The things I do adore about fashion are grand and vast, including the way fashion can be outrageous and the way it affects everybody, whether you like it or not. I recently stumbled across two quotes that made me quite frustrated and confused with different people's reactions to fashion. Some people say fashion is friviolous and flaky, but these people who mock fashion, do so because they don't understand it and they are scared of it. Not everybody who follows fashion becomes a conformist or becomes part of a specific harem of airhead girls who flick through the glossies every month and wear horizontal stripes in February because Vogue says so. Fashion for me is about enjoying designs, creativity and extroverness. Of course I like (ok, love) shopping, but I'd much rather be backstage at a David Koma show or sitting front row at William Tempest than wandering around Topshop for 2 hours on a saturday.
"Fashion is what you adopt when you don't know who you are" - Quentin Crisp.
This quote made me annoyed because it is simply not true. In fact it is so untrue, if you take out the 'don't' then it would make sense. It is foolish to think that fashion isn't everywhere - I don't say this because I am addicted to fashion, but it's because it's everywhere. It's not just hanging from rails in shops, or looking immaculate in magazines or strutting down a catwalk or being sewn in a factory. Everyday you wake up, you make a concious decision (because who do you know that gets dressed in the dark) to put particular pieces of clothes on depending on where you are going and what you are doing. It is a simple fact. You wouldn't wear jogging bottoms to an interview and you wouldn't wear a skirt to the gym.
Now, I'm not saying that this is the 'all being' of fashion because maybe it is just pure logic for some people, but by wearing a suit to an interview you are providing an instant impression of smartness - which only a suit can imply. You go wearing the joggers and you ain't getting a call back.
People put on clothes for a night out because they want to feel sexy, confident and relaxed. Nobody wants to go out dressed like an idiot - because deep down everybody knows how they want to be portrayed. Clothes are the most instant first impression you can give somebody without speaking to them. It may be vain and it may be shallow but if somebody looks at you from a distance, they will automatically make an assumption about you based on your attire.
What Crisp is trying to say here is that fashion can lead people astray and make you think that you should all be wearing whatever 'trend' infiltrates Vogue, ELLE or InStyle. And to some extent he is right, because a lot of people think if they grab the first thing on the front rail of French Connection then they are 'In Fashion' and it's just not true.
Fashion is something that you don't 'adopt'. It isn't a choice, it is something that everybody has the chance to experiment with. Whether or not you do it well, that's up to you.
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