Usage of Clothing as a MetaphoriIn Conceptual Design Approaches

The conceptual design approach has maximized its efficiency in the field of clothing fashion, especially in the 1980s. In this period, conceptual approaches in clothing fashion, shaped by the influence of Postmodernism, brought with it a structure that questioned culture, tradition, belief, gender and identity norms, ideologies and classifications formed in parallel with these factors. Conceptual approaches focused on the clothing-body relationship within the framework of the social value system, redefining the meaning and functionality of clothing and creating representational variability. This study, which aims to investigate the fashion designers who are influential in this phenomenon and their prominent conceptual contents in terms of their designs, has been researched using a qualitative method and has been prepared by following an interpretive and descriptive approach. For this purpose, the collections of Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, Maison Martin Margiela, Hüseyin Çağlayan and Alexander McQueen, who are the leading names of contemporary conceptual fashion, were examined and the samples supported by visuals were analyzed and evaluated. As a result of this study, it has been observed that fashion designers who focus on social codes interpret their conceptual ideas with a philosophical positioning by making use of artistic expressions. These fashion designers have used clothing objects as metaphors with their conceptual design approaches and radical presentation methods, and they have broken down the stereotypes with respect to fashion and clothing habits.