Aphorism 1 – Fashion moves in space and time. It shares in the complexity of physics and mathematics, making patterns and networks, forming mazes and constellations. Through its forms we have an opportunity to re-unite art and science and to heal the rift of the two cultures.
I personally define fashion as ever changing and evolving trends. Hence, I chose this aphorism as it correlates with my definition of the term. Fashion is influenced by multiple factors in it’s surrounding and hence varies from place to place and time to time. This could be the influence of various cultures, weather, population structure (age, wealth, education etc). A misconception behind the creation of a garment is the pure credit to creativity. However, there are many technical skills and knowledge required to make that garment fit to size, not cause discomfort or tear apart easily, allow movement and so on. All this involves physics in the movement and mathematics in its construction. Arts and Sciences are considered as polar opposites, two divergent paths that students have to choose from. On the contradictory, I think they both overlap in more ways than one as explained above in the fashion industry. This aphorism stood out to me because I agree with every aspect mentioned.
Aphorism 2 – Fashion Studies has always thrived, as many disciplines do, by positioning itself between borders and at the periphery. Its apparent lack of respectability provided energy. Now there are many journals and conferences to serve its purposes. They give more space for multiple points of view, but the field must strive to avoid cooption and exhaustion.
Personally, I believe that fashion has always thrived because people have always used it as a means of expression, a show of wealth, a non-verbal communication etc. However, fashion ‘studies’ may or may not have always been popular. The acceptance of fashion garments as artifacts worthy of display in museums itself was not popular until more recently. This shows that fashion studies clearly was not always given the importance it has now attained. Now we have magazines, youtube channels, instagram accounts and so much more just to learn about the fashion. Fashion and the brands have made their way into newspapers too. However, back in the days, fashion did not have that the kind of importance for it to be mentioned in as news. Further more, I disagree with the ‘apparent’ before lack of respectability. Being a fashion design major, in multiple instances relating to my studies, I have encountered a condescending response. I do agree that it provides energy on the other hand, because the negative opinions only pushed me more to prove them wrong. Like mentioned in the aphorism, there are multiple sources to keep up with fashion now. I too believe that fashion and trends are even more easily exhausted now, the fashion cycles have become shorter and the number of collections per year has increased. Hence, this field must continue to thrive, keep up and adapt to continue successfully.
