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Fashion

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Summer Random Chanel - Fashion

Why fashion?

June 11th 2007 23:11

From Manoloblahnik.com Just try telling me that this is not beauty

With a background in literary theory and philosophy, an interest in fashion has been a naughty secret of mine for some time. But it’s time to go public. I love fashion and I’ve got good reasons. Firstly, it is aesthetically pleasing but also the social and cultural significance fashion holds are part of our everyday non-verbal communication.

By this I mean that through personal style, the individual not only expresses some of the external elements of self-definition but also speaks of an engagement with the society one inhabits. (Obviously some fashion and fashion writing is nothing more than frippery and fun but don’t let that distract from the perfectly valid argument at hand.)

From magazine.com UK Vogue offers some of the best fashion writing

In some ways Heidegger has informed my ideas about fashion with his inversion of the way Western philosophy has generally depicted self and other. Individuals don’t exist as single entities in the first instance; they begin as part of the society into which they are born and become individual selves second. Although Heidegger is jargonistic and I don’t completely buy his philosophy I am inclined to think there is some truth in the notion that identity is first formed as a result of interpersonal interaction.

And what has this to do with fashion? The way we dress is often the first part of our selves which is observable by the outside world and so the development of self in relation to others is to varying extents, the result of fashion.

With a trained eye you can read socio-economic status, value-systems and even voting preferences, all from the way in which people dress.

My friend Sally says this idea is problematic for someone like her who doesn’t care about fashion but her very not-caring is part of her character and in fact she is stylish in an anti-fashion way. Similarly a particular ensemble alerts the viewer as to how long has been spent getting dressed which can indicate that the person invests a lot of energy into their dress or alternatively that their time is used otherwise.

By imbuing the ordinary activity of dressing oneself with broader socio-cultural significance, the individual initiates a dialogue with their fellow humans.

From chanel.com This outfit says, I am filthy rich and love it

Some people might say Alice, this sounds like a big pile of rubbish, I judge people on the inside not the outside. Sure you do, but if you concentrate on your thought processes when you meet new people or as you choose your clothes for the day, I think you could find some of these ideas factor into your thinking. Or I could be wrong altogether. I’d love to hear which it is.

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