Since the beginning of the semester, my opinion about what is fashion changed thanks to what I have learned from the Intro to Fashion Studies course. Before taking the class, I would define fashion as a person who loves luxury shopping, without including any gender, sex, or race studies been done in the fashion studies area. After learning the continuum of academic fashion studies, I realized any human being would define fashion with their perspective. In the very beginning of her book Fashion and Cultural Studies, Susan Kaiser wrote: “Fashion is not a thing or an essence. Rather, it is a social process of negotiation and navigation through the murky and yet-hopeful waters of what is to come.” This could be a definition globally accepted by scholars, but a person with an entirely different lifestyle would define fashion according to that person’s background, and quality of living.
My opinion could be explained correctly with a variety of examples. For example, an Indian woman who was raised by traditional Indian culture would think fashion is a way to show cultural traditions and heritage to the outside world because Indian clothing is an essential aspect in their learning. On the other hand, an average teenager, whose parents have a normal to low income, who actively uses social media would define fashion as it is the proof of success and perfect life. Social media captures our life, and make us think to fit right in the society; we have to follow the fashion of social media influencers. What I try to impact is it is impossible to define fashion in a single sentence for the whole world with all the class discrimination and variety of cultures.
What matters the most personally would be my own definition of fashion. Fashion has a significant impact on me. I study fashion, and I want to be in the fashion industry for the rest of my life. I would say, fashion is the purpose for me being alive. I don’t know what I would do without it. Fashion is me, and I am fashion; like two peas in a pod.
Bibliography
- Kaiser, Susan. Fashion and Cultural Studies. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2011.
