Donovan Cortese Professor Gurfinkel English 101 Comparative Analysis RESEARCH Media Within Fashion While partaking in an interview,

Alexander McQueen was once quoted, Its a new era in fashion - there are no rules. Its all about the individual and personal style, wearing high-end, low-end, classic labels, and up-and-coming designers all together. While this is a very profound statement which includes great insight on the true freedom of fashion, is it necessarily true in society? Is fashion more based on personal expression, or highly influenced by trends publicized through mass media? Within my paper, I will explore this idea through the comparison of a documentary entitled Bill Cunningham New York and the On The Street article in the New York Times newspaper, also written by Bill Cunningham. These are 2 pieces that have had great affects on the fashion world. Regarding the article, it is one that is read and trusted by millions of people. What i find intriguing is that the article is written and shot by a man who essentially influences the readers on what is hip in fashion. The ironic part is that in the documentary the photographer speaks a lot on how he loves to shoot what is out of the ordinary and unique, but his articles bring so much attention to these unique outfits, that they rapidly become trends that arent as unique anymore. Through this comparison one will see that despite the general desire to be unique through ones taste in fashion, the bulk of the influence and drive on fashion comes from mass media. The first piece being taken into account is the documentary Bill Cunningham: New York based on Bill Cunningham himself. The documentary is based upon the artwork, photographic style and inspiration of Cunninghams work. He has been shooting fashion photography

for over 60 years. Within this piece, the director intriguingly reveals a very interesting aspect of the fashion world. This aspect comes to fruition within a scene where Bill is attempting to enter into a fashion show from the spectators entrance. While the attendant for the event is questioning Cunningham on his access to the event, the director of the event interjects saying Are you crazy? This is the most important man in the world. This would be received by anyone as beautiful compliment, but it does speak volume into the role of Bill Cunninghams work and how it affects fashion as a whole. One can also see this in his article as well which I will address shortly. Over the years, Bill Cunningham has built a reputation for capturing shots of the best outfits that fashion has to offer. If this is the case, wouldnt all designers want Bill Cunningham photographing their pieces and publishing them in his article? Another scene within the documentary displays an interview with a famous fashion designer discussing his opinions on Cunningham. Within his interview, he spoke of how honored he was that Bill Cunningham took the time to shoot his pieces and reviewed them within his article. He also acknowledges this as the break of his fashion career. The power Bill Cunningham has on fashion is elevated through mass media. The power of mass media is exemplified through Bill Cunninghams article. The ironic part of this is that Bill Cunningham states within the documentary that he doesnt shoot what society thinks is hip, but rather shoots what he feels is beautiful and unique. While he feels that he is merely expressing his unique fashion sense through his art, it is actually causing major fashion trends to evolve through the power of media. The documentary also sheds light on Bill Cunninghams current showcase of his artwork, his article On The Street featured within the New York Times newspaper. Within this article, readers are presented with a collage of pictures taken by Bill throughout the week, exposing new styles and trends that he sees developing. The purpose of the article is not to republish trends

shown through what the fashion magazines are showing, but through the way normal people are expressing these ideas on the streets of New York. These collages are also accompanied by a short passage explaining what Bill is thinking when he is photographing these outfits. This article is one that is read by thousands of people. The popularity of this article grew so large to the point that the New York Times had to create an online version of "On The Street", featuring an audio review by Bill Cunningham himself, just to accommodate the online fashion enthusiast. This article is also very influential as to what trends people decide to follow. This is shown within the documentary spoken on before. Multiple scenes include interviews of designers that discuss the importance of the article on fashion. The power of media allows Bill Cunninghams artwork to have one of the greatest influences on fashion society, especially within New York City. When comparing these two pieces, we can clearly see the power of media and its affect on fashion. While many people would probably say that fashion is the ability to express yourself individually through your clothing and personal appearance, it is extremely evident that the bulk of influence on what people buy and wear comes from media, causing widespread trends to dominate individuality. The reason why Bill Cunningham is able to capture such a large group of the same trends and styles is due to people being able to discover the same trends from mass media. Bill Cunningham is simply an influencer that furthers these trends through media. While many can agree on the conclusion that fashion has transformed into an outlet dominated by mass media, a helpful deciding factor that could further this conclusion is a scholarly article written by Anne Hollander. The article entitled "The Modernization of Fashion" clearly presents the transformation of fashion throughout the years, and how it has become the entity it is today. She breaks down the constant flux that occurs within fashion throughout major social periods such as the Medieval

Times and the Neo-Classical Period. While Hollander spends some of her time breaking down the format of fashion throughout these periods, she also does a great job of revealing the modernization of fashion within the United States , and how it has depreciated to an art form more interested in social and sexual surfaces. It's purpose has become more frivolous and has strayed far from its original basic aesthetic values (Hollander). While we are shown how fashion played a role in society thousands of years ago, we see that the lack of media actually allowed the, to concentrate more on the free-form expression of fashion, rather than its popularity. Fashion was based on life and how it was lived at the time, not on the amount of Internet views an outfit obtained. The out look on fashion as a whole within this article allows readers such as ourselves to see the effect media has had on society. The values and principles of what fashion was originally based upon, have become somewhat non-existent due to the growth of media's presence within the fashion industry. This article clearly shows proof through the modernization of fashion that, as the years have passed on, so has the depreciation of fashion. Sadly enough, the cost of fashion depreciation is due to the growth of Media. Self expression has been replaced with media's demands on people to conform to what it offers. Due to this transformation within fashion, the term "as of late" no longer apples to fashion. Media has replaced the term with "NOW". In Conclusion, as stated before, McQueens quote, Its a new era in fashion - there are no rules. Its all about the individual and personal style, wearing high-end, low-end, classic labels, and up-and-coming designers all together.. While this is a very profound statement which includes great insight on the true freedom of fashion, is it necessarily true in society? Is fashion more based on personal expression, or highly influenced by trends publicized through mass media? Through this paper, we can now say that McQueens quote may have come to a point where its validity could be questioned due to the influence of media. The comparison of these two

pieces on Bill Cunningham helps to reveal this idea that while fashion can be individual, the bulk of its purpose and effect comes from trends developed through mass media, diminishing the individuality of fashion. Without media, fashion trends wouldnt nearly be as effective as they are today. Maybe if that was the case, we would see more individuality within our society. Maybe Bill Cunningham wouldnt be as influential as he is today. What we can conclude, is that fashion wouldnt be what it is today without media.