"You go to your closet and you select... I don't know... that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent... wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff." - Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep)
"Is Fashion Necessary?", Leandra Medine writes on Man Repeller, summarizes the importance, or lack there of, clothing in this era. Every day most people walk to their closets, pick something out and move on with their lives. But there are those few who go to their closets and instantly a rush of creativity and excitement floods the senses, do you pair those black skinny jeans with a tweed blazer and a Rolling Stones t-shirt under, or do you wear that pink knife-pleated skirt with your vintage MaxMara cashmere crop top and a cameo printed scarf? Who do I want to be today? A punk rock girl in all black, or the girl next door who happens to have a few random tattoos? Nobody but yourself has the power to determine who you are and what you represent to the world. Sure my outfits can be quite obscure and sometimes I look back and think to myself, "what the hell was I wearing that day" but at least I brought something different to the table. Knowing that I put the effort in waking up and showing the world that I do care what I look like and that I do have the right to say I exude confidence because who else can strut in those silver vintage Prada wedges better than I think I can.
As a student in the fashion industry I am becoming to learn that fashion is necessarily-unnecessary. Every once in a while I hear from my friends, who are completely against fashion calling it superfluous and flamboyant, which I agree 100%, it is extremely superfluous and flamboyant but so are those 10 songs that Drake came out with on his last CD that you love so dearly but I find illiterate and brainwashing. Sally Waits, comments on Leandra's post stating, "People I meet often presume that an interest in fashion makes you a victim to trends and profanity. But since wearing clothes is a social convention we all have to oblige to, there is no avoiding fashion."
To each their own.
Fashion, whether you like it or not, is in your every day live, haunting us everywhere we go. Much like the quote from The Devil Wears Prada when Miranda is schooling Andy after she admits she is still learning about this, "stuff". This stuff, is not stuff after all; it is art, it surrounds us and comforts us and protects us. No matter if you shop at Wal-Mart or you shop at at Barney's, you are still making a decision on what to wear, it is a form of natural selection, a process of categorization to differentiate one from the other.
I enjoy fashion purely because I can show others that I am comfortable differentiating myself from the conformity that we have become so well acquainted with. I respect the creations that many designers have beautiful crafted over the years, knowing that most of their creations are purely for entertainment purposes only; entertainment of the senses, mind, influential purposes and the knowledge that their creations give us a glimmer of hope and a passage to escape the daily routine of our boredom.
Doesn't the saying go, "Always dress like you are going to see your worst enemy?" I think I'll dress to kill, but if I die, scatter my ashes in Bergdorf's.
xx
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