At the beginning of the semester, we were asked to define fashion to someone who hypothetically has no prior knowledge of the word. I defined fashion as something that embodies all that this world is, a representation of time and people and life. I explained that the most important part of fashion to me, or the best part, is that it doesn’t always have to make sense. And a lot of the time it does not.
When I started this course I was skeptical about how one could make sense of fashion, and I wondered if this semester would change that. But what I realized over time, while reading thoughtful and carefully curated studies by fashion scholars like Susan B. Kaiser , Joan Entwistle, Elizabeth Wilson and more, and having class discussions both in lecture and recitation, is that the more we understand about fashion, the more complex it becomes. But thats what its supposed to be. Because fashion is how we express ourselves as individuals, and “Dress is the way in which individuals learn to live in their bodies and feel at home in them.”1. And people are puzzles. We are complicated. We don’t always make sense, we go through stages, one day we wake up and think something is the most flattering piece of clothing we have ever owned, and then next we decide its not our color.
Another important thing I learned this semester is how important it is to keep conversations going in fashion. Not only did I learn so much from having group conversations with my peers and section leader, but I learned how I contributed to the bigger picture. And I think that is what really keeps the world of fashion alive, conversations. Its important to question things and ourselves and not be afraid to ask why or how. An example of this would be the discussion of luxury we had, and how we questioned what luxury means to us. But also what makes luxury feel luxurious. Is it possible to make something that is not high end feel like it is by making a few slight changes?
This semester was a great one. I grew as a person, and as a designer, and this class contributed to that. I really enjoyed taking this course.
1
Joann Entwistle, The Dressed Body(Oxford: Berg,2001),139.
