The break in my writing was due in part to finals week and the craziness of life, and then to spring break where I took time away from any form of structured thinking and gave my mind an invitation to think freely, discussing with friends the ideas I had and exploring, in a fluid way, what I thought and felt about the issue of fashion, style and identity within our society.
It is good to be back.
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I have just read my last post to remember where I had abandoned my thoughts before our final presentations last quarter. I discussed the notion of fashion being a consequence—a result of both external and internal influences.
I am pondering this idea, and I begin to look at everyone around me. Looking at the people, these individuals. What are they wearing, what does it say about who they are, what does it reveal? Is it a true representation, is it an accurate external communication of their personality and being? Does it even matter? Or, connecting to a different idea I have previously considered, is clothing just a costume? Is everyone wearing costumes? What am I wearing, what is my costume, is it accurate? Who am I... can my clothing communicate this, can my style communicate my identity?
If we do view clothing as costume in context, what influences our decisions about what character we will be, what role we will play, and how we will indicate/ represent this character's identity?
Is there a costume designer? A fashion director? Yes.
We are the actors and actresses, but is this their show, or ours?
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Louis XIV is to French Revolution as Anna Wintour is to ____.
Monarchy led to anarchy, is this where we need to go? Not completely, but it is the development of the mindset of anarchy that will lead to freedom from the external imposition of conformity in our visual identities.
Now it's time to fill in the blank, to figure out where to go...
The thought I've always had about clothing is that it DOES tell you something about the person wearing it, but it does not give an accurate picture of the person if you took away their outfit. Perhaps you get closer to seeing who someone is like when you're invited to look at their closet (instead of seeing just the one, put together outfit all the time).
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, during critique, people seemed a bit put-off by the idea that their clothes said anything about them. Even I hate feeling like my clothing defines me, and maybe it doesn't, but it doesn't say NOTHING. It's not as if I dressed in the dark or had my clothing bought by someone else! Those people who say they put no thought into their clothes and who just wear whatever free tshirt they get next - they probably have some fancy shirts that their mom bought them for Christmas - what keeps them from wearing it?
So, to keep this short ('cause I have a tendency for long-winded postings) and to offer some sort of idea, I think it would be really interesting for you to survey a few people about what they wear and how they do/don't think it says something about themselves. Where do they get their ideas and inspiration from? What do they look for first in an article of clothing?