Furthermore... Is Fashion Frivolous?

My last post has sparked some responses among friends- especially the statement that fashion is frivolous so it got me thinking. Maybe this is me coming to grips with my Polish, serious background and standing up for what has meaning for me personally.  Growing up I was surrounded by lawyers, doctors, teachers, serious people with serious jobs and also serious people who had respect and a certain power because of their jobs. It made perfect sense- doctors save lives, they make our life less complicated and painful, lawyers at their best they can defend people who deserve defence, they make sure injustices do not happen, they highlight issues which need addressing and teachers teach- inspire, help others grow, they support and develop the brains of those who need it.

So how does fashion fit into it all? Is it the throwaway industry which is dismissed by doctors, lawyers and teachers? Well it depends on the person, doesn't it. Not every teacher or doctor will be fashionable, but the more fun, exciting, adventurous ones might. It will bring colour to their lives, it will add an extra dimension to a day when they can and want to shake off some of the seriousness.

Fashion does not even have to be frivolous as it is either- it all depends on the people who run it and who love it. It's up to the industry to look after its image. I think the days of when fashion was a total extravaganza without a look at its impact on society are over or reserved for very few. The longevity of fashion too depends on a more interesting, complex and humanitarian approach to the people within it- the unpaid interns in London and factory workers in Bangladesh who work for next to nothing and have no say in their destiny. As for inspiration it is that for sure, maybe not every day and maybe not all of it, but who does not enjoy a nice looking thing?

Maybe the question is double edged and maybe we should acknowledge how much we actually love and need fashion. I did an experiment  with someone I liked and wore a red dress because I read somewhere that red is the colour for romance. And so it worked- he did notice me and commented on it. So sometimes things are that simple and we are that simple- animals who respond to primary colours. On an another occasion I was put off by my teacher who was not wearing shoes at our exhibition- there was an ongoing issue of her being too slack in her approach and the lack of shoes just did it for me. Too relaxed too soon or out of synch with the rest of us. So clothes are signifiers, being done up or being dressed up will command respect or disapproval or state an intention. Things are more relaxed now in terms of dress code, but we are still trying to achieve something with garments, at least our newly liberated selves can have more fun with them as we choose our attire based on a situation or mood. For me personally clothes have always been a marker of my otherness, the not-wanting- to- be-a-doctor stance simply because I couldn't wear want I want or at least it looked that way. I didn't want to work for certain companies because their dress code was too stuffy, I found it claustrophobic, restrictive and depressing. I thought of joining the army at some point, but the idea of a uniform put me off- and it wasn't so much the beautiful ceremonial ones, just the idea that I would have to wear what I liked only on days off. Having to comply with a corporate dress code, even of the casual Fri variety always made me feel rebellious- how will I know I want to wear jeans on a Fri? What kind of lifestyle is this which rotates on such regular basis? It felt all too impersonal. So maybe the answer is valuing fashion will put me on the margins of respectability and the question is whether I am okay with that. I might always be in a minority and I might also be the only who values it for the way I do and as much as I do. But isn't fashion supposed to be individualistic?  And maybe also it asks for others to see past my feathers and ask themselves why I wouldn't want to be a lawyer or a doctor and by that time they already in a different world.