I think we can all agree that most clothing design is not art, mostly chain stores rehashing/copying designers who have some originality. Though i admit to be easily seduced by glossy mags, i tire easily of the constant pastiches of the past. Sportwear and 'healthwear' may be the last avenues of progess, with technology, original thinking etc.
One book i found in my uni library was one called "Fashioning the Future" , came out 2005 i think, and its awesome if your're interested in what designers, scientists and real thinkers and creatives are imagining for the not-so far future.
SOME clothing designers are more art than just aesthetic- a prime example would be HUSSEIN CHALAYAN
check him out, but also READ about his stuff. Dominant themes are migration, technology
I am studying visual art at uni, and there are so many debates on what contemporary art is, and who is an artist......it is tireless
there are many purposes for creating, to decorate, beautify, to actively come to terms with/engage/support/criticise/debate the world around you...
so with clothing it could be creative problem solving in that way, you have a concept, a context which would be the body, identity, movemnet, function, care of material/practicality, and the form woulf be cloth or something else, and how to best get your concept across with those contextual issues and styling.
And in the aforementioned book, despite jokes about some teens wear!, did you know that someone has invented spray on fabric!! -basically lots of tiny cotton etc. fibres in an areosol,sorry forgot the name, but a google search would ceratinly bring it up
obviously the creations of such designers aren't available en masse, nor are they known by everyone or your average jo, and they're pricey too
...but so are the not so creative designers in high end fashion
ii feel like those guys just serve the consumer machine of constant newness that people follow thinking that buying will achieve genuine happiness and good for others/environment
glossy mag ads are admittedly (some) pretty but most certainly vaccuous
