On the borders of design: fashion and intentionality

In Le pays fertile, a book about the painter Paul Klee, the composer Pierre Boulez makes the following statement: “I am of the firm opinion that points of view from a totally different field can provoke a shock in our own way of conceiving the composition process, unleashing inspiration that might never have occurred had we remained in the same professional field”. Fashion and design do not differ radically: art applied to industry and the design process can be quite similar. But the fact remains that the two disciplines have radically different implications. When looked at a little more closely, we see an important gap between their structure and mode of functioning on the one hand, but also in the way the practitioners of each regard one another. Misunderstanding, disdain, fascination or even just ignorance: fashion designers and designers do not speak the same language.