Mirroring Fashion by Thuy Duong

In a way, the theories of life can be apply to the fashion world. If you carefully observe the media, you'll see that "fashion can be treated as a form of social regulation or control, a hierarchy, a social custom, a social process and mores," especially in the competive world of fashion. Theoretically, everyone strives to be at the top of the pyramid and "attempts to understand the dynamics of fashion have been mostly dominated by variants of imitation theory that start from the presumption that fashion is an essentially heirarchical phenomenon prescribed by some identifiable sartorial authority." In other words, there are many factors affecting and shaping the changes in fashion. Such factors are often under the influence of the market and businessmen who are making bank while the consumers struggle to deal with the rapidly changing economy. These big business corporations are always on the look-out and for the trend starters and once they have followed up on the new trend the market then imitate it and sells it back to the consumers. Sociologists have studied this theory in the PBS frontline video entitled The Merchants of Cool (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/view/). You see, in our mind we are mirroring the trendy looks and brand-named items but in reality the market are mirroring us, the consumers. How does that make you feel? Suddenly we become more aware of the idea of being watched by the many eyes of the business world trying to make money of our behavior. This has a huge impact on the way people behaves and acts in public, and it also creates a distortion on the way we see things. I mean, when was the last time that you actually feel " real beauty is only skin-deep"? Nowadays, the idea of beauty revolves around cosmetic surgeries and dieting products! This distorted image of beauty has raises hazardous health issues such as pressuring young girls and models to starve themselves to look a certain way, as in having the super skinny look, to be considered beautiful. Dove's Evolution campaign will open up your eyes to this world of real beauty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U). Mirroring fashion and trends has blinded society from realizing the impact they have on innocent minds. It's hard, and perhaps unavoidable, to become a victim to fashion but don't let that discourage from having a mind of your own. Afterall, though the constitution states that everyone is created equal, you and I are really different from one another. Just because the majority of the society are convinced by the market for fashion doesn't mean you have to follow. Think about it, if everyone around you saw something and decided to jump over the bridge, are you going to do the same and jump over the bridge?! Look beyond the mirror and be an individual, because there's only one of you and many of them. And if it comes to the worse, there's always the easy option of "if you can't beat them, join them."

Fashion-ology by Yuniya Kawamura

PBS Frontline: The Merchants of Cool

Youtube: Dove Campaign's Evolution