Fashion-ology has provided us with a different approach to fashion and attempted to challenge our definition of fashion. As a matter of fact, "fashion-ology deals not only with individuals but with the social institutions of the fashion world and their effects upon the social and economic status of many individuals when fashion is used as a symbolic strategy" (105). Before fashion became influential by modernization, it has been established as a class-marker because the clothes a person owned and worn often express that individual's class and social status. However, nowadays production and consumption are the driving force that complicates the idea of what is fashionable. In today's world, the dominating youth culture is the trend-setter for postmodern consumer and this generation essentially influences the fashion industries. Since fashion has been adopted as a symbolic strategy, "the terms 'fashionable' and 'unfashionable' were employed to describe whether someone or something fits in with the current or even not so current, popular mode of expression." Fashion are obviously very self-expressive towards an individual because there are little restrictions and limitations being placed on creativity. As the term 'fashion' has been redefined, cultural values has also been reconsidered since "streets are being treated as fashion laboratories and they are replacing Haute Couture" (106). The aesthetics of such a fashion is far beyond what is traditional and what may or may not be view as beautiful in someone else's eyes. The aesthetics that exists in a fashionable trend is central to the globalization and mobility across frontiers, while it stresses "the dissolution of old structure and boundaries" (106). Mimicking in fashion can work both ways, from the street to the runway or vice versa. Nevertheless, a fashionable trend is usually formed by the fusion of hip and chic styles with the inclusion of cultural-identity and self inputs, which transforms the look into a more comfortable fit for the wearer. The fashion phenomenon, as Yuniya Kawamura argued, is beyond the clothing, "it is a belief" of both the consumers and designers.
The past ten weeks of winter quarter has been a spectacular experience for me. Dealing with the compact challenge has changed the way I choose to shop as a consumer of this consumerism nation. The world of fashion and its influences on consumers has still remained somewhat mysterious to me. It seems as though the marketing industries and their strategies has somehow always been successful in getting consumers to purchase an obsolete product. I mean, did you seriously have the need to buy a snuggie when all you have to do is dress warmer?! Not only does the snuggie is pricey, it looks hideous! But let's face it, often times such an obsolete item is not always obvious to the buyer. This is where the compact challenge has helped me accomplished most. The compact challenge has helped me to carefully think about an item when I go out and shop. Even though I have grown up as an adult, I sometimes still act like a kid, buying things just to satisfy my desires, my desires to fit in and be accepted by my peers. After undergoing the compact challenge I have bypass this need to satisfy my wants because I have learned to only shop for products that are absolutely necessary for my lifestyles, such as shopping for books, foods, and school supplies. I'm not a big spender so the compact challenge didn't harm my shopping needs, but it did helped further define my purpose to shop as a consumer of this nation.
By THUY DUONG! :)
Works Cited:
1) Kawamura, Yuniya. Fashion-ology: An Introduction to Fashion Studies. Berg. New York, 2005. Print.
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion
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