Lorynn Thompson

Rogers

Writing 1010

26 October 2018

What’s Fashion?

So what is fashion? Why is it always changing? Does only fashion affect clothes or is it

much more? What is the fashion industry really like?. These are all questions I had about fashion

over the years. Since a young age I have taken a very strong interest into clothes, personal style,

supermodels, designer brands, etc. However over time learning more and more about the fashion

industry made me realize that fashion wasn’t just the study of clothes. It’s so much more than

that it’s actually quite intimidating to try to understand fashion in its entirety because there are so

many factors that go into the fashion industry, that not many people understand including me, I

still have so much to learn with this complex industry and I have only barely scratched the

surface on trying to grasp what fashion really is.

Many people do not realize how important and how big the fashion industry is and how it

affects us on a day to day basis, with social media, magazines, celebrities, trend setters, etc. But

fashion has been affecting people for a very long time. Fashion doesn’t just represent clothes it

represents who we are as people in a way, because without saying a word you can convey a

message of who you are as a person through different fabrics, textiles, shapes, patterns, and

everything in between. Claire Distenfeld the owner of Fivestory said something very similar to

Leandra Medine“A form of expression without the use of words. To me, it’s very personal, real
and raw; it’s a way of syncing the internal with the external. Or maybe at times it’s just securing

a feeling you want to nurture. It’s never about the people around me. To me, that’s like ordering

from a menu for someone else — only you know what you want to eat…if you order someone

the burger and think, Oh they will LOVE this, you never know, they could show up and say, ‘I

became vegan about two hours ago”. Medine, L 02/07/18

https://www.manrepeller.com/2018/02/meaning-of-fashion.html​. So in the broad schemes of the

things, what is fashion technically. Well “Fashion is a distinctive and often constant trend in the

style in which people presents themselves.”Wikipedia, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion.

But like I’ve said before Fashion is so much more than that sentence. Fashion has been around

for decades, it’s non stop it runs 24/7, 365 days of the year fashion is one of the biggest

industries in the world. Because fashion really does affect us and what we do, if you really think

about it because why do we we buy the clothes that we buy, why do we style our hair a certain

way. It’s because we want to present our inner selves to the outside world, as people we convey a

message through our clothes and we want that message to convey who we are as people and

fashion allows us to express this message to each other. The first things we notice as people is

what we are wearing. This is one of the reasons why fashion is so important and crucial to people

because it’s an incredible tool for self expression. This is a huge reason as to why I fell in love

with fashion because I find personal style absolutely fascinating and truly special, and that we

shouldn’t take it for granted.

For fashion being around for so long, well before my time. Fashion is just so constant it

truly never stops, there is always something new coming into the industry so it’s constantly

changing. Suzi Vaughan who is a fashion designer said “Fashion creates a desire for change, in
fact it thrives on change.Vaughan, S Fashion Your Future: Think more like a fashion designer

Suzi Vaughan TEDxQUT, 10/16/15, ​https://youtu.be/NkjN​. This is a good example because you

are always seeing new trends come out for each year. Which then causes an effect of having a

very specific style each decade. For example if you were to look at the change of fashion over

just the last 100 years you would realize that each decade has a very different style from the

other. 100 Years of Fashion: Women Glam.com, 06/03/2015, https://youtu.be/M4z90wlwYs8.

Like the 20 ‘s with flapper dresses and the intricate head pieces to one of my favorite decades of

fashion the 60’s with the iconic go-go boots and brightly colored dresses. To the style of the 90’s

with plaid matching sets, overalls, and old school brands like Guess, Fila, Supreme, Kappa, etc.

we’re very popular. This style was frowned upon by a lot of the older population but there is

always going to be some controversy with each decade of fashion. However with the fact that

fashion is always changing there is a time period that is an acception because there isn’t a

distinct style for this decade it’s just revamping and using 90’s style for the nostalgic factor. The

time period I am talking about is right now, the one we are in today. There isn’t much originality

with my generation what we do for style is just look at what our parents wore back in the 90’s

and make it our own, which is fine . But with there always being so much change in the fashion

industry there should be more originality in our clothes because that’s really what fashion is

about, is being original. Because no decade of fashion has repeated itself like what we are doing

right now by trying to take 90’s fashion for our own. By wearing the exact same brands, wearing

velvet dresses, the all black circle sunglasses, scrunchies, checkered patterned everything, etc. So

besides my generations fashion sense every other decade has been distinctly different from the
next. This is why fashion is essentially the word change because there will always be something

new or different coming into the industry.

Now I have mainly only been talking about clothes and how that affects us on the day to

day. But there is so much more to fashion than clothes, it’s the behind the scene elements that

push fashion forward. Because when you first think of fashion you think of clothes, designer

brands, influencers, and of course fashion designers. But there is so much more to fashion for

example you have PR who market and make sure the clothes you see today are always new and

they represent multiple fashion designers and push forward new trends. Now you also have

runners who are the people who help everyone during the fashion shows who are always on their

toes as Nicole Heany says “Now we have the runners. Honestly, god bless their souls.These

people need to be on their toes 24/7 backstage ready to help anyone and everyone. Runners need

to be able to handle the pressure put on them backstage to ensure they show runs as smoothly as

possible.” Heaney, N The Fashion Industry Is More Than Just Designing Clothes, 02/09/16,

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theodysseyonline.com/the-fashion-industry-more-than-just

-designing-clothes.amp​. What I have learned about the fashion industry is that it’s much more

than glitz and glamor. The fashion industry is a high stress environment where you are on edge

pretty much all the time. Whether your working behind the scenes of a fashion show, launching

the new looks for the next season in a magazine, coming up with a new collection that you have

to perfect, etc. So for as amazing that fashion is where it brings so much creativity and

originality to the world that we live in today, it is one of the most high demanding industries in

the world because everybody is always looking for something new.

 All in all fashion maybe a cliche and not important to others but fashion does affect people

every single day with the clothes we put on our back or what we see on T.V., social media, or

even the people we see in our lives walking down the streets. Everywhere we are is like watching

a live fashion show, each look may not be cohesive with the other but seeing people’s outfits

every day causes us to get ideas and learn how we can alter our look so we can better represent

ourselves. Fashion is much more than clothes it’s a tool for self expression where we can

represent our inner selves to the physical outside world. For this reason alone it caused me to fall

in love with the fashion industry because fashion represent change and originality. My passion

for fashion has influenced me every day with what I wear and how I go about my way in the

world, trying to always change myself for the better. Because as I have said before fashion

influences change to always make something new, to always never stop evolving. Fashion is

change, it is personal, it is original, and it is powerful.

https://www.manrepeller.com/2018/02/meaning-of-fashion.html

https://youtu.be/NkjNxCzBUqQ

https://youtu.be/M4z90wlwYs8