Fashion and the burden of its shadow
Wednesday 19th of September, when in two days autumn is officially starting, today the Milanese fashion elite prepares itself to catch the first glimpse of the spring/summer collections for the year to come. Talking about the “fast life” earlier, I present you a fashionable example of it:
A fashion show is the game and the true mastering of: “Seeing and being seen”. For many it has become a real sport to be captured on a photographer’s lens and have his or her image wildly spread on the virtual world that is called “Internet”. And here comes the famous “fast life example”:
on the world wide web things quickly start leading a life of their own. That same image of you, fashionista, catches the eye of tumblr-freaks, pinterest-fans and various street style watchers. Once it gets their approval, it’s liked, pinned, tumbl’ed and commented on again by others. But its life in the fast lane doesn’t stop there: the – by now famous – image comes to the attention of even more fashion victims, trendspotters or social media fans who don’t hesitate to share and cheer on your stylish picture. Before you know it you have made a world tour without ever moving an inch away from your chair. And people say miracles don’t exist?!
This little miracle tells us that the real show isn’t “modeled” on the catwalk, but displayed in the streets, caught on camera of countless fashion bloggers, danced wildly and getting high on vodka in trendy nightclubs. Attending a fashion event has never been just about laying the first eye on the designer’s new collection or about the art and craft of designing, its fascination is hidden in a sweet sin we are all sensitive to: eyeing, observing and giving our most ruthless comments about our fellow man.
“He who has never commented others cast the first stone” Jesus once said (or did I get that one a little twisted?!). Whatever our Messiah might have stated, the great wisdom of his words shouldn’t get lost! Just like we shouldn’t lose ourselves in pride, being too proud to admit we all have judged and prejudiced at least once in our lifetime. And come on, let’s not act like prudes: we did not only comment, we also enjoyed! The need to look, talk, judge and secretly rejoice was born the day “possession” started being part of our lives. The day our dearest neighbor was able to afford a more shiny car than we did, the day even Cinderella – that poor maid – became the “belle of the ball” wearing a nicer dress than we were able to get our hands on. The story of human commenting is as old as the Messiah himself. Not even Jesus was spared of his portion of human judgment. Remember the famous biblical scenes of the Pharisees, the Jewish elite, who – at the first glance of our Holy Lord’s son – felt the need to hysterically comment him? (And then they say women gossip…) Ow how he was judged when criminals, poor people and prostitutes started filling the friend’s list of his avant-garde Facebook. (Honestly, he might have hung out with the wrong crowd) And comments definitely reached their climax once he started going around town with twelve of his friends, scaring the neighborhood with gang practices of working miracles and calling out a new religion…
I’m not saying fashion is religion. It might be to many – Karl Lagerfeld has proclaimed himself today’s Messiah more than once and Kate Moss could walk in Maria Magdalena’s shoes – but it isn’t divine enough to wear that label if you ask me. Still, like in the Bible, human nature and its many weaknesses are displayed in the face of fashion all the time.
For me, the ugly part of fashion lies in its own shadow. THE BEAUTY of it lies in the creative, the colorful, the extremely accessible way it manages to tell stories. Stories we have always wanted to hear, stories we need and long for: tales of wealth during crisis, narratives of romanticism when love seems farther away than ever, recitals of color when all we see is black. Stories that translate our own human history: fashion through time, engaging even those who would never consider opening the newspaper let alone a history book. Stories of anthropology: collections inspired on the ethnic; mixing various cultures, blending different times. Stories of anatomy: a doctor of the masses. Clothes expressing the power of the human body: its ability to seduce, its ability to hide, its ability to explain the ambiguity of the human being. Stories of emotions: those that please all of us in contrast to those that shock and create scandal only to awaken our passive minds, to show us the ugly face of daily reality and give rise to (r)evolution. Fashion is so deep, so powerful, such a magical example of human capability and creativity, but all too often – like the best of us – it gets caught in its own shadow. In the part it always drags along, in the part that grows when the sun shines brighter over its fashionable image, in that part lays fashion’s biggest enemy: superficiality.
Unfortunately, today the sun shines brighter than ever over “fashion”, casting the greatest of shadows. In our world filled with fast fashion (and here “fast” quickly introduces itself once again!) every single one of us can copy the style of their favorite idols. When we look at the big picture, fashion is no longer the elite concept it once was. (Of course I am not talking about “Haute Couture”) Thanks to today’s ability to communicate effectively, to use the best technologies, to connect the whole world in the blink of an eye, to travel information at the speed of light, to catch everything on the eternal lens of a camera, to save everything on software/hardware and make millions of backups so nothing can ever get lost… Thanks to ages of human evolution it has become possible to stroll the streets as the next best thing: a new fashion victim is born!
In the velocity with which we manage to get our hands on everything we once wanted, in the speed of communication, in the flashing of cameras, we lose the intensity and true value of a fashionable story. Great designer ideas and inspirations get lost in our superficial way of “looking at clothes”, in the way we so easily get caught in our own web of comments. To the masses the designer’s narrative of anatomy, anthropology, history or even emotion, gets lost. The profound is devoured by the superficial of glitter and glamour of catwalks, limelights, red carpets and cool blogger’s reports. We do not stand still and admire beauty, we do not stop to listen to a story being told in silence, but we quickly move to picturing ourselves in that one beautiful dress we saw on the runway; programming our online research and starting our Dukan diet – for an instant – being reminded that we are no model.
So as I – quickly – make my way from one fashion show to another (life in the fast lane this week, because there is not much time, a whole world of inspirations to be discovered in Milan) I try to see the different faces of fashion and understand the stories they tell. Stories about mankind, stories about you and stories about me. Reading not only the ones on the streets, but also those of an ambitious designer with dreams and ideals and many, many narratives to recite on the catwalk. Tall slim female bodies “Press Rewinding” on the catwalk: modeling the admiration of fashion of a great past, reflecting a view on the present and carrying out an aspiration for the future.
Fashion and the burden of its shadow
Wednesday 19th of September, when in two days autumn is officially starting, today the Milanese fashion elite prepares itself to catch the first glimpse of the spring/summer collections for the year to come. Talking about the “fast life” earlier, I present you a fashionable example of it:
A fashion show is the game and the true mastering of: “Seeing and being seen”. For many it has become a real sport to be captured on a photographer’s lens and have his or her image wildly spread on the virtual world that is called “Internet”. And here comes the famous “fast life example”:
This little miracle tells us that the real show isn’t “modeled” on the catwalk, but displayed in the streets, caught on camera of countless fashion bloggers, danced wildly and getting high on vodka in trendy nightclubs. Attending a fashion event has never been just about laying the first eye on the designer’s new collection or about the art and craft of designing, its fascination is hidden in a sweet sin we are all sensitive to: eyeing, observing and giving our most ruthless comments about our fellow man.
I’m not saying fashion is religion. It might be to many – Karl Lagerfeld has proclaimed himself today’s Messiah more than once and Kate Moss could walk in Maria Magdalena’s shoes – but it isn’t divine enough to wear that label if you ask me. Still, like in the Bible, human nature and its many weaknesses are displayed in the face of fashion all the time.
Unfortunately, today the sun shines brighter than ever over “fashion”, casting the greatest of shadows. In our world filled with fast fashion (and here “fast” quickly introduces itself once again!) every single one of us can copy the style of their favorite idols. When we look at the big picture, fashion is no longer the elite concept it once was. (Of course I am not talking about “Haute Couture”) Thanks to today’s ability to communicate effectively, to use the best technologies, to connect the whole world in the blink of an eye, to travel information at the speed of light, to catch everything on the eternal lens of a camera, to save everything on software/hardware and make millions of backups so nothing can ever get lost… Thanks to ages of human evolution it has become possible to stroll the streets as the next best thing: a new fashion victim is born!
So as I – quickly – make my way from one fashion show to another (life in the fast lane this week, because there is not much time, a whole world of inspirations to be discovered in Milan) I try to see the different faces of fashion and understand the stories they tell. Stories about mankind, stories about you and stories about me. Reading not only the ones on the streets, but also those of an ambitious designer with dreams and ideals and many, many narratives to recite on the catwalk. Tall slim female bodies “Press Rewinding” on the catwalk: modeling the admiration of fashion of a great past, reflecting a view on the present and carrying out an aspiration for the future.
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