M Nava
9.2.19
intro to fashion studies
Aphorisms assignment 1

“Fashion is not necessarily spectacular (though it often conforms to the theory of the society of the spectacle), it can also be demotic, ordinary, mundane, routine and humble. It is the stuff of the ethnographer and the anthropologist.” (Breward)

Firstly, I will have to look up the definition of the word demotic. Demotic is an adjective that is defined as, “denoting or relating to the kind of language used by ordinary people; popular or colloquial.” (Oxford). Breward’s aphorism is presenting the theory that fashion does not always special, unique, over the top, or camp.

Fashion has served as a way for ethnographers and anthropologists to analyze a people, culture, society, and practice. Fashion has provided those essential clues that ethnographers look for when they are first trying to understand a new culture.

I feel like fashion does not exist in reality, and thus it usually is exciting and it can be seen as a spectacle. As designers manifest their visions into the real world, they are sharing their fantasy world with the audience. This can take many forms, and I can understand that a designers fantasy vision of which could look, “demotic, ordinary, mundane, routine and humble.”

“Fashion is intensely personal, in the same way, that poetry is intensely personal. It is a medium through which personal stories can be told, memories re-lived and future foretold.” (Breward)

Poetry is a personal expression of emotions, experience, and environment through prose, rhyme, and pattern. The Oxford dictionary defines poetry as, “literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature.”

Similarities can be drawn between poetry and fashion from the definition of poetry. Fashion, like poetry, expresses feeling and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm. Fashion can have a clearly distinct style that becomes synonymous with a single visionary. The style can be replicated and interpreted by others. Fashion can create a natural rhythm in the way that it follows Earth’s seasons. Rhythm can be found in the patterns used to complete the vision. When the designer is thoughtfully selecting patterns, there will become a visual rhythm in the colors, textures, and silhouettes of their vision.