Wednesday, 2 November 2011
The worth of fashion: a random collection of thoughts.
I just had a chat with one of my best friends about fashion. The conversation started with her asking if I liked Oscar Wilde, and if I had heard his quote of fashion, I laughed and said confirmed yes, I had indeed.
For those of you who haven't heard/read it it goes as follows:
"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable we have to be alter it every 6 months"
-Oscar Wilde
Even typing that made me smile. As a fashion student I agree with Mr Wilde's sentiments, I have a slightly differing perspective but I think there is an element to his words that rings true.
Fashion is simultaneously taken far too seriously and not seriously enough. In terms of taking it too seriously I don't understand people being afraid to wear something twice in the same week lest other people notice and somehow judge them as a twice-a-week-wearer or some such monster. But I also have a deep hatred of people who say that fashion doesn't matter, a common opinion among New Zealanders. It DOES matter. What you wear defines not only who you are, but more importantly who you want the rest of the world to think you are. It is armour and whether that is horrendous should-burst-into-flames-as-you-leave-the-house tracksuits or an Armani suit it fulfills the same role in your life.
Saying you don't care about fashion says as much about you as saying you do does. It says you consider it a frivolous world, a world you don't want to play a part in. Well, guess what buddy, you're in it and as long as you are in a western country, you can't escape it.
Going back to my discussion with my friend; I commented on how changing fashions reflected changing values in society whether a world war, the invention of the pill or the 2008 recession. They come and go in the blink of an eye and as such I happened upon a realisation that I am proud of considering it is 1am and my brain is asleep.
I have realised that I consider fashion to be both priceless and worthless. It is like a slap-up dinner at a fancy restaurant. It arrives, looks pretty, tastes delicious and it vanishes again as if it never existed with only your expanded waistline and indented wallet to show for the entire affair. With fashion the only difference is that it is your wardrobe instead of your waistline that is expanding; the sweet, sweet memories of what once was, the taste of the food and the feel of parading around in your favourite, fashionable clothes, can be worth every penny. (it also can leave you feeling uncomfortable and nauseous but enough of that.)
Yes, man can survive on a diet of meat and 2 veg but I'm not entirely sure I want to...
For those of you who haven't heard/read it it goes as follows:
"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable we have to be alter it every 6 months"
-Oscar Wilde
Even typing that made me smile. As a fashion student I agree with Mr Wilde's sentiments, I have a slightly differing perspective but I think there is an element to his words that rings true.
Fashion is simultaneously taken far too seriously and not seriously enough. In terms of taking it too seriously I don't understand people being afraid to wear something twice in the same week lest other people notice and somehow judge them as a twice-a-week-wearer or some such monster. But I also have a deep hatred of people who say that fashion doesn't matter, a common opinion among New Zealanders. It DOES matter. What you wear defines not only who you are, but more importantly who you want the rest of the world to think you are. It is armour and whether that is horrendous should-burst-into-flames-as-you-leave-the-house tracksuits or an Armani suit it fulfills the same role in your life.
Saying you don't care about fashion says as much about you as saying you do does. It says you consider it a frivolous world, a world you don't want to play a part in. Well, guess what buddy, you're in it and as long as you are in a western country, you can't escape it.
Going back to my discussion with my friend; I commented on how changing fashions reflected changing values in society whether a world war, the invention of the pill or the 2008 recession. They come and go in the blink of an eye and as such I happened upon a realisation that I am proud of considering it is 1am and my brain is asleep.
I have realised that I consider fashion to be both priceless and worthless. It is like a slap-up dinner at a fancy restaurant. It arrives, looks pretty, tastes delicious and it vanishes again as if it never existed with only your expanded waistline and indented wallet to show for the entire affair. With fashion the only difference is that it is your wardrobe instead of your waistline that is expanding; the sweet, sweet memories of what once was, the taste of the food and the feel of parading around in your favourite, fashionable clothes, can be worth every penny. (it also can leave you feeling uncomfortable and nauseous but enough of that.)
Yes, man can survive on a diet of meat and 2 veg but I'm not entirely sure I want to...
Monday, 31 October 2011
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Fashion snobbery...
It's an interesting thing. I like to think I'm very open to other people's style but I was thinking about it and I'm not. I like, in my snobby fashion brain, to think that yes, I am very accepting of other people's style as long as they do in fact, possess style. Let me explain...
We have just finished a semester long paper which involves being split into groups and designing a collection for a certain NZ knitwear designer. (Won't mention the name as it's too soon to not hate them down to the core of my very being) To cut a long story short it's run by a 50-something year old man who likes to describe their clothing as "sexy"...... so we gave him sexy. A black and silver metallic dress slit to the navel and backless to be precise. At the end of the presentation he commented on the whole year as a whole saying "Our clothing is much sexier than anything you have shown us here today, our customers in Sydney want sexy clothing, this kind of stuff could possibly sell in Melbourne, in Sydney the people are a lot like they are in California" this proclamation was met with silence and I swear I saw tumbleweed roll by.
We didn't know what to say. So fundamentally, people in Sydney dress like sluts? My fashion snobbery flared up. Overt sexiness is not something that I even consider fashion design, but clearly there's a huge market for it. It is a fashion truth that makes my brain hurt, and by the collections shown by my fellow classmates, they also hate overt sexiness. What is it that makes us recoil from it so dramatically?
Think of contemporary fashion icons; Lady Gaga, Kate Moss, Carine Roitfeld and even Michelle Obama. The styling couldn't vary much more drastically than between these women, yet they are all fashionable. Lady Gaga could be said to dress sexily, but I don't think she does? She has a lot of flesh on show but it's not sexy per say. She does it to shock, not to make you want to sleep with her. Hmm... I do struggle to grasp "sexiness" as a concept that isn't as a result of good tailoring, styling and confidence. This is why I hold the label in question in distain as I don't think they get it. To look like you are trying to be sexy immediately destroys the illusion and having skin on show doesn't guarantee sex appeal, it just makes you look like a prostitute.
When he left I think he thought we were idiots and that our fashion school was disappointing, I'm secretly smug as this opinion. It reaffirms my belief that we are great.
We have just finished a semester long paper which involves being split into groups and designing a collection for a certain NZ knitwear designer. (Won't mention the name as it's too soon to not hate them down to the core of my very being) To cut a long story short it's run by a 50-something year old man who likes to describe their clothing as "sexy"...... so we gave him sexy. A black and silver metallic dress slit to the navel and backless to be precise. At the end of the presentation he commented on the whole year as a whole saying "Our clothing is much sexier than anything you have shown us here today, our customers in Sydney want sexy clothing, this kind of stuff could possibly sell in Melbourne, in Sydney the people are a lot like they are in California" this proclamation was met with silence and I swear I saw tumbleweed roll by.
We didn't know what to say. So fundamentally, people in Sydney dress like sluts? My fashion snobbery flared up. Overt sexiness is not something that I even consider fashion design, but clearly there's a huge market for it. It is a fashion truth that makes my brain hurt, and by the collections shown by my fellow classmates, they also hate overt sexiness. What is it that makes us recoil from it so dramatically?
Think of contemporary fashion icons; Lady Gaga, Kate Moss, Carine Roitfeld and even Michelle Obama. The styling couldn't vary much more drastically than between these women, yet they are all fashionable. Lady Gaga could be said to dress sexily, but I don't think she does? She has a lot of flesh on show but it's not sexy per say. She does it to shock, not to make you want to sleep with her. Hmm... I do struggle to grasp "sexiness" as a concept that isn't as a result of good tailoring, styling and confidence. This is why I hold the label in question in distain as I don't think they get it. To look like you are trying to be sexy immediately destroys the illusion and having skin on show doesn't guarantee sex appeal, it just makes you look like a prostitute.
When he left I think he thought we were idiots and that our fashion school was disappointing, I'm secretly smug as this opinion. It reaffirms my belief that we are great.
Hand-ins are over....
I'm just supposed to be writing a materials report with a large section on pilling......SO HELLO BLOG.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
My current train of thought goes something like this:
eat, sew, talk about it, stress, sew, sewing, I'm oh shit, stress, eat, unpick, sew, sew, eat, eat, stress, talk about it all again, try organise models, stress, sew, go home for tea, eat, remember I have a business assignment due in two days that I haven't looked at, decide to watch Space Jam because the temporary joy that gives me is greater than actually having done my work. Turns out this is not an effective long term solution. stress.
Monday, 3 October 2011
RWC observation no.2
Canadia you are my favourites.
I went to the NZ vs. Canada match last week and it was joyous. The All Blacks were joyous as they won by a country mile and the Canadians were stoked as they scored two tries.
To quote the man sitting in front of me:
"We're Canada, we don't expect to win, we're just happy to be invited to your world cup party!"
It was the friendliest sporting fixture I have ever attended, next week I am going to a semi-final which is going to be the exact opposite... ah well I'm planning on devising some form of kiwi costume so that will be magnificent.
I went to the NZ vs. Canada match last week and it was joyous. The All Blacks were joyous as they won by a country mile and the Canadians were stoked as they scored two tries.
To quote the man sitting in front of me:
"We're Canada, we don't expect to win, we're just happy to be invited to your world cup party!"
It was the friendliest sporting fixture I have ever attended, next week I am going to a semi-final which is going to be the exact opposite... ah well I'm planning on devising some form of kiwi costume so that will be magnificent.
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