artful way, often
mimicking minimalist art works from the 60’s. One of the best
examples of this is his Wrapped Torso dress, which was so
beautifully inspired by Die Fahne Hoch!, a painting done by one of
the most famous minimalist artists of the 60’s, Frank Stella. Like
his fellow Japanese minimalist designers, Kawakubo and
Yamamoto, he also embodied the minimalistic principle of
opting for unconventional fabrics like paper and 3D Steam
Stretch. In fact, fabrics are one of the elements of Miyake’s designs
that set him apart. Ever since the mid 80’s he has worked with
mathematicians and textile engineers to create innovative and
futuristic fabrics.

minimal | 21

MIYAKE

Wrapped Torso, Los Angeles, 1989,
Herb Ritts,

Frank Stella, Whitney Museum,
Gansevoort Street, New York City

The minimalist color palette is another integral part to of the Issey Miyake
brand, using mostly monochrome blacks and stark white, which allows
Miyake to explore themes of anonymity. A great example of this is
Miyake’s Bao Bao bags, aside from the occasional seasonal drop, these
bags only come in black and white making the geometric construction
of interconnected cubes become the focal point of the bag. Miyake,
Kawakubo, and Yohji will forever be a relevant to minimalism because of
their influence in the 80’s and 90’s that flipped the script on the
dramatic and glamours fashions of the time, and forever changed the
way fashion is seen.

minimal | 24

Spring/Summer
2000

Campaign

Spring/Summer
2000

Campaign

Pleats Please

BELGIUM

Maison Margiela, referred to by some as an invisible designer, is one of
the most influential to the minimalist movement. Margiela specialized
in what is known as deconstructed minimalism. Tapping into the ide
that one should remove elements of an object, until all that's left is the
essence. No one does this better than Margiela, who is known for
stripping back garments to their bare bones. He was infatuated with the
process of making clothing, and found great joy in dismantling
garments only to put them back together in new and different ways. He
often found items at thrift shops and other second hand locations, and
would repurpose them in a new way. One of the best examples of this is
his Sock Sweater. A jumper made completely of socks, that he creatively
cut up and sewed back together, creating a new garment entirely. Even
though his designs were unconventional, he was taken seriously from

M A R T I Nthe beginning on account of his impeccable tailoring and construction.
This obsession of course mirrored that of the famous minimalist artists
of the 60’s such as Carl Andre who did not build or sculpt his works, but
simply put them together in new ways. On top of that, he had the
experience of being Jean Paul Guatier’s personal assistant, and a degree
from The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp behind him. Margielas
use of second hand clothing, and other strange materials like the paint
he used on his famous Tabi boots, or the crystal doorknobs he used as
buttons in his Autumn/Winter 2012 collection calls back to the
fundamental principle of minimalism: raw materials. One of his earliest
examples of this was during his Spring/Summer ‘89 show. It was the first
time he displayed his now infamous Tabi boots on the catwalk, and to
make a statement he had the models step in red paint before walking
down the white runway, leaving a red foot print in the iconic shape. As
the opening look for his next show, Autumn/Winter ‘89, he turned the
stained runway fabric into a beautiful jacket, pieced together with
brown scotch tape.

Margiela's desire to remain anonymous fit perfectly with his minimalistic
aesthetics, which value anonymity. His intentions were to take the
snobbery out of labels, and even chose to attach a blank label, held on to
the clothing with only four white stitches. He meant for his customers to
cut it off after purchasing, but of course this backfired. Most Margiela
consumers left the label on, and the four white threads that poked out
the back of each garment became its own status symbol. He even prefers
his models to remain anonymous, and has their face completely covered
in most of his runway shows. When speaking of Margiela and minimalism,
it would be remiss not to touch on his relationship with the color white.
As it is known, sticking to a neutral palette is an inherent part of

MARGIELAminimalistart.
For the Japanese designers like Kawakubo and Yamamoto, black was the

color that centered each collection, with Margiela the color is white. He

even went as far as to paint the entire mansion he bought to be his work

studio a matte emulsion white, including the random furniture and

decorations he bought to furnish it with. A spokesperson for the company

told Susannah Frankel at AnOther magazine “They had no money and it

was all in different styles, so to make it seem coherent it was all painted

white” when talking about the mansion. Margiela loved the color white

because it was conceptual and because it was the exact opposite of the

harsh black that had been taking over the runways before him. Possibly

unknowingly, Margiela understood the zeitgeist of the 1990’s, he not only

steered away from the bold all black look, but he also did a 180 degree

turn on the sharp powersuits of the 80’s coming from those like Armani

and Mugler. Instead he let his clothes hang and drape over the body in a

softer and more natural manner. minimal | 29

Spring/Summer 1989



Autumn/Winter 1989




minimal | 30

Spring/Summer 1996
Photo: Guy Voet, Anders Edström

Spring/Summer
2002

Spring/Summer 1993 – Backstage
Photo: Tatsuya Kitayama

Autumn/Winter 1989
Paris

Maison Martin Margiela 20 The
Exhibition Bob Verhelst and Kaat
Debo in collaboration with Maison
Martin Margiela MoMu, Antwerp

2008

ANN DEMEULEMEESTER

Ann Demeulemeester, who studied at the Royal Academy of Fine
Arts, is a member of the famous Antwerp six. Having learned from
some of the greats like Margiela, who she considered a close
friend, Ann also grew a taste for minimalistic clothing and color
palettes. She is known for sticking to blacks, whites and greys, and
occasionally branching out with meaningful colors like lilac in her
later years. Her very first collection was even shown in a gallery of
black and white photographs, only further mirroring her
minimalist color taste. Like her minimalist counterparts, she likes
to play with the human form, and often designs her clothing in a
way that alters it rather than mirroring it. One of her most famous
examples was a top that had the entire torso missing in her
Autumn/Winter 1995 show. Demeulemeester is one of the few
minimalist designers of the 90's who was known for having a
bohemian element to her clothing. This did well for her as the
other big fashion trends of the era were grunge and boho. When
talking to Vogue about the first collection for her relaunch she said
"The purpose of it is to offer some pieces that are typical and
minimalist, just to have some good pieces in your wardrobe that
hopefully you would wear for a long time."

minimal | 35

Patrick Robyn in
Ann Demeulemeester

1990

Autumn/Winter 1995

Ann Demeulemeester in
ENCENS Magazine

Autumn/Winter 2006

SRENGISED NAMREG HELMUT LANG

When one thinks of minimalist fashion, and specifically
90’s minimalist fashion, it is impossible not to think of
Helmut Lang. Perhaps the most well known minimalist
fashion designer of all time, Lang truly captured an era
with his clothing and revolutionized the fashion industry.
The iconic designer was born and raised in Austria, and
later moved to Paris to start his label in 1986. He quickly
became known as the man who made clothes for kids
who had grown up sporting a punk aesthetic. Those who
in their youth wore parkas, t-shirts, and chunky sneakers.
He was a trailblazer for the anti-fashion teens who were
now finding themselves in adulthood. Thanks to Lang, this
underrepresented group, who were finally old enough to
be holding positions of power and influence in the work
place, were finally being seen. Some of his best selling
items were his flat-front boy pants, Crombie coats,
upgraded parkas, even his white tank tops were must
haves at the timen true minimalist fashion, he used
unconventional materials like feathers, latex and rubber,
and was seen as a pioneer for using high tech fabrics that
are very common today. Due to the fact Lang grew up
sporting punk and rave aesthetics himself, he was able to
expertly elevate and modernise these styles into his
collections with things like trash bags, bondage harnesses
and bra straps. As with all minimalist designers, all of his
collections are black and white, with only a few occasional
pops of color. One of those being metallic silver like in his
Autumn/Winter ‘99 show, which actually calls back to the
space collections done by minimalist designers in the 60’s.

minimal | 39

Lang played with anonymity perfectly, as all his garments, though
tailored to perfection, couldnt be distinguished as male or
female, even while being worn. Even his runway shows embodied
this, he was one of the first designers to show both men and
women in the same show, and his shows became known for the
robotic and unemotional models. Lang can also be credited for
revolutionizing the fashion world with his decision to show his
collections a week early in 1997. He had just moved to New York
City, and at the time the fashion week schedule went Milan,
London, Paris, New York City. When he decided to show a week
before Milan fashion week even began his minimalist peers
Calvin Klein and Donna Karan joined him. Ever since then New
York is the first round of shows. What set him apart from his
Japanese and Belgium counterpoints was his ability to turn
minimalist fashion from avant garde to commercial, by creating
well made and stylish minimalist pieces that were able to be
worn to the office, and in every day life.

minimal | 40

He was even the first to stream his shows online, a revolutionary
practice that became extremely relevant this past year. When
being interviewed about why he chose to stream his show on the
internet he said "Communication which is very important in our
business, is kind of like a very old patent. It hasn't changed since
twenty years, and we all talk about being very global and
international, and being very connected. We really wanted to
explore to make that much more modern. We don't want it to
be pretentious or an art video. It's an information about what
we do and that's it." Because of Langs ability to globalize the
minimalist aesthetic and tie in his rave and punk roots, he was
able to capture the zeitgeist of the time. Only comparable to that
of Armani in the 80’s and Yves Saint Laurent in the 70’s.

minimal |32

Kate Moss in Helmut Lang
Autumn/Winter 1996

Autumn/Winter 1999

Autum/Winter 1998

minimal | 42

Helmut Lang for Vogue Paris
February 2003

Helmut Lang for Vogue Paris
February 2003

Spring/Summer 1992

Jil Sander, AKA the Queen of Clean, is known as one of
the great pioneers of minimalism alongside Helmut
Lang. She is seen as an advocate for the modern
working woman, and was always guided by the idea
that she designed clothing for herself, and women like
her. That is one of the reasons why she, like Lang, took
a more commercial approach to her version of
minimalism. Having started her career in a male
dominated industry, Sander knew what it was like to
not be taken seriously, especially in the bright and loud
designs of the 80’s. That is one of the factors that
influenced her love for minimalist colors and
silhouettes. She never forgot why she started, she even
used herself as a fit model. Sander, like the other
minimalist designers, chose to keep her garments in a
muted color palette, but what really set her apart was
her minimalist construction. She employed very precise
cutting, lifted waistlines, and natural shoulders. On top
of that she added zero unnecessary adornments, she
held so true to this way of dressing that she did not
even produce accessories that were not functional
(shoes, bags, & perfume).

JIL SANDER

minimal | 46

https://cucineedintorni.eu/buon-
compleanno-bauhaus/

Spring/Summer 2013
Menswear

Sander and Lang’s style of design is often compared to Bauhaus, Bauhaus was a school of design, architecture, and applied arts that existed in
Germany from 1919 to 1933. The Bauhaus had the philosophy of training its students equally in both arts and technical skill. This balance of
function and beauty is obvious in Lang and Sanders' work, although they never studied at the school. Ahead of its time, Bauhaus style is that of
the art’s and crafts movement, but streamlined, modernized, and mass manufactured, which they believed was the future. At its core Bauhaus
features little decoration and focuses on balanced forms and geometrical shapes.This is again mirrored in the commerciality of the german
minimalist designers garments. Sander was quoted saying “The Bauhaus Movement is my source of inspiration. It applies rational functions to
the design of daily life.” One great example of the Bauhaus influence on her brand is the Autumn/Winter collection 2016 which played with
shadow and light, and was inspired by László Moholy-Nagy’s visual experiments with light and movement.

Poster for the Bauhaus
1923

Photo byMichaelGaida

minmal | 47

Autumn/Winter
2016

László Moholy-Nagy

Jil Sander S/S 1991 : Tatjana Patitz
by Nick Knight