Merchants of Style

Reviews / Votes

If you wonder how we got to the point of so many new artist-designer collaborations, Natasha Degen's recent history is a great place to start. As the professor and chair of art market studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Degen examines fashion and art through a business lens, and suggests that Andy Warhol and the advent of Pop art are what led to contemporary art's unabashed union with commerce. In the introduction, Merchants of Style traces the rise of couturiers whose genius was likened to that of artists, as well as those in Surrealist circles who collaborated across disciplines. It moves from there to a post-Warhol age in which elite consumption forever changed, and luxury conglomerates are inclined to open their own art museums and foundations. * Art News, 'One of The Five Most Essential Books About Art and Fashion' * "Art was assumed to be profound; fashion was dismissed as frivolous," the professor of art market studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology writes. Documenting the historic relationship between fashion and fine art - Salvador Dali's window displays at the New York department store, Bonwit Teller, for example, or Jean Cocteau's evening jacket design for Elsa Schiaparelli - Degen then argues that Andy Warhol and his legacy definitively changed what had, until then, remained somewhat separate aesthetic industries. From artist-designed handbags like the 2017 Jeff Koons collaboration with Louis Vuitton to the luxury brands that have opened art foundations, this is a fascinating read on the shifting economics of culture for anyone interested in the intersection of contemporary art and commerce. * Zoomer Magazine, 'Style & Substance: 12 Fashion Books for Spring' * Merchants of Style is an astute exploration of the merging of culture and commerce. Natasha Degen brilliantly explains how a new generation of artists and fashion designers have expanded the conceptual parameters of art. * Jeffrey Deitch, art dealer and curator, director Jeffrey Deitch Gallery * Degen's book dives deep into the intertwining of art and fashion; from artist-designed handbags to luxury goods corporations appropriating the symbolic aura of art. A fascinating account of two apparently dissimilar, but in fact highly symbiotic, worlds. * Georgina Adam, editor-at-large The Art Newspaper and Financial Times contributor, and author of The Rise and Rise of the Private Art Museum * Wonderfully researched, written and documented. Highly recommended for anyone interested in a history of fashion, art, or both. * Don Thompson, Nabisco Brands Professor of Marketing, Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto and author of The $12 Million Stuffed Shark, and The Curious Economics of Luxury Fashion. * Merchants of Style is a major achievement. Degen demonstrates in stunning detail how art, fashion, and commerce began to interweave so tightly as to become a single entity, and in doing so, provides what will no doubt endure as the most incisive historical narrative for explaining the last four decades. * W. David Marx, author of Status and Culture and Ametora * A fascinating, informative, and incisive look at the intersection of art and fashion - from Saint Laurent and Warhol to Raf Simons and Sterling Ruby. * Kate Betts, author of My Paris Dream: An Education in Style, Slang, and Seduction in the Great City on the Seine *