choose any two of Christopher Breward’s aphorisms from his foreword to Fashion Studies, which you read in Week 1 during recitation. Explain what each of the two aphorisms means (in your own words) and explain why you agree or disagree with them. (250 words total)
Fashion can be about confirmation, of self and others. But it is also about anxiety, ambiguity and worry. As an aid to understanding psychological complexities it is unsurpassed.”(Breward )
This aphorism from Christopher Breward indicates that fashion shows people’s identity. What we wear tells others what we are and what we want to tell the others who we are. For example, if one wants to show that he or she belongs to the punk rock tribe, one would dress as one. However, “it is also about anxiety, ambiguity and worry” indicates that fashion has both good ways and bad ways, when we care conscious about ourselves the way we dress, some individuals would not feel the same way we feel and react to it. I agree with what Breward said, I think fashion truly can be expressive but dangerous, and all persons are so different in what they think.
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 futures foretold. (Breward)
Just like what Breward wrote in the last aphorism, fashion shows identity. We dress to be “us”, and fashion can make everyone different and fashion contribute to our individuality. Like poetry that wrote by the writers, we can easily tell which poem is written by whom, the characteristics and styles are shaped by the person who wrote or dress. From back in time, we can also tell the time period of which style of dress was commonly worn because the history has made so much influence and changes to people and what people wore. I think that it is true that fashion is a form of story telling and it is personal just like poetry.
