Last week I moved through life and the world of fashion at dizzying speed. There was New York Fashion Week, a trip to the West Coast, launch parties and popping up at a pop-up to see and support dear friends. I am part of the visual blur loosely called fashion that has been created by the internet and social media and calls for constant creation of content. I must confess there is something a little destabilizing about moving at such a pace and I can see how easy it can be to lose yourself. Reinvention and creativity needs time to be nurtured. Don’t get me wrong I am not complaining about my new life in fashion, I am observing. I am observing the impact on me and speculating on the impact on others.
I love going fast. There is something exciting and heady about it like speeding in an open convertible on a really sunny day with your hair whipping around your face. Fast entails risk. Fast gets the adrenaline going and that creates energy and propulsion. It helps your body get revved up so you can do things. I think this is why I like technology because it is so fast. I can find what I need right now. A forgotten answer, the name of a brand. I lived for a long time in a world that delayed gratification as well as parents who were really good at that too. So I am not feeling guilty about sometimes wanting my gratification to be immediate. Nor do I hesitate to tell myself to slow down.
Among the multiple images streaming by this week there are certain clothes that catch my eye and feel fast. That if I put them on and wore them they would propel me out of my apartment and into the streets. I want them now. A visceral feeling of lust. It must be satisfied immediately. I can see why fashion is moving to a see now buy now system. It is for the times you feel like this about clothes. Fast garments for me are clothes or accessories that are unusual and deliriously fun like some of the clothing that came down the runway for Libertine. Fast garments are what help me capture a cultural moment or convey a historical sign like all the feminist and woman references that appeared in many of the shows this week.
And now for the both/and. As you know I do not think that experiential states need to be mutually exclusive. For me fashion and clothes are not just meant to activate and energize my physical body they are also about conveying my desire and dreams. Some clothes are more about future selves. The selves that I can possibly be. Here is where fashion for me becomes slow. The pieces that capture my imagination and fuel my dreams are those I will always have. They are not fleeting. They appear in my musings and bring me pleasure as I wait for them to appear. They will re-emerge throughout the rest of my life in various renditions but they will always be there. They anticipate who I might become while always knowing who I was. Many of the elements of slow clothes are luxuriously simple. The textiles, draping and tailoring are what stir my desire as they are often the stars of the dream. I anticipate the feel of them against my body. I hear the rustle of the silk, accept the soft kiss of velvet. I daydream about where I will wear them, how I might style them, what it will feel like when I finally get them. Today I needed to slow down and disappear into a dream. The woman who appears is wearing The Row FW 2017
What kind of clothes move your body and/or stir your soul?
I love your thoughtful posts Lyn and love seeing your photos and you have inspired me to take more of an effort with how I present myself. However I have a problem. I have just returned from a lodge in Lesotho where we were asked to leave old clothes for the local villagers who have very little in their lives (neither running water nor electricity in their homes)and whose clothes are all rather shabby as they are washed by the women in the river. The visit there has certainly changed my perceptions and buying more clothes than I need seems rather self indulgent. I would love to hear your response to the very unequal world we live in.
The simplest of answers is that for the last 45 years my entire professional life has been devoted to addressing inequality. As a social worker and professor of social welfare I have been inspired by the resilience and ingenuity of those I have had the privilege of working with. Therefore I would work with the women you described to assess what intangible resources they already possess and what tangible resources would need be put in place to increase their ability to generate a stable income.
In my role as a fashion influencer I call attention to the many examples today in sustainable fashion where brands are working to lift women and children out of poverty by supporting them as entrepreneurs, craftspersons, providing education and training, microfinancing and paying garment workers a living wage. Some examples are Build a Nest, Eileen Fisher, Uniform 31Bits, Raven+Lily, Symbology and many more. Last year, along with my intern we produced a sustainable fashion show featuring some of those brands with a panel discussion afterwards on how these brands were lifting women out of poverty and improving the economy of their community.
I have learned that rejecting my privilege does not change the immediate condition of others in any substantial way. Rather than denying yourself, you can use your privilege thoughtfully and purposefully. You can indulge your love of fashion and do a great amount of social justice work at the same time. When you do buy clothes, or any other product, do the research about the ethics of the brand. By simply thinking more about where the clothes come from, how and where they are made and how their business practices identify and address inequality, you can be a very powerful agent of change. If you tell your friends about it and engage more people to purchase this way then your impact multiplies.
A long answer to a wonderful question.
Thanks for the inspiring answer, Lyn! And thanks for asking, Marlena!
Because I live in a poor country I still dreaming some clothes that could be bring joy to my soul (and body) (Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo …). However, the soul can be happy through imagination, dreaming. Thanx god, I’m a day dreamer. Your today’s post is great, it is the answer why you’re my favorite blogger. Because you’re deep in your thoughts… And because you are so stylish, inspirative woman..
Because I live in a poor country I still dreaming some clothes that could be bring joy to my soul (and body) (Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo …). However, the soul can be happy through imagination, dreaming. Thanx god, I’m a day dreamer. Your today’s post is great, it is the answer why you’re my favorite blogger. Because you’re deep in your thoughts… And because you are so stylish, inspirative woman..
Your posts are absolutely inspiring! I always look forward to reading them.
For me, clothing is a way to transform and portray the me I need to be at the moment. I think women are very complex (in the most positive way) and we have so many hats to wear, why should we wear the same type of clothes for each role?
I am a pro makeup artists in film industry, a mom, a friend, a wife, an entrepreneur, a swimmer, and a surfer to name a few. I love how I can feel different in different types of clothes for each of my personas.
This post, and the comments to it (including yours, Lyn) illustrate perfectly why I love this blog. Thank you once again, Lyn.
Thanks for this post,Lyn and your response to Marlene’swhich I also identify with. Having travelled a lot in rural parts of India and Africa I am always humbled by the fact that the women in the poorest of circumstances still take the time to adorn themselves with jewellery,headscarves and expressive clothes( even if they are threadbare).The clothes and jewellery that move and stir my body and soul are those that I have made with fabrics and beads that I have found on my travels.
Marlena’s question and your clear thoughtful answer embody the power of this blog.
In Goa recently, the timeless silk dresses from Rangeela turned a group of us traveling for a creative process workshop into whirling Sufis.
Now in London, visiting my son, its the menswear inspired peacoats, warm scarves and sensible shoes that empower us to march around outside in comfort, taking it all in.
To be myself, to exercise my consciousness about the state of the world in my choices, to celebrate beauty and diversity, moves my body, stirs my soul.
Thank you, Lyn
Suzanne
Suzanne
Marlena’s question and your clear thoughtful answer embody the power of this blog.
In Goa recently, the timeless silk dresses from Rangeela turned a group of us traveling for a creative process workshop into whirling Sufis.
Now in London, visiting my son, its the menswear inspired peacoats, warm scarves and sensible shoes that empower us to march around outside in comfort, taking it all in.
To be myself, to exercise my consciousness about the state of the world in my choices, to celebrate beauty and diversity, moves my body, stirs my soul.
Thank you, Lyn
Suzanne
Suzanne
That velvet coat…
And in an odd way it is the same social conscience that brings me to high fashion. I’m far from New York. I’m far from owning covetable labels. But I have been captivated by the urge to slow my life and in this quest I have found some treasures – true friendships, a calling, a beautiful place to live, meaningful work…but I’m still dressed as someone else, and it is no longer desirable for me to be dressed by people who design on forms twice my height and half my width. Or to own a large wardrobe. I want to be free of buying and thrifting and making do with the remnants of a fashion caste system within which I am an Untouchable. So my dreams are of beautiful, slavery-free fabrics made by my own hand with meticulous artistry into forms that enfold and project the body and the wisdom that my own life journey has given me. I don’t yet know fully what they might look like, and in any case I am sure they will evolve, but I sense their shadows taking form as I follow your story. And this post makes me a little grateful that I have some distance from the busy-ness to locate and translate that inner core into clothing. Don’t lose yourself, please.