Thread: is wearable art too expensive? or impractical?

Question is for both buyers and designers..

There are quite a few galleries and markets here that sell some really beautiful hand made wearable art pieces..mostly scarves, shawls, some wraps, some sarongs. They are absolutely gorgeous and really do look and feel better than imported items

But are the items too overpriced for the buyers market? Or are the items impractical to wear? (it's beautiful but where would I wear it). is the care too impractical (hand wash or dry clean) . Are the wearable art items you see really nice but too expensive ?

From an artist standpoint I know how long it takes to make certain items and i can really appreciate a hand made luxury item..I splurged and bought a really pretty crepe silk ruana from another artist..retails for $120. I'm not sure how often I can wear it but I could not pass it up.

Most of the artists/items I saw did not have websites but I'll post a few links to other websites that have similar items for reference..

JIll Targer Fine Art Originals: Butterflies

Silks.Com - Hand-Painted Silk Clothing - Wearable Art - Custom Art-to-Wear

Clothing by Shibori West Textile Designs - Wearable Art Kimono Silk Fiber by Michael Davis

Wearable Art and Silk Shibori by Michael Smith

Too impractical for me...I am a spiller.

I bought a beautiful wearable art skirt/top matching set in Maui a few years ago. It was dyed silk crepe. I don't wear it very often because I don't wear skirts/dresses very often (aside from doing dance performances, that is), but I love it. Even my husband likes it, and he's really picky about stuff like that.

As an item to be sold in tourist shops in Hawaii or other high-end places like Las Vegas, I think wearable art has a market. The kind of person who could afford to vacation in Hawaii and stay in one of the top-class resorts can also afford to buy beautiful wearable art. It's not something the masses would buy, but it has a market.

I also have a T-shirt dress (made from T-shirt fabric, cut like a T-shirt, but just below knee length) that was hand-painted with a stunning picture of a leopard. I love that, too.

And then there are the Phoenix Rising pants done with batik technique, which I consider to be fabulous wearable art - I have several pairs of those!

I think the key is to choose carefully what type of garment you apply the artistic technique to. I wouldn't buy a wearable art sarong because that's not something I'd wear once I returned to my mundane life. I might consider a scarf/shawl/wrap, but I'd be more likely to buy/wear a blouse, a skirt, or a dress.

Wearable art in my land looks like this or this, and yes it's ridiculously expensive and the only place you'll sell it is to a gallery or collector. Good publicity though.

But the pieces you've linked are wearable and there are people out there who would probably love them and be prepared to spend money on them. Trick is finding the market. I suspect cruise ship parties might love this stuff - a lot of older ladies who no longer want to show off the body but adorn it with things that feel soft and look beautiful. You're looking at older women with cash and a liking for beauty, not body modification.

Simply put... Yes, some of it is very expensive. Gorgeous, but just too expensive. I don't think it's worth it to spend that kind of money on silks. I'll just stick to my Akais. (And I'm looking forward to moving to Florida so I can buy lots more silk dresses!! I love the dress and ruana that I bought from you.)

Definitely not my style, but I think some of the comments above are accurate. There are definitely Ladies of a Certain Age with Money who would LOVE to buy one of a kind art they can wear that is both beautiful and comfortable. Especially if they could boast that they know the artist.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Wearable art in my land looks like this or this, and yes it's ridiculously expensive and the only place you'll sell it is to a gallery or collector. Good publicity though.

Eep, Zumarrad, those are kind of great ..l;,

Wearable art is about the art. Whether it's practical or not, there will always be people who can afford it and who will buy it. The important thing is to find those people and market to them directly.

I love to look at wearable art. I love to create it now and then for myself. If (and when) I can afford to buy it, I will.

Mira

I feel mostly artists wear art clothing.

We, dancers certainly are artists but we usually have loads of our costumes to wear and might tend to wear something more ordinary during our time off.

This is url of Czech designer who lives in Lebanon, so she has plenty of ME influence. I would buy her model if I had an occasion to wear it, otherwise it is money wasting.

hi everyone thanks so much for the responses so far..i went to a scarf painting class over the weekend and was really surprised the artist didnt sell right out of her items, they were so pretty..and affordable imo

I'm on about 7 hours sleep over the last two days due to my lovely baby boy so will respond more intelligently after a good nap if that happens but wanted to say i'm reading the posts so far and much appreciate it :)

Shira do you know the name of the artist in Maui by chance?

ps what I've noticed over the years is that a lot of American women do not wear scarves and shawls..my sis lives in Amsterdam and says she sees more women wearing them in Europe but i better not make big generalizations on a little bit of sleep ,s::

Originally Posted by jesennia

Shira do you know the name of the artist in Maui by chance?

Jes, I just looked at the tag, and it says "Bamboo Silks". It's a beautiful turquoise and royal purple confection. I bought it at a little shop in Lahaina.

Even though I appreciate wearable art and I'm willing to pay the price for stuff I like, I rarely buy scarves and shawls (except for use in belly dance costuming) because they're just not something I wear in my daily life, even for dress-up.

thanks Shira I'm going to see if I can find them..

if i were to buy something (well I just did..it's a ruana/wrap) I suppose i could justify the purchase if i used it somehow, or wore it..i dont have enough cash yet to buy something just cuz (um except the sim in my closet, am not dancing enough to justify it BUT)

i'd like art items that had a purpose or something that can be worn often enough to make it worth it i suppose