Some thoughts about your look, our definition of beauty, and others’ work
Everyone awards different importance to clothes in his or her life. Some people spend a lot of time filling their wardrobes with fabric after fabric while others only blunder into a dress shop after the holes in their pants occupy more space than the actual pants themselves. Most of us are probably somewhere in between those categories and allocate quite some precious time to fashion matters.
Fact is humans all put some clothes on (guests at this “pure” restaurant being the exception that proves the rule). Be it because Darwinism pretty much left us all stripped down and we have to create a second skin to protect ourselves from weather incidents and all kinds of pests, or because of the many other reasons Quora members discussed about, humans wear additional fur to what is given by nature itself.
But as with many other things, humans turned this necessity into something much more than just fulfilling a basic need. Our outfits are a form of expression. It’s not just teenagers who change their style more often than their undies, we all think about how others might perceive us, and physical appearance, including what we wear, takes an important part in that.
Your style helps you shape and express identity, moreover following certain dress codes define which tribe you belong to. From business suits to hipster look, clothes and their brands uphold their own position in the social context since centuries. A costume for every occasion, high-end fashion and traditional garment alike, this diverse stuff occupies an essential function to communicate who we are to our fellow human beings.
Looking at the above the success of the apparel industry is no surprise. Whether we pick the ostentatious, expensive designs presented during fashion weeks for the few, or the cheap and trendy fast fashion overstocking stores for the crowd, the demand for fashion goes far beyond survival.
It is about art, about individualism and most certainly, about belonging.
Fashion and its consumers are only one side of the coin. The apparel industry is an employer found in furthest corners of the world. Many people make their living through providing a little stitch and needle here and there to the profitable mass of fashion. Before the 18th century, you would exactly know who produced your dress, garments were mostly made at the worker’s home and on demand basis. Industrialisation led to clothes manufacturing in mass, and today on demand production is only reserved for the wealthy few. It is hard to say if demand for clothes actually increased, or the higher supply suggested that you need to buy much more. But fact is that there is a huge amounts of items on the market that no one buys or wears. Most of our clothes are produced in some far away factory, by people we don’t know, under conditions that are neither positive for people or planet.
Although each side largely depends on the other, few consumers and brands look at fashion from the perspective of creating stronger connections between producer and consumer. Industrialisation and globalisation successfully hide the uncountable hands and stories involved in just one piece of gear. Even if we are inspired by designers’ artistic pieces that express our most beautiful desires, the stories of the many garment workers reproducing these ideas are less beautiful.
What would happen if we start to look beyond clothes’ physical appearance, and expand our interests to all the stories of what we wear. What if we demand pieces that are a product of human collaboration that goes far beyond money and look, that talks about shared emotions and shared prosperity, shared from sewer to consumer alike.
What’s the story of your clothes?
Fact is humans all put some clothes on (guests at this “pure” restaurant being the exception that proves the rule). Be it because Darwinism pretty much left us all stripped down and we have to create a second skin to protect ourselves from weather incidents and all kinds of pests, or because of the many other reasons Quora members discussed about, humans wear additional fur to what is given by nature itself.
But as with many other things, humans turned this necessity into something much more than just fulfilling a basic need. Our outfits are a form of expression. It’s not just teenagers who change their style more often than their undies, we all think about how others might perceive us, and physical appearance, including what we wear, takes an important part in that.
Your style helps you shape and express identity, moreover following certain dress codes define which tribe you belong to. From business suits to hipster look, clothes and their brands uphold their own position in the social context since centuries. A costume for every occasion, high-end fashion and traditional garment alike, this diverse stuff occupies an essential function to communicate who we are to our fellow human beings.
Looking at the above the success of the apparel industry is no surprise. Whether we pick the ostentatious, expensive designs presented during fashion weeks for the few, or the cheap and trendy fast fashion overstocking stores for the crowd, the demand for fashion goes far beyond survival.
It is about art, about individualism and most certainly, about belonging.
Fashion and its consumers are only one side of the coin. The apparel industry is an employer found in furthest corners of the world. Many people make their living through providing a little stitch and needle here and there to the profitable mass of fashion. Before the 18th century, you would exactly know who produced your dress, garments were mostly made at the worker’s home and on demand basis. Industrialisation led to clothes manufacturing in mass, and today on demand production is only reserved for the wealthy few. It is hard to say if demand for clothes actually increased, or the higher supply suggested that you need to buy much more. But fact is that there is a huge amounts of items on the market that no one buys or wears. Most of our clothes are produced in some far away factory, by people we don’t know, under conditions that are neither positive for people or planet.
Although each side largely depends on the other, few consumers and brands look at fashion from the perspective of creating stronger connections between producer and consumer. Industrialisation and globalisation successfully hide the uncountable hands and stories involved in just one piece of gear. Even if we are inspired by designers’ artistic pieces that express our most beautiful desires, the stories of the many garment workers reproducing these ideas are less beautiful.
What would happen if we start to look beyond clothes’ physical appearance, and expand our interests to all the stories of what we wear. What if we demand pieces that are a product of human collaboration that goes far beyond money and look, that talks about shared emotions and shared prosperity, shared from sewer to consumer alike.
What’s the story of your clothes?
