Not Clothes, But Identity

This class has been a very challenging course to me just because of the compact challenge. I have always been a big fan of consumerism just because I get bored of things really easily. But after finishing up Kawamura's book Fashionology, I realize that fashion isn't really about buying clothes. She talks about how Fashion is not about clothes but about a belief. The belief that by buying more clothes, one is more fashionable. For as long as I have been shopping on my own, I have always believed that buying the newest clothes or following the newest trend is being fashionable. I have never been a fan of leggings but it became very popular as people started to wear them under skirts especially in the bay area with the weather and such. I was very tempted to buy some just because everyone else was wearing them. I found this pair at work and they were so cute. I was about to buy them when I realized that I'm no longer a kid anymore and I don't want to wear leggings just because everyone else was wearing them.

However, that is not true. After going through this class and finishing up this book, I have come to believe that fashion is really an identity we set for ourselves. It is an image that we set for ourselves. In the article describing an interview with Carine Roitfield, french Vogue editor, she claims that "Fashion is not about clothes, it's about a look." Although it makes her a bit ironic to be saying this, she claims that fashion is about creating a look with different articles of clothing. I have come to believe that fashion isn't really about just buying clothes and wearing what everyone else is wearing. It is really about setting an image to the public and conveying a message. This helps me alot in terms of the compact challenge just because I feel like I have a whole entirely new wardrobe in which I can experiment and think about what kind of message I want to convey to the world!

Sources:

1) Fashion-ology by Yuniya Kawamura

2) Article by Jess Cartner-Morley http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/may/20/carine-roitfeld-french-vogue-fashion-interview

3) Picture from Gap.com. http://www.gap.com/Asset_Archive/GPWeb/Assets/Product/646/646336/main/gp646336-03p01v01.jpg

Carmen Yee Post #6