For your last LP Post of the semester, I would like you to reflect on the question “what is fashion?” which you were originally asked to answer in Week One. How has your understanding of fashion changed since the beginning of the semester? Give one or two specific examples to explain your answer. Your example(s) can come from anywhere, but support them with at least one quote from a class reading.
Through the tenure of my time in ‘Intro To Fashion Studies’, I do believe my answer to the question “what is fashion?” has grown, evolved and matured in unexpected ways. Being apart of the course made me aware of how vast the world of fashion is, and how it can be linked to an abundance of diverse subjects and fields; some of these fields and connections had never occurred to me, until the discussions and reading material from the course.
From studying dress practices to excavating the history of subcultures- I realized my perception of fashion has jumped from being, a some-what gated community, an exclusive capitalist club, a superficial industry to something far more personal, subjective and grey. Fashion to me, has become so much more about what identity is, and fashion almost transitions from being a noun to a verb; in my mind. It can’t be a black and white definition, or answer. There is just so much to it than what first comes to mind when you unpack the word. In a world of influencers, and celebrity culture- it’s easier to believe that fashion is what society feeds us on our instagram feeds every morning, versus being something that is an important form of self expression. However, through the course, studying fashion through so many varying lenses, my understanding of what fashion is goes back to my identify as an individual.
We can always add circles or globes because subject positions and subjectivities are always emerging and changing.” – Susan Keiser
A big weighty chunk of what drove me to understand fashion as a part of one’s identity, was when we started to create intersectionality maps. The circles of intersectionality really are never ending, and fashion is so much more than what is put on a runway every season. Fashion is what shapes so much of history, and being apart of this course helped me understand that in detail. Additionally, studying fashion this semester made me realize, there is so much more to be studied in this field and its impact on society is immeasurable.
“Time and space…cannot be essentialized as static.. because just as people grow and change across time and space ,so does fashion” – Kaiser
Just like us as individuals, fashion, is always evolving and growing. The way we grow and change impacts our dress practices, but our dress practices in-turn inform our personal growth, and our ever-changing personalities. Fashion is an extension of our identity, it is a definition we chose to write out for ourselves.
