Fashion as we know it now emerged in Paris as an industry generated by the community of the royal court. The perceived authority and sophistication of that courtly community led to the spread of pattern-based seasonal fashion across Europe. The rise of democracy and the invention of read-to-wear allowed fashion to become a self-determining, constantly modulating authority in its own right – and designers starting labelling their work just as artists signed their canvases. 

But unlike the greatest artists, the greatest designers have always worked in creative collaboration with many other individuals, either alongside them or through taking inspiration from them. Truly significant designers possess both a distinctive creative vision that is unique to them, and an open mindedness and curiosity through which they can gather material from others with which to express that vision. As they develop, they gather a personal momentum and the sphere of their cultural gravity grows, attracting more and more like-minded collaborators and wearers. And then – boom! – you have a fashion community. 

In the 1920’s and beyond Coco Chanel drove the de-frillification of womenswear as shifting social morays allowed women to dress more pragmatically: her assimilation of casual menswear materials such as jersey and tweed boucle and her unstructured dresses were creatively radical acts. Although she is rightly feted for being a uniquely distinct voice, she cultivated many friends beyond fashion whose output was similarly radical: Igor Stravinskij, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí (with whom she once co-costume designers a ballet production).

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Read the full article in the April issue of Vogue Italia, on newsstands from April 7th