Intro to Fashion Studies LP Post #1

The two aphorisms I chose from Christopher Breward’s list are “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.” And “Fashion does not define. It is instead a term that demands definition.”

My interpretation of the first aphorism I chose is that fashion, when taken into the aspect of garments and items worn on body, has a meaning or purpose beyond covering or exposing the wearer’s body. It is used as an identifier that can show or hide the wearer’s identity depending on how the wearer wants to be portrayed publicly, and ultimately create a real or false sense of belonging that the wearer potentially desires from the viewer. It is a visual method of classification that includes people who wear a similar type of clothing and exclude those who dress differently. Like the quote identifies fashion as a great tool to understand the psychological complexities, I believe that every small or large aspect of fashion can be meaningful and purposeful both intentionally and unconsciously.

The second aphorism I chose to my interpretation, means that because fashion lies in such varied spectrum within the field of studies from social sciences, economics, arts, mathematics, politics, only to name a few, the meaning is so metamorphic that any meaning given to the term is a generalization of the whole that it lacks clarity. Therefore, Fashion it is a term that needs further research in order to have a proper definition that fulfills every aspect of its character.