Is fashion considered art? And if so, is all fashion art? Does your favorite pair of Levi's deserve to be adored in a museum? UWM's Union Art Gallery takes a deeper look at the sometimes blurry boundaries between fashion and art in the "Out of Fashion" exhibition, now showing through Sept. 16.

Gallery Manager and exhibit curator Andrea Skyberg describes the collection as, "cutting edge designs that fall out of fashion and into art."

Skyberg, a UWM graduate student majoring in fibers and women's studies, says she was inspired by exhibits in a fashion museum she visited while traveling in Antwerp, Belgium. "I saw fashion being displayed as art, and I wanted to do something similar, but on a smaller scale, in Milwaukee."

Her call for artists gathered over 20 local, regional and national designers to the UWM Union Art Gallery for a 17-day exhibition that would showcase how wearable sculpture is starting to redefine its own genre.

From preliminary sketches, fashion photography, paintings, sculptures, video, to performance shows, the artists and designers have utilized the visual language of clothing and fashion to create pieces that focus on the interaction between body and garment.

Skyberg says that not everything that was submitted was chosen for the gallery's exhibition, however. "Some things were clearly more fashion than art, so the more wearable pieces will be featured in our runway show at the exhibit's closing reception."

The Sept. 16 reception starts at 5 p.m. with food and drinks in the gallery and then moves to the Union Ballroom at 7 p.m. where models will participate in performance art and a fashion show. The show closes with "Whole Lotta Love," a performance featuring the work of designer Carri Skoczek, a Virgin Mary costume and a Led Zeppelin song.

In conjunction with this show is an installation by Vincenzo Maniscalco in the Atrium Gallery, across from the UWM Bookstore in the Union.

Union Art Gallery is located at 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd. on the Campus level and is free and open to the public. The hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., and Thursday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.