Napoleonic dress was inspired by the Ancients. Instead of the approved, classical subject matter of the academy, many Impressionists depicted everyday events of the middle class. Paul Poiret, a famous fashion designer during the early part of the century, was inspired by the Neo-classical silhouette. And, during the 1960's, Andre' Courrege, Pierre Cardin, and Paco Rabanne were inspired by Pop art, Op art, and hard-edge, geometric paintings of the decade. What creates the relationship between fashion and art is more complex than just inspiration.
Fashion synthesizes everything that is new and now.
Fashion is the reflection or the prediction of a common mood, demonstrates a desire for change and a new and better future. Elsa was influenced by the Italian Futurists, the French Fauves and Cubists, and by New York Dada while she was in America. She moved to Paris and worked closely with the Surrealists which helped to bring the energy and principles of architecture, sculpture, and painting into fashion. The result of this new energy was the uniting of these disciplines and the envisioning of an eclectic approach to designing. Fashion had become Surrealism's irresistible friction between what was ordinary and what was extraordinary, between ornamentation and disfigurement, body and concept, and what was real and unreal.