How Fashion and Art Intersect in My Work

By Sebastien Montel

Fashion and art have always been connected. Both are languages of expression, shaped by culture and rooted in identity. As a French artist working in both Los Angeles and Palm Springs, I see fashion not only as design, but as a form of storytelling that mirrors what I explore in my expressionist art.

Shared Impulses

In contemporary art, as in fashion, the goal is not just to present an image, it is to evoke a feeling. My paintings, layered with oil, pencil, and fragments of newspaper, function much like garments: they reveal something about the inner self while concealing something else.

Texture and Materiality

My practice in mixed media art overlaps with fashion in its attention to texture and material. Just as a designer combines fabrics to create new forms, I build surfaces that carry emotional weight. Texture is not just visual, it is tactile, and it changes how we perceive the figure.

Expression of Identity

Fashion expresses who we are in public. My emotional art and psychological art examine the private realities behind that expression. The intersection between the two is where my work lives: in the space between how we appear and how we feel.

Fashion and art will always intersect because both are about presence. They reflect not only how we want to be seen, but who we truly are.