A Decisive Insight of Fashion - Essay Example

 A Decisive Insight of Fashion Evidently, fashion is everywhere, for instance, in advertisements and on television, and everyone seems to be interested in the latest trends. However, few actually take the trouble of thinking about fashion deeply.In fact,the German Philosopher George Simmel (1957), in his article “Fashion” explained the meaning of fashion. To this end, he answered an important question, “What is the function of fashion”?Notably, the fundamental assumptions in Simmel’s argument are, thathuman beings are driven by two opposing forces, which are: differentiation and uniformity andsecondly, the fact thatpeople are really mysterious. In addition to that,differentiation can be termed as discrimination that people try to achieve by being special. Furthermore, uniformity is when there is no variation between people in other words,most of the times people try to uniform with others to blend with them.Apparently, any regular person is struggling to achieve these two forcesmay at times want to be special in his/her styleas compared to mimicking others.It is worth noting that,Simmel’s main claim is that, fashion is about the two forces whichallows people to exercise their need for differentiation and uniformity. On the bases of his main claim and the fundamental assumptions, Simmel developed several sub claims which are; humans are mysterious, how fashion allows the existence of the humans dualistic nature, how people always notice only the expedience thing, fashion helps social classes develop relation to each other, how social classes are built upon imitation, how women overcompensate through fashion for the lack of social power historically, fashion’s function as a mask for human beings. Finally, he concludes his reflection with his most vital idea, in other words, that fashion helps people to achieve their inner freedom. Simmel bases his reasoning on the assumptionthat fashion and humanbeings are driven by the two forces. First, he believes that human nature is driven by the two forces, our desire to be closer to others and pull away from them. Moreover, we communicate on multiple levels that is, on the social level; to what social groups we belong, but also in a very personal sense, in what way we are unique as individuals. Evidently, these two assumptions are connected, that is, the “dualistic nature” (Simmel, 1904/ 1957, p. 541) of a person makes us deep. Moreover, he believes that there is more inside each person’s soul though, what we see is only what a person wants us to see, in other words, what is on the surface, that is,which is the most experience and visible thing for us. He goes ahead to postulate, “there is more within me” (Simmel, 1904/ 1957, p. 541) to make this point.Furthermore, human beings are visual creatures the first thing they do is scan the other person’s style. For example, we say: “do not judge a book by its cover” because there is always more inside that book.In simple terms, this proves how human are visual. In actual fact, this implies that we have our external appearance and the internal, therefore, we have the inside versus the outside. In Simmel’s perspective, human beings have a very complex nature and a depth that no one can reach, so, this proves that they are not easily understood. Notably, according to Simmel, fashion helps structure the relationship between social levels in the society, in simple terms, what is visible is always a tool to show your social class.Evidently,an assumption Simmel made, is that “fashion differ for different classes” (Simmel, 1904/1957, p. 543). On the same note, since fashion for upper class is different than the lower class, thus, it plays a role in distinguishing the classes from each other that is, upper class from lower class.In fact,a central assumption is that, social class is a condition for fashion and without social class fashion will not exist. It is worth noting that,people in social classes leantoward imitation and uniformity in choosing their style, while others prefer to distinguish them-selves from others by being uniquely dressed.Thus, the two forces cause a tension between the classes.Moreover, Simmel explained, what happens in fashion is that the upper class changes their style when the lower class imitates them. Simply it is a process of imitation and independence that is,originality.Consequently, this proves that fashion does not exist in low class society. Furthermore, Simmel argued that, even if lower class imitates the upper class they is still a distinction between the two. Apparently, the connection between Simmel’s assumptions and claims is that sometimes people want tomimicothers, but other times theywant to live their personal lives. On the contrary, here comes the duality of the soul because it shows how the two forces are controlling people’s soul. People’s “dualistic nature” causes a tension between the social classes in a way that the lower class wants to be equal to the upper class so they imitate them. Consequently, this conflict in the people’s mind is very important to develop. So this shows how fashion allows people to exhibit the two forces. On the other hand, womenhave been historically denied, so they used imitation in fashion to express them-selves. Moreover, Simmel claimed that women have “weak” and “independent” nature. Thus, they are expressing them-selves through fashion by imitating the latest trend. Simmel said, “in a certain sense fashion giveswomen a compensation for her lack of position” (Simmel, 1904/1957, p. 551)so, fashion and imitating other’s style helped women to fit and show herself in the society. Subsequently, a really important claim is that, women have been “doomed” to “the weakness of her social position” (Simmel, 1904/1957, p. 550). Evidently, the only way that women can use to express their social and professional life is by imitating other styles. In this way they are showing their desire for socialization. In addition to that,Simmel assumes that women are hiding their real identity and personality behind the shadow which shows that there is more going inside their souls.In fact, one of the most important ideas for Simmel is, that fashion function as a mask for women who totally do not want to reveal themselves, they are really mysterious.On the same note, mask is what people, especially women hide behind. Notably, behind the mask, people only think about themselves they do not pay any attention to other people.In addition to that,Simmel claimed that women are “sensitive” creatures, “sensitive [women] … persons … use [fashion] as a sort of mask,” (Simmel, 1904/1957, p. 552)the idea of the mask is simply that fashion allows people to create a mask that covers what is going on inside their souls and just show what is on the surface, their style.On the same point, Simmel assumed that, the mask shows the side of uniformity, but what is in the soul is where the individuality occurs, therefore, the mask proves that there are more than externals. Moreover,Simmel argues that people use fashion as a mask to create a boundary between the personal self and the public self, in this way, people are protecting their dignity. Evidently, according to Simmel, inner freedom is when people try to exclude externals style, “and concentrate … more and more in our innermost natures.” (Simmel, 1904/1957, p. 554). Notably, the idea of inner freedom is important because since the core factor for any person is what is going in his/her soul, in other words, personal self, which is their inner freedom. “[Fashion] affects only the externals of life” (Simmel, 1904/1957, p. 554), which proves that fashion cannot touch the individual’s inner freedom and the personal self.In addition to that,fashion is just something external which cannot go deep into a person’s soul. Therefore, the inner freedom is achieved by the struggle of our desire for socialization and for loneliness, otherwise inner freedom cannot be achieved. In summation, the answer of the question that was asked before, what is the function of fashion? First, fashion is what allows the exhibition of the two forces that is discrimination and uniformity.A part of thisansweris, why the two forces are there? The two forces are the main conflict in the society that produced the imitation and the competition between social classes. Simmel wants people to know that life is based upon fashion, which is something important for all classes, and explains how human nature work by two main forces that conflict in each person’s mind. Furthermore, the two forces are important for development and fashion cannot exist without the existence of the two forces. Second, fashion achieves people’s inner freedom. As I said before, there will be no inner freedom without the existence of fashion and the two forces. To this end, it is evident that fashion has played a major role in categorizing the society in terms of classes. However, this classes have served to separate the society which is harmful thus discrimination on the basis of fashion class. In contradiction, it is inevitable to notice the role of fashion in development. References Simmel, G. (1957). Fashion. American journal of sociology, 541-558. “ I have worked in the ARC with Aliesha Jones and Aliaa Ahmed on paper structure, argument structure) Word count: ** ( Our pull toward people and our pull away from them)(Our desire for socialization and our desire for loneliness) Merely ‘fashion’ is a tool that shows the relation ship between the social classes. People need both dependence and freedom in their lives. Fashion affords both. The goal is to “attain amaximum degree od inner freedom.” (554) Read More