Through Beward’s aphorisms from this Forward to Fashion Studies one can see the authors want illustrate that fashion is not a straightforward concept that is the industry of creating garments. He not only explains how fashion influences a market, but also the consumers of fashion as a whole. In the aphorism below located on page xvii Beward explains how fashion is not just what we see on a runway, but the interactions we have with it. Fashion is involved in every second of our lives whether it is a grand spectacle or something as simple as doing laundry. Fashion is at its core utilitarian, but under the surface holds the complexities of everyday relationships and life.
In the aphorism above located on page xix Beward shows insight into a concept that many most people never relate with fashion. Many people believe fashion is just trends or how a person picks out clothing for oneself whether the garments are worthy of the runway or picked up at Kmart. Beward explains to the reader that fashion is the true extension of oneself. A visual representation of our personalities that evolve with us through our experiences. Beward then explains that fashion can also cloak or change people’s perceptions of us or allow us to become a character of ourselves or others, and with that begins the complexity of self-identity.
Overall I agree with this two aphorisms by Beward because they don’t only reflect the fashion industry, but the experience of fashion through everyday life. To me, I feel that fashion is not an experience that can be boiled down into a sentence. Fashion not only dictates our experience in life but categorizes and stereotypes us through a fundamental construct inflicted on us from birth.
