What Is Fashion? (Part 1) 02/11/2011

FASHION

As a group, we discussed what we believed fashion was and created a list among ourselves. Here is a short list of some of the key points that I felt stood out the most:

• Fashion is an expression
• it's culture
• it's wearable art
• it's liberating
• it's expensive
• some like it and others don't

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to what each person felt fashion was. When it came to actually discussing what we thought fashion wasn't, there was a dramatic shortage of answers. Here is a short list of what we thought fashion wasn't:

• Fashion isn't the clothes we wear
• Fashion isn't a necessity 
• Fashion is not our survival wear

This is something I would have never realised or thought about when discussing fashion. I found it fascinating how we all began discussing how fashion has changed and evolved over the years due to cultural acceptance, music and history. 

We looked at a series of images that were supposed to be fashion related. Some of the images were of women wearing clothing that could transform into pieces of living room furniture. I personal thought to some extent, the outfits on show were fashionable but not exactly wearable fashion. To my knowledge, there are two different sorts of fashion; the fashion that appeals to a mass market and then there's the fashion that can only be admired but never worn. This brings me back to a point that I made during our discussion. I mentioned that fashion was "wearable art" because there are moments in the fashion industry where some pieces aren't intended to be worn but simply admired and displayed. For example, the image you see above is of a woman wearing a skirt that instantly turns into a table once she steps out of it. As I mentioned in one of the points, fashion is not survival wear. The clothing you see in the image above is not necessary wear. We don't need it to cover up or keep warm and unless our society and culture decides to change dramatically, I highly doubt it will ever appeal to the mass market as wearable fashion. 

Culture was also a big issue when discussing what fashion was. We discussed how Britain is such a diverse country and how there are many different groups who express themselves through fashion in multiple ways. Our fashion depends on our financial state, our social peers, our geographical location and culture. I personal think that one might see a clear definition of the different fashion groups when looking at a younger generation of people. We also discussed how one may portray themselves, through fashion, as something that may not directly indicate the sort of personality they possess. For example, a girl dressed in dark coloured clothes with piercings all over face may not be as intimidating as she looks. This brings us back to the point I mentioned earlier about expressing yourself through fashion. 

Our culture influences the way in which we dress in so many ways. For example, I dress in modest attire because that's how I was brought up. In my home, we were taught that women who wanted to get married to a respectable man should dress respectably. It's not something that I personally believe but because of my culture, that is how I dress. Where we come from, modesty is fashionable. The more you cover up, the better it looks. I believe that it's the same everywhere you go in terms of fashion. 
Please Continue To Part 2 of What is Fashion? http://estherakinola.blogspot.com/2011/11/japanese-subculture-part-2-what-is.html