Fashion Culture - Essay Example

Fashion Culture Different societies and even individuals within the same society define fashion in their own way. Loschek defines fashion as ‘a personal aesthetic perception in the collective’ (Loschek, 154) while Emerson defines fashion as ‘attempt to organize beauty out of behavior’ (Fashion in America). For some fashion is an expression of the individual self, whereas for others fashion is constricting oneself to the ideals defined by society and the selected few (Yurchisin and Johnson, 1). Whatever the term fashion means, it has a deep impact of the society as a whole. In America, fashion is primarily inspired by the British with changes brought about by fashion designers and agencies over a period of time to mould fashion in America as an informal fashion statement. The society, in the modern times, is deeply influenced by fashion as they see in the popular media; represented by their favorite celebrities and icons. Fashion is often criticized for affecting the society in a negative manner through its portrayals of beauty. These portrayals of beauty compel the ordinary people to go to extreme measures in order to be labeled as beautiful and chic. As fashion influences society, it is also influenced by the society in which it resides. The fashion of Paris would be altogether different from the fashion of an Arab country. Thus fashion in a way is constricted by the dictates of the society. Individualist expressions also find a way into contemporary fashion and fashion becomes a mode of expression. The history of fashion in America is a testimony to this fact. However, it is difficult to understand the extent of the impact of fashion on the culture as culture is also impacted by fashion and this two-sided affect makes the situation difficult to evaluate. In this paper, we attempt to understand the role that fashion plays on culture and vice versa for the role that culture plays on fashion. Each is impacted by the other and this paper will attempt to generate a conclusion on the extent of the influence of both fashion and culture on each other. Fashion in America was predominately inspired by the British. It was the British who came into America in large numbers and brought their fashion with them. In the earliest days, American fashion was exactly like the British fashion with its gowns with mutton shaped sleeves and corsets that stressed on the hour glass figures of the women. Fashion, at that time, was inspired by the society’s ideal of beauty. During the 1920s, the ideal beauty was petite and feminine. For this reason, corsets were a necessary part of every woman’s wardrobe; also shoes where pointed and small, so as to give the impression of a delicate being who could be compared to a bird. Fashion at that time was thus not about comfort but about looking beautiful and presentable (Boyer and Dubofsky, 137). The next change in fashion began with the industrial revolution. Industrial revolution was an era of mass production that led to an increase in consumerism and materialism. As products were produced in mass quantities, they cost cheaper and fashion was available to the common public. This was aided with the boom in cotton industry of America that allowed Americans local access to the crop. Thus these mass products were sold in retail shops throughout the country along with catalogues for consumers outside the reach of the retail shops. Fashion at this time was still dictated by the Europeans. Also the concepts regarding women was changing as women were getting liberated and moving out of the constraints of their corsets and moving towards adopted the brassiere (Frings, 30). Another change in fashion came with the civil war. As social unrest in the country increased, individuals became more expressive with their sense of fashion. The blacks began to express their African origins while the Middle Class adopted the hippie fashion. T-shirts were adopted by the hippies as a means of protest and propaganda (English, 91)However, during the 1960s and 1970s, fashion became an expression of the social status of the people rather than an expression of the society. This was a time when media played an important role in dictating the attitudes and beliefs of the people (Peterson and Kellogg, 10). This attitude was later replaced during the 1980s when individuals began to favor simplicity over the haute culture. The workplace was characterized by more informal clothes in comparison with the standard suit and tie. Prevailing Norms greatly impact the society’s sense of fashion. They constrict fashion in a certain shape by defining what is right and wrong. Every society has specific norms that it abides by, it is for this reason that Americans are Americans and Indians are Indians (Bikchandani, Hirshleifer and Welch, 992). The culture of one country is different from the other and it impacts the acceptance of certain styles in the given society. For example, the Indians consider the color red as lucky. It is for this reason that they don their brides in the color red and other colors are yet to be fully accepted by the society even though deviations may occur in the use of color red for the bride (Color red and its importance). One way that culture has impacted fashion is through the hip-hop culture that entered America during the early 1980s. It developed as a result of the artists who represented hip-hop music in America. Such artists were particularly characterized by their unique fashion that consisted of bomber jackets, numerous rings, sheepskin clothes and heavy gold jewelry (George, 30). Hip hop music in America originated from the African Americans who sold music as a way of expressing their individuality (Chang, 272). As a result, hip hop artists were confined to these African Americans ideals of fashion. The individuality amongst these artists made into fashion and many designers were influenced by these artists in their collections. Two such collections were introduced by Nike and Adidas where they took these hip-hop artists to promote their collection of jackets, sneakers, track suits etc (Craik, 328). Just as culture sets the fashion style of the different countries, religion is also a guiding force for defining the specific trends and styles of a particular country. Even though the culture is different from one country to another, a similarity between the fashion trends is still observed in the countries based on their similar religions. However, the influence of religion on defining fashion is moving towards being a cultural norm; religion still plays a major part. For example, in Saudi Arabia, wearing abayas is as much part of the culture as it is part of the religion (Culture vs. Fashion). Abaya is traditionally worn in most Islamic states as the religion of Islam dictates that women should cover themselves up properly before appearing in public. Their heads and body should not be revealed to men so as to prevent temptation. Women in Arabia are not allowed out of their homes without these abayas and thus creating fashion for them means restricting oneself to the designing of their abayas. In Dubai, primarily a Muslim country, fashion shows are centered on abaya collection. In Dubai Fashion Week 2011, specific portions were limited to abaya collections that included designers such as Ameera Aamer, Nabrman, Hanayen and 1001 Abayas (Naimi and Shams, 1). Similarly Christianity and Buddhism have also been the inspiration for many designers. One such example is the pioneering work of Designer Wayne Lee where she was inspired by the religious paintings of Renaissance artist Hans Memling in her collection that centered on hooded garments (Laneri, 1). Religion has thus both been a source of inspiration for designers as well as a source of restrictions for the designer which allows him to explore his creativity in the given religion. The history of fashion in America shows that changing beliefs among the society also impacts fashion profoundly. ‘The evolution of fashion has an internal dynamic of its own that is only very gradually and tangentially affected by social change within the wider culture.’ (Lynch and Strauss, 202). Most of the time, changing beliefs seeps into fashion without the world becoming aware of it. At other times, designers consciously inculcate the belief system in their fashion philosophy. The same is true for all types of art including architecture, fine arts, graphic design etc. The introduction of changing beliefs in fashion allows fashion to shift its focus and bring about a completely different trend in the society. One example of changing beliefs that impacted fashion in America is the hippie culture. The Hippie culture was initiated in America during the 1960s as a rebellion against the system. The hippies were flamboyant in their fashion style and were actually anti-fashion (Welters and Cunningham, 195). They represented everything that fashion was not, because they wanted to break away from any defined system. The hippies took to adopting long hair, jeans, second hand clothes and a messy style (Edwards, 105). Even though the hippies were against fashion, their style statement soon made its way into the fashion circle. Changing beliefs have greatly impacted fashion in every country and even help go away with the religious and cultural impacts of a country. An example of this can be the way women are increasingly adopting feminism in the most conservative societies and molding fashion according to their own beliefs rather than beliefs set for them according to society. It is not just society’s norms or religions that impact fashion but fashion also impacts how the society functions and thinks. Fashion has a way of changing one’s thinking. When a certain trend is in fashion, it is automatically accepted by the society. Fashion also has a way of slowly changing the attitudes of the society through experimenting and exploring boundaries. Through Celebrities and Icons A classic example of how fashion impacts the societal norms and beliefs is the example of the Barbie doll. ‘Barbie is an instantly recognizable figure: blond-haired, blue-eyed, torpedo-breasted and impossibly slim’ (Alhoff, Kennett, Wolfendale and Baumgardner, 151) Barbie doll was introduced by Mattel Inc and manufactured by Ruth Handler. Barbie doll, physically embodied the ultimate beauty among women and for this reason, she soon became the inspiration for many young girls. The obsession for Barbie’s figure grew to such a point that Barbie was forced under the worst criticism. This criticism centered on Barbie doll as a means of promoting materialism through her body proportions. Barbie doll was negatively inspired not just teenagers but also young girls to maintain the same body proportion which was almost impossible for these girls. Girls were going into crash diets since the figure of Barbie could be compared to that of an anorexic (McDonough, 1). This forced the manufacturers of Barbie to adopt a more realistic body proportion for Barbie which would inspire health among the young girls (Winterman, 1). Along with the Barbie doll, Fashion Models are also criticized for being too thin to reflect on the healthy physical model. Though clothes worn by these fashion models are meant for the normal people, but fashion models only serve as a source of envy for the normal people who cannot attain the same body proportion. This also compels the society to mould their body proportions to the proportion defined by these models as fashionable. Through Media Fashion has impacted culture by projecting itself in a glamorous way to the society. Fashion impacts culture through media in its portrayal of stereotypes. Men and women both are classified as having different personalities, attitudes and beliefs through the fashion that they adapt. For example, working women in the media as portrayed as ones doing business clothes with hair tied up in a bun on their head. When one thinks of business women, this image crosses one’s mind automatically. The society, in general, is impacted as it uses the fashion type of one person to group them in specific stereotypes. Just in this way, we use our stereotypes developed by fashion designers to demarcate the different kinds of people into categories including geeks, designers, eccentric etc. Fashion, through media, also impacts the clothes we wear. It does this in two ways. Firstly, fashion uses the popular media to disseminate trends. Certain colors and cuts of the designers become the latest fashion for a certain season or seasons. This trend is fed to the public through media such as television, print, events and even social media now. Most people are willing to change their color preference and style preference to suit the current trend. This attitude makes these people victims of fashion in the way that fashion has influenced their tastes and preferences. These people are not willing to keep up with the old trend in the fear of being embarrassed or humiliated amongst the more fashion conscious. Another way in which fashion impacts the society is through its perception of what is pretty and what is ugly. Initially, white women were only considered to be beautiful but with time fashion included the black in its concept of beauty and thus people began considering dark skin color also as a sign of beauty. People even go to tanning parlors in order to get their skin tanned according to the latest fashionable skin color (Martin et. al, 2141). Fashion has also defined body shapes and weights for the desirable and the non-so-desirable. The ideal body weight and size as defined by fashion has led to severe problems in the society specifically within the female gender. It includes anorexia and other eating disorders. A study conducted on this topic revealed that ‘for females, exposure to fat character television content is related to increased bulimia, whereas exposure to thin-ideal magazine content is related to increased anorexia and, among 9th- and 12th-grade females, increased bulimia’ (Harrison, 137). This is a negative impact of fashion but a very serious issue that needs to be explored further. Fashion is a term that is difficult to define given its impact and reach among the general society. Even though society has limited fashion to a certain extent, it allows fashion to test its creativity and experiment in the given bounds. Once in a while, the perceptions of society are revised to give more room for fashion to flourish and fashion makes good use of this. Understand the impact of society on fashion and the impact of fashion on society; we can say that both have allowed change to come into each other. Society cannot live without fashion in the same way that fashion cannot live without society. Fashion seeps in the society’s beleif system in the same way that the belief system seeps into fashion. However, the influence of fashion is society is greatly impacted by the influence of society on fashion. This is because it is difficult for fashion designer to ignore the society that they cater to but it is not as difficult for society to ignore fashion as fashion merely exists to serve them. Despite this, fashion has been able to develop a strong presence in society; one that cannot be ignored. Fashion has not just changed society but it itself has changed in order to provide for the society. It is after all the society that fashion has to cater to and if it remembers that it will still be envied and looked up to in the same that it is criticized by those who fail to understand the power and beauty of fashion. ‘As the culture of fashion has changed, so has the fashion industry and the image of fashion, but fashion itself remains well and alive, always new, always changing’ (Welters and Lillethun, 154). Fashion has to continuously update itself in order to keep up with the changing beliefs and attitudes. One trend may be a fashion boom at one time but may become the fashion bust in a different time setting (David and Strang, 31) In conclusion, we can say that fashion has had a remarkable influence on society. It is had this influence from time immemorial and in the past few decades, the influence of fashion has increased to such an extent that it shapes the ideals and opinions of the society. While saying this, it is also important to say that the reach of fashion is not as extensive as we believe. There are still who adopt the ant-fashion style and ignore it. Even though society can ignore fashion to a great extent, fashion cannot ignore society otherwise it would lose the power it has developed in the last few decades. Works Cited Al Naimi, Hamda and Shams, Dana, Abaya Report from Dubai Fashion Week, Gulf news, 25 April 2011, Retrieved from http://gulfnews.com/life-style/beauty-fashion/abaya-report- from-dubai-fashion-week-1.798519 Allhoff, Fritz, Kennett, Jeanette, Wolfendale, Jessica and Baumgardner, Fashion - Philosophy for Everyone: Thinking with Style, San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons, 2011. 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