Hmmm ok, so Anna wrote me a very critical comment on my last post and asked me to explain why fashion is such a big deal to me. So here I’m gonna try and give it a shot, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to justice to this – as in be able to really answer her question or really succeed in expressing what fashion is to me but let me give it a shot (I’m sure a hundred other things will pop into my head as soon as I’ve shut down the computer but oh well).
To me fashion is the highest form of art that there is. Fashion alongside architecture – fashion being the one of the two that I just can relate to best (I can just somehow relate more to fabric than bricks and cement). Fashion can be and is everything – an expression of your mood, your character, what inspires you, what you believe in (Stella for example designs without any use of leather or fur – conforming to her vegan lifestyle) and what you are against. It is art and practicality (especially fulfilling an emotional purpose) in one. Just like architecture it is not just an art form that just is but is one that fulfils a practical purpose and lives and grows with the people that live and work in it - a piece from an old collection or a vintage item has the character of its own history and lifetime.
Fashion is also an expression of the times one lives in and the society and ideals that one is a part of (just think of the ‘clean’clothing movement with jeans being produced without chemical dyes or big brands being forced to pay attention to child labour in production factories). Fashion is also an expression of your upbringing – what kind of colours, prints and materials you prefer and what these symbolize to you say a lot about the impressions you still retain from the days of your childhood. I for example love bright colours and gold and silver embroidery (which others might find tacky or garish) – growing up in India and being surrounded by bright and elaborately designed sarees and silk it always brings a little feeling of home and nostalgia when I see a woman in a nice saree and it reminds me of festivals and weddings from my childhood.
AND even on a more personal level we need to differentiate here - I am talking fashion and style and not merely talking about ‘clothes’whose main function is to be comfortable. When I’m just lounging about at home I wear trackpants and a baggy t-shirt too. Fashion however not only fulfils the purpose of expression or making a statement but also of conveying to you the feeling it gives you when you know you’re wearing something that looks good and you know there’s no question about it. Yesterday evening I spent hours in 10cm peeptoe stilettos – do I do this for comfort? No, but for the way they make my feet arch and look good, tighten my calves, for the way I walk up straight and am forced to arch my back, take smaller steps when I’m walking and for how elegant they make me feel when I have them on. When I know I’m wearing something that is unquestionably stylish it simultaneously turns into a great source of self-confidence.
This might sound horribly shallow but there have been moments where I’m standing in front of some chick that is giving me bitchy looks and giving me the fullbody scan and making me feel uncomfortable and insecure (like last friday outside a bar here) and I look back at her and look at her shoes – her shoes are chunky and ‘ungepflegt’and my stilettos are lovely and then in that moment I couldn’t care less about how smart, funny, beautiful, succesful or rich she is…in that little moment there it is me that ‘wins’- my shoes beat hers – that little moment does wonders for my confidence – I know I need more to ride on in general but the thing is that I do have more to ride, I just get insecure easily when confronted by bitchy chicks and in such moments my shoes are my best friends that never let me down. I know this is all just in the head and is a psychological and emotional thing, but that doesn’t change a single thing about the immense value my shoes have for me. Its personal.
This is also surely to be projected onto the level of high fashion. High fashion is personal and all about emotion, all about the way it makes the respective person feels and emotions, thoughts, places, people and feelings this person associates with the item or designer concerned. The presentation is emotional, the marketing is emotional, the branding is emotional. To many women who are ‘obsessed’with certain brands or obtaining a certain straight from the runway before it hits the stores it is all about obtaining something that is desired by all but affordable for a few – it gives them a feeling of power, of owning something everyone else wants but they are only ones that actually have it.
Fashion is all about feeling – about the feeling it expressed as well as the feeling it gives the wearer. Fashion is art. Fashion is expression. Fashion is character. Fashion is art that grows and blossoms – it is never stagnant. Fashion is sex. Fashion is power.
So do I think it is all hyped up too much as Anna says? Is too much made out of something that is nothing? No, absolutely not – on this point I have to fully disagree with Anna. It is not hyped up too much – the hype is about maximising the emotional value of the item, the designer and the brand and the feeling associated with it - which is what it thrives on and is therefore absolutely vital to the success of the brand and not to be overlooked or dismissed as trivial. Is too much made out of nothing? No, absolutely not – it is not nothing, it is to me the highest form of art that is saturated with emotional value.
Fashion is personal. To me fashion is all this and a lot more – a lot more emotion and feeling that I’m just realising right now I can’t even really express or do justice to in words.
I hope I’ve been able to answer Anna’s question atleast a tiny bit…
