"Consumers have had plenty of reasons to meditate on the new wave of minimalist fashion now in stores, namely to decide if a simple camel coat — as all the magazines suggested — is the right look for them this fall. As a trend, minimalism seemed to come out of left field this season, ubiquitous on the runways for no better reason than, well, Phoebe Philo is doing it, so it must be right.
Elyssa Dimant, a fashion historian and a former research associate at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, decided to look a bit further into the subject in her substantive new book, “Minimalism and Fashion: Reduction in the Postmodern Era” (Collins Design). Ms. Dimant examined the role of minimalism in fashion, but also looked at the broader context of its appearance in art, architecture and design, noting some surprising correlations along the way. One of the most intriguing aspects of her book is the juxtaposition of runway looks with art and sculpture, such as an organic piece by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher opposite dresses from an unrelated resort collection by the Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa, or a Richard Serra installation of curling metal plates next to Hussein Chalayan’s coffee-table dress from 2000.
