Usually when I look at my Instagram and blog feed I am visually inspired and prompted towards reflection. As it happens I will often feel both stimulated and soothed. However, something changes whenever it comes to fashion week and the same images or video clip content endlessly repeats. Sent out by different names but not at all in different ways. This occurs in such a way that for me the garments become blurred and lose meaning and identity. The context in which the clothing will be worn is absent because I do not know what will be happening in the world or in my life when I finally get to wear the clothing I am seeing today. The loss of distinction makes me feel overwhelmed and want to close down rather than take in. I feel a moment of empathy for the designers who work hard to have their garments matter, perhaps for more than a moment. In fact I read a post recently about concerns for the mental health of designers given the frenetic pace and pressures they work under. I think that fashion week is no longer for the designers or the clothes but more for the spectacle and the myriad of parties and social events that it generates. The clothes are no longer the celebrities of fashion week. This is not an original thought many others have expressed it more elegantly than I am today. I am not writing this to critique fashion week, I am using writing about it to reflect.
As a critical thinker I have to ask myself are you feeling this way because you are still an outsider looking in? Is this because you wish to receive invitations to be inside and haven’t gotten there yet? Being truthful would I love the experience of being inside, of course I would and hope to be in the future. Would I be there because of the clothes? Truth again, no I would not. I would be there for the experience and to meet new people. So what is this post about then? I realize that somehow in the act of creating this blog I have fallen hopelessly in love with clothing and those who design them. Those who if you do enough research and dig down deep enough, have passionate and compelling stories to tell us about themselves and their garments. These stories are full of inspiration, reinvention, creativity, sacrifice, grit, melancholy, serendipity and resilience. This makes the clothes signify the gamut of human experience and emotion and makes “reading” a collection more like reading a novel.
So to honor the stories, although I may take quick looks at my favorites, skim one or more shows, flag a few new faces, I am going to wait until the week is done before I really look at the clothes and read the stories. I want to study the details, experience the colors and embellishments, sigh over interesting shapes and silhouettes and see if the designer has a new story or is telling an old story in a new way. I will have the pleasure of imagining myself in the clothes, having daydreams about where I might wear them, what I might be doing in them, how they might express who I will be then and how I will tell stories on my blog wearing them. So, I will wander “off the grid” as I take time this week to reflect on the idea of fashion week and what it does and could mean to me.
What are your reflections on fashion week?
I’m fascinated by the first photo and its complexity, and how it demonstrates reflection. I have been staring at it and it draws me in, just as your words do in this post.
Thank you my dear. This entire project is making me have to think and reflect. Not that I don’t as an academic and as a social worker I have always looked at the larger picture, but this is entering in from an entirely different angle. It is not just about the clothes.
Thanks for your comment. I get so much pleasure from clothes and also from daydreaming. That is why I hope my readers will join me in thinking more broadly about clothes and what they mean to us.
I’m fascinated by the first photo and its complexity, and how it demonstrates reflection. I have been staring at it and it draws me in, just as your words do in this post.
Thank you my dear. This entire project is making me have to think and reflect. Not that I don’t as an academic and as a social worker I have always looked at the larger picture, but this is entering in from an entirely different angle. It is not just about the clothes.
The media exposure over Fashion Week seems overwhelming. I agree with the reflection of your post. One needs to step back and ponder the offerings. Slow emersion is far better than a quick leap into the swirl of fashion. I like your thought of thinking about how one might wear the clothes, and under what future circumstances.
Thanks for your comment. I get so much pleasure from clothes and also from daydreaming. That is why I hope my readers will join me in thinking more broadly about clothes and what they mean to us.
As a relatively new fashion blogger I’m paying fairly close attention to the different feeds, blogs, on-line magazines etc. this year. I’m looking at how the fashion is mirroring what’s going on in the world in general—lots of turmoil, lots of churning. It can be overwhelming at times, but it does make us reflect. In any case, it seems like a very creatively abundant time. Wonderful post.
Anita
http://www.lookforthewoman.com
Thanks Anita, your points are well taken. It does seem that fashion is always during back on itself, as evidenced by the focus on the 70’s. I am old enough to have worn those clothes when young and am ambivalent about wearing them again as a grown-up so to speak.
As a relatively new fashion blogger I’m paying fairly close attention to the different feeds, blogs, on-line magazines etc. this year. I’m looking at how the fashion is mirroring what’s going on in the world in general—lots of turmoil, lots of churning. It can be overwhelming at times, but it does make us reflect. In any case, it seems like a very creatively abundant time. Wonderful post.
Anita
http://www.lookforthewoman.com
Thanks Anita, your points are well taken. It does seem that fashion is always during back on itself, as evidenced by the focus on the 70’s. I am old enough to have worn those clothes when young and am ambivalent about wearing them again as a grown-up so to speak.
I never love clothes more … than when I read your writings about them. I have been enamored with clothes all of my life … but you are able to infuse the wearing of clothes … with poetic passions …that breathe new life into the medium of wearing clothes … for creative expression.
I am not very interested in Fashion week per say, for several reasons. The first, I am priced out of buying. Second I am particular in what I wear as far as my body type, size and then also wanting pieces as a background for the accessories I design.
But through reading your blog, I have become more definite in the pieces I do want to add to my existing wardrobe, and have decided to return to my young roots and design and sew some pieces that I have been searching years to find. Thank you my dear for your thoughtful writings on a subject so near and dear to my heart. I come and read your personal posts … and leave to let them simmer before I return to comment.I so appreciate your intellectual approach to fashion … and even more … your sharing of your own emotions.
With Much Affection,
Tamera Beardsley
I’m not a big fan of watching fashion week though it must be quite exciting to be part of the buzz if you attend. For me the street style is much more interesting, a personal take from several designers/high street/vintage shops added to the personality of the wearer creates a far more interesting visual.
I’m not a big fan of watching fashion week though it must be quite exciting to be part of the buzz if you attend. For me the street style is much more interesting, a personal take from several designers/high street/vintage shops added to the personality of the wearer creates a far more interesting visual.
Excellent post, Lyn. I completely relate to what you’re saying, while at the same time feel somewhat caught in the middle. The constant bombardment on social media is overwhelming and detracts from the artistry of the clothes. It feeds the now, but robs us of the storytelling and creative process. A/W15 was my second time attending NYFW and I made a point to take a moment of quiet reflection after each show on what inspired me (or didn’t) and whether or not I wanted to be the girl I saw portrayed on the catwalk (which for me is the personification of the story). At the same time, as a new fashion blogger with a small following, I am still very much toeing the line of "outside vs. inside". While I felt more confident this time around seeing friends and feeling a sense of community, I also felt the pressure to immediately post to Instagram and Twitter in order to prove my worth to the brands that invited me to their shows. A lot of them even had signs with specific hashtags to use displayed throughout. For me, it’s similar to the chicken or the egg conundrum. I’d like to gain experience and have a voice in this industry, but in order to do so I feel the pressure to "feed the machine".
Kali
http://www.in-spades.com
What a thoughtful post. I love your blog by the way. You are right, I feel the same pressures: in order to have a voice you do need to do it the way that it usually gets done. I guess that is what I am really struggling with is how to be authentic, yet still garner some influence so that you are recognized as a voice and an influencer. I guess it really is all about the process and we are all finding our way.
Excellent post, Lyn. I completely relate to what you’re saying, while at the same time feel somewhat caught in the middle. The constant bombardment on social media is overwhelming and detracts from the artistry of the clothes. It feeds the now, but robs us of the storytelling and creative process. A/W15 was my second time attending NYFW and I made a point to take a moment of quiet reflection after each show on what inspired me (or didn’t) and whether or not I wanted to be the girl I saw portrayed on the catwalk (which for me is the personification of the story). At the same time, as a new fashion blogger with a small following, I am still very much toeing the line of "outside vs. inside". While I felt more confident this time around seeing friends and feeling a sense of community, I also felt the pressure to immediately post to Instagram and Twitter in order to prove my worth to the brands that invited me to their shows. A lot of them even had signs with specific hashtags to use displayed throughout. For me, it’s similar to the chicken or the egg conundrum. I’d like to gain experience and have a voice in this industry, but in order to do so I feel the pressure to "feed the machine".
Kali
http://www.in-spades.com
What a thoughtful post. I love your blog by the way. You are right, I feel the same pressures: in order to have a voice you do need to do it the way that it usually gets done. I guess that is what I am really struggling with is how to be authentic, yet still garner some influence so that you are recognized as a voice and an influencer. I guess it really is all about the process and we are all finding our way.