Here’s an idea: brands should pay us to wear their clothes because we are walking advertisements: GAP across a chest, JUICY across a butt, a swish on a backpack, a puma on a foot – they are all free ads (no, not even free, they’re all endorsements: hey, this company is dressing me! this company created my look today!).
It’s true, fashion can be a form of art, and a form of expression. When I see a well-dressed person on the street, they definitely grab my attention. But that’s all. Sometimes I think “fabulous shoes/ coat” but most often I wonder how much time they spent creating that outfit and accessorizing.
Otherwise, if they are ‘memorable’, it will be by something else (a playful walk or their expression that seems like they’re having an internal argument). That is so much more interesting than whatever garment they’re parading out there.
Unless, of course, the person in question has vapid eyes – which is more common and even more sad than whatever they’re trying (lying) with that outfit.
What I also don’t understand is the people who neglect their health and physical appearance (mainly fitness) but they’re quick to buy new clothes and accessories. Here’s an amazing lifestyle advice I read from Rick Owens (a fashion designer):
“Working out is modern couture.
No outfit is going to make you look or feel as good as having a fit body.
Buy less clothes and go the gym instead.”
How simple, true, and motivational!
I think that people who express themselves with clothes, especially very exuberant clothes, are filling a void in their personality, trying to compensate for not reaching some self-imposed (or, most likely, socially-imposed) potential.
People are superficial. Whenever you hear someone say they disregard someone’s appearance or a questionable hygiene and look into their soul is a load of bul### (if you’re not convinced, read Steve Jobs’ biography by Isaacson). But most likely, if you are dressed appropriately (in other words, when your clothes don’t speak for you!) and they fit you, fashion is not an issue.
Some people wear clothes that shout.
Miami Beach is, in some ways not measured in decibels, really loud. It’s neon, “look-at-me!!!” neon, everywhere.
When someone is said to have a great sense of style, what does that mean? It’s not clothes or their identity, it’s the way they carry themselves, the manner in which their physical appearance compliments their personality, not the other way around.
But, in today’s world, you are what you wear.
. . .
Fashion – and especially trends – are incredibly wasteful. I’ll spare you the lecture here on third-world sweatshops and the costs of making, marketing and selling cheap stuff. Not because I think it’s unimportant, but because it will sway me from the point I want to make (that third-world sweatshops are a ‘world away’ from your shopping sprees, and something that you don’t take personally. And as long as that’s the case, your actions won’t change).
It’s true, to become a non-consumerist, you have to fight and resist a tremendous push from marketers almost every walking minute of your life because their pull for products and services is a relentless bombardment. They spend an enormous amount of money, effort and knowledge into researching and studying your needs and wants, and believe me when I say, they know you better than you know yourself.
Second-hand clothes are way cooler because you don’t look like you’re wearing a uniform. And they have a story (“I bought this dress at a thrift store for one dollar. It’s a bridesmaid’s dress. Someone loved it intensely for one day, and then tossed it. Like a Christmas tree. So special. Then, bam, it’s on the side of the road” – Marla Singer, Fight Club (1999).
Reuse and recycle!