Is Fashion Performance Art?

 The heroine was Mary Poppins. And although London's Victorian age pearly kings and queens are somewhere between art and theatre, that intersection of the two elements was the point of creating these elegantly tailored jackets decorated with buttons.

                                                   
They were displayed in Rome at the Accademia Costume & Moda – a rare school that melds designing for the performing arts with fashion.

Since haute couture – and all high-end design – switched from primarily serving clients to showcasing creative concepts, there have been earnest discussions about fashion as art. It started well before the new millennium when drama on the runway was normalised by defining fashion shows as theatre.

But in the current confusion of what is now haute couture and, on another fashion page, whether students should be encouraged to make exciting but unwearable creations, the academic and industrial projects from the students in Rome struck a chord.

Is it a different context to the British or American schools that – especially in the case of the UK – have dominated design for the last quarter of a century?

Lupo Lanzara, Deputy Chairman of the Accademia Costume & Moda, explained that the family business he now runs with his brother, CEO Furio Francini, sets out to highlight three pillars of education: costume; fashion and accessories; and communications, which includes editing and styling. All three are treated as significant and important.