Pink encrusted A-Pockets... vintage wash... distressed look... $$$200...C stamped purse... 925... Tiffany and Co. Jewelry..... topped off with $1000... Strappy... Stiletto... Jimmy Cho's......
How often are we shown images of fashion???? But what is really fashion? Is it downtown LA EMO Chic or is it Couture???
We are living in the culture of the mass. We crave the drug called fashion. As humans we have evolved, through industrialization, and have become trapped by society's influence, on what we are cultured to see as fashionable. Who's to say that the A-pocket Jean and the C encrusted jean is fashionable? Why aren't the $30 jeans and costume jewelry the fashion that everybody is desiring. It all depends on your taste and your take in the consumer based culture that we call FASHION.. but all of these points of interests are influenced by society and what it views as being fashionable, "cool". Therefore it seems that no one person can every achieve their own personal take on what is fashionable because ones decision on what is fashionable is determined by society.
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18 comments:
I think it is safe to say that agency is not something that you will easily identify in something as market driven as Fashion. One way I do think you can find bits of social agency in this are the people that simply wear what they can get their hands on and don't care how it looks. It seems to me that by not even rebelling specifically against a certain fashion culture those people are achieving their own agency.
In other words, agency is apathy in popular culture :)
That last comment was PopThor by the way :)
i had no idea "C" encrusted jeans were so popular. Better jump on that bandwagon...
brittany
I feel that some people get way to self absorbed when it comes to having the lastest and greatest things. There is no need to spend all your money on a purse let's say. I feel that if these people have the money to spend on a $500 purse or more, then they should be helping the world for the better by giving some money to the poor that have been screwed by our governmental system, such as war veterans. People need to take action and stop spending all their earnings on meaningless items that give them a quick fix. There is more to life than those rainbow sandles, seven jeans, or that kelly purse. Why not give it back? -popamber
Fashion is just another example that shows how much we are afraid to be the odd man/women out. I see some of the fashion shows on the E channel and I personally don't understand why anyone would consider fashionable some of the clothing the models are wearing. It is part of an elite character, and how everyone thinks that it is better to fit in even though you may or may not agree with fashion trends. A great example of how we are being told what fashion is, the show "Sex in the City." Jessica Parker Plays the character Carry whom is a single successful writer, with excellent fashionable taste, yet some of the clothes she was wearing on the show was dorky. But young girls everywhere who try to be like her go out and buy the stuff she wears. It's rediculus.
PopPeter
This past weekend I was up at Big Bear with a bunch of friends and we window shopped for quite a while. A bunch of my friends either have Uggs or some sort of reproduction of the shoes. One of my friends who has a pair of the reproduction shoes and says that they are just as good could not pass up the opportunity to buy the "real" shoes the Uggs because they were on sale. So even though the other shoes were just as good she couldn't pass up the real thing, this example can be said for numerous products showing that no matter what most of us can't get away from his commerical cycle.
PopAlexandra
I don’t agree. I think that it is becoming harder to find ones “own voice” in fashion because there is so much pressure to have your “own voice.” If you look at any other genre of fashion you will find that people want to dress alike. It binds us as a culture (mass or pop) together. Fashion gives us as a subculture something in common. We need to stop focusing on trying so hard to be unique and just be…
that is true that we live in a fashion filled addiction. but not everyone has the luxury of falling into this addiction. it sickens me that we waste so much money into pieces of fabric but i am guilty of it too.
POP CHRIS
It is interesting that the concept of fashion has become not only increasingly comodofied but how it has become increasingly permeated into "mass" culture. When a twelve year old girl has multiple pairs of designer jeans (at over $200 a pop) and J. Crew makes kids clothes,it says to me that the image of what is coture has been transforming to be more "of the people" even though most people still can't afford it. Dooney and Bourke used to be something only my fifty year old mom would buy. Now their bags come in rainbow colors, and nock-offs are almost as hot as the "real" thing. Fashion, for many people, is a way to express their individualtiy and to test boundaries and in this world where individuality comes pre-packaged, it seems to me that what is coture now a days is not much more Wal-Mart with an inflated price tag.
PopCaitlin
I think there is more of an interplay between the individual and society in regards to what is fashionable. Saying that one can never achieve their own personal take on what is fashionable because ones decision on what is fashionable is determined by society takes away all agency from people. I think everyone can think of a time when some fashion trend was popular, but you absolutely hated it and refused to buy into whatever the trend was. Companies like Nike go into inner cities and I believe the name they use is "broing" but it is basically similar to what Meghann is talking about as cool hunting. These companies, like Nike, rely upon individuals who are creating their own trends to market these trends to the masses. These companies need individuals to determine what they can market as fashionable and what cannot be marketed as fashionable. Society will always have some kind of influence on an individual's perception of fashion, but I do believe every person does have a choice in what they consider fashionable. If people didn't have a choice, we all would consider the same things as fashionable and not fashionable. Just going to a mall reflects the choices people make in regards to fashion because there are so many different fashions one can choose from, depending upon the identity you would like to have in society. Which is where I agree with your other post that fashion is a way for individuals to construct their own identity and that this identity is constantly changing.
I think that you guys are getting our image of fashion but what do you think they did before fashion was so intriquite part of our lives?? Or did that ever exist???
In Response to Kelly. Thrift store shopping is still a form of spending money. I know that at thrift stores most people go to find items that are ridicules but there are people who go to shop in order to find clothes for their everyday life and they try to find items that they could wear to fit in with others that may have more money then them. I really think that everyone is affected by pop culture even if they are making the clothing themselves or buying it from a thrift store
Something else I feel important to think about is when you decide to change your "look" how does that change perceptions of those around you? If clothing is something that helps define you, how does changing your style affect how others see you and how you see yourself? If you decide to dress in something usually worn by hobos, how does that image and those connotations reflect upon you?
PopTony
Beyond "agency as apathy" as Thor mentioned and David's comments regarding subcultures of rebellion, I think that it is interesting to bring up the problem of individual rebellion from fashion tendencies. What if someone acts outside of their social subcultures in the way they dress while still actively subverting the ideals of the main popular fashion identity? Is there agency in that action? And beyond that does an actor of society that is unaware of their agency really have any agency (the old argument of knowledge of free will)?
That was PopErin.
I agree that society does have a huge influence on the fashion industry but i also think that individual people influence the fashion industry. Companies are following trends of what people like. we control the fashion industry, they dont control us. Its more of the media that controls the fashion industry. When Angelina jolie is wearing a certain hand bag, it becomes the latest trend. Fashion takes an recognized individual and makes it become a trend.
I think that the machine if you will defines what is fashionable and every little subculture determines what is actually popular leaving most individuals with many questions to consider before doing easy yet necessary task throughout the day like putting clothes on in the morning and I say most because there is that subculture out there that will not conform and throws on anything they have to try and look as if they don’t care and then the other smaller group that simply doesn’t care. I love run on sentences- pop aaron.
Seriously folks, if we don't care at all we should just go naked...especially when it is uncomfortable to have any cloths on at all. Opps, then I guess it would be our tatooss and piercings that would be subject to fashion. I don't think we will ever see the end of decoration on the body...nor do I really want to. Decoration is always open to exploitation...no matter what it is. How many types of navel piercing possibilities now exist vs. 5 years ago? The hype commodification of some things like Manolo pumps is just mystifying to me, but on the other hand so is the thought of owning a Hummer. Fashion, like cars, is laid down in layers across society. We all are told to want the Mercedes or the Manolos, but we settle for the Honda and the Uggs. We do judge where we are vis a vis others by our objects. But, if we didn't have the commodified ones, we would compare ourselves to each other based upon what we could say or do...in fact, we do this as well. Humans are smart and like to reflect on ourselves and society...so we do it in the context of our existing system. I do think the total exploitation of branding is detrimental, but getting rid of your label isn't going to change capitalism...getting rid of capitalism is the only thing that will do that. poppat
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