Why Fashion Matters
How would you describe your style? What does fashion mean to you?
by Kimberley Schoeman
If you type the words “fashion” and “philosophy” into Google, the first few results (three hundred million) present a golden thread: We as individuals develop and evolve a uniquely personal style that mirrors the evolution of our interior identity.
Clothes can explain who you are. Every outfit is visual proof of a set of private decisions we make every morning. Through fashion, one can invent themself as an artist, a disruptor, or a unique individual in their city’s cultural mix.
Whether intentional or not, fashion and style choices can be the seismic catalyst to unlocking the next level of your identity. Think about it: Do you have a favourite band? You’re likely to rock their merch. Are you exploring the gender spectrum? May feminine corsets, androgyny, or masculine fits be your guide. Are you someone who lives, laughs, and loves? Well, there is a T-shirt for you (and a sign to hang on your wall as a reminder).
From the outside looking in, the world of fashion looks like a decadent, hedonistic cauldron of high rollers, social doers, and achievers of the fashion industry’s battlefield; the mannerisms, dandyisms, rhythms and snobbisms can be toxic to one’s budget, yet auspicious for aspiration.
Developing your own philosophy of fashion frees one from trends, arbiters of taste and seasonal changes. This doesn’t mean you should never check the latest catwalk shows or flip through your favourite fashion mags ever again.
Having an interest in fashion is often confused with flex culture. Someone who flexes by wearing head-to-toe Louis Vuitton or Gucci is a fashion victim who adopts whatever is sold to them, regardless of the taste relevance, aesthetic appeal, or price. You look like a clown going full bozo mode with a squirting flower on your lapel. Buying certain clothes gives one (sometimes the illusion of) access to the elite echelon of fashion. But that’s the thing; through fashion, anyone can be anyone, and everyone is equal.
As Roland Barthes, the author of The Fashion System, writes, “clothing concerns all of the human person, all of the body, all of the relationships of man to body as well as the relationships of the body to society”. Barthes argues that dressing oneself is a highly personal act through which we, as individuals, select and don the clothes that reflect the social group to which we belong or aspire to belong.
“The wearing of an item of clothing is fundamentally an act of meaning that goes beyond modesty, ornamentation and protection. It is an act of signification and therefore a profoundly social act right at the heart of the dialectic of society.”
In short, fashion is the most immediate and intimate form of self-expression. Fashion is a language, an art form, or a tool to create a symbol of strength and style.