Fashion and Nihilism - Essay Example

Fashion and Nihilism I Introduction Nietzsche’s “God is dead” supposedly heralds the era of nihilism, the philosophical doctrine that describes the degradation of traditional values and beliefs brought about by the inability of society to align its values with actual developments resulting in frustration, alienation and feelings of nothingness. Before Nietzsche, however, Kierkegaard had already hinted at a similar state that was slowly engulfing the western world engendered by too much freedom of expression encouraged by a free Press. Hubert Dreyfus, in his book On the Internet lengthily expounded on Kierkegaard’s version of nihilism and how this nihilism continuously persists in the modern times with the advent of the internet. The question being deliberated in this paper is whether or not nihilism is ubiquitously present in other areas of life, fashion specifically, and whether this should concern the students of Pasadena College. After deliberating the issue, it is concluded that albeit the fashion world shows traces of nihilism, the students of Pasadena College should not be too concerned with it because if Nietzsche’s theory holds true, it is merely part of the evolutionary phase of active nihilism, which is the good part, and if Dreyfus’ perspectives is taken into consideration, the ability to go out of the world and show one’s personal fashion taste is a form of risk taking that sheds off anonymity and indifference. II Nihilism Nihilism is defined as the loss of meaning or the ‘nothingness’ of everything in the world. Nietzsche, who declared the advent of the era of nihilism at the close of the 19th century, believed that nihilism is engendered by the clash between what society values the most and the actual process by which the world proceeds, which can be characterized as decadent. Values are then depreciated and this depreciation had led to the destruction of the foundation of faith in general, in morality, and religion. The effect is this would bring the world to a crisis. Nihilism, according to Nietzsche, is not an unnatural process but part of the evolution of the world and is irreversible. He classified nihilism into two categories: passive and active. The first, according to him refers to that stage when an individual loses his faith, becomes godless, and without purpose. However, this purposelessness eventually serves as a catalyst for an individual to engage in self-reflection and search for other truths (Nabais & Earl 2006 pp 133-144). But while Nietzsche did not see nihilism as an entirely negative concept, Kierkegaard and Hubert Dreyfus saw nihilism as inhibiting people from fully living their lives ultimately bringing them towards the path of despair. Kierkegaard despised and blamed a leveling of values and status that emerged with Habermas’ Public Sphere. The expansion of the Press engendered public opinion and this, according to Kierkegaard, has brought delocalization and bred detachment. Massive public information made the people into opinion-makers even without actual knowledge and direct involvement that perpetuated detachment and lack of commitment and therefore, nihilism (Dreyfus 2009 pp. 72-78). Dreyfus further discusses the anonymity that generally characterizes interactions over the internet. Blogs, for example, allow individuals to input their opinions despite lack of real knowledge and expertise, which constituted diversion for real action. The danger in this, according to Dreyfus, is that there is no distinction between the significant and the trivial, and in fact, there is no such thing as too trivial in the internet. All these are depriving people of passionate and unconditional commitment, an experience that would allow people the pleasure of living in a world that is shaped by them, and where it is understood that there are higher goals to achieve. To illustrate his point, Dreyfus discussed the Second Life, an interactive virtual world in the internet where people meet, interact and participate together in various activities albeit only virtually and anonymously. In this interactive synthetic world, a ‘resident’ can engage in activities that are done in real life without the limitations of the latter. Between the real world where humans are confronted by their finitude and a synthetic world unbounded by such limitations and frustrations, humans would naturally prefer the latter. Dreyfus believes that this choice deprives people from real and serious satisfaction (Dreyfus 2009 pp. 79-102). III Nihilism and the Fashion World The webpage HuffPost Style on Style showcases a deluge of articles, perhaps more than sixty, that all talk about fashion. There is no evident rhythm or structure in the presentation of these articles: just a cacophony of information about fashion. A look at several of these articles shows that in the world of fashion, nihilism abounds. Some of the dresses and gowns sported by celebrities seem to make no sense at all. In the article entitled Ke$ha’s Hair Hits a High Note featuring a musician Ke$ha wearing a hairdo that reminds one of the way cartoon characters look after they get electrocuted or burned. Her hair was practically standing on top of her head and she was wearing eye-makeup reminiscent of some of Nefertiti or Cleopatra caricatures where the eyeliner, or something equivalent, extends to the sides of the face. She also had one of her upper molars either shaded or ringed. Ke$ha donned a beaded frock with tasseled hem and wore big rings on most of her fingers. One ear is fastened with a rounded dangling earring that matched the color of her dress, while the other ear wears a simple stud earring. In another article entitled American Music Awards 2010: Who Was Best-Dressed?, pictures of celebrities are shown as slides attending the annual music awards in Los Angeles. Musician Ke$ha is seen wearing the same hairstyle and in addition, studded eyebrows and blue-color lipstick. She wears a black gown, which sports some kind of synthetic shine, and with a slit that goes up to her thigh, black tassels flowing down from a very low décolletage to her feet. Extraordinary big rings adorn her fingers. Another celebrity, Nicki Minaj is wearing a dress by Manish Arora, an Indian fashion designer. A knee-length two-piece neon orange dress, the blouse sported a series of rib-like golden contraptions that go around over the rib cage caught in the middle by a jade-colored vertical fastener and its hem adorned by the same metallic gold spiral motif. The skirt reflected the same motif, with metal and jade strewn all over it. Finally, the same metallic wires connected the blouse-and-skirt ensemble from the hip to the mid-thigh. Minaj dyed her hair platinum blonde and the half end green. On the other hand, Miley Cyrus wears a miniskirt in the lightest shade of pink that has a tight wrap-around style, which looked fine at first glance but, holds a surprising big bow of the back with a long trail attached to it like that worn by a bride. Willow Smith, daughter of superstars Will and Jada Smith, donned the oddest dress of all. It was a pant suit that ended some inches above the knee, long-sleeved and in a drab, ordinary gray color unembellished worn underneath a yellow shiny synthetic half-coat that covered only partially, one side of the upper body. The Juliet long-sleeved half-coat is strapped around by three straps around the rib cage area and with two straps around the neck. A big yellow bouquet of the same fiber adorned the shoulder. To complete the outfit, Willow wore black gloves. The oddest piece of the ensemble, however, is the pair of black shiny boots that looked like they have more than extra skin folded out at the legs and flapping around the ankles. The images displayed in the fashion articles in the website HuffPost show the nihilistic tendencies of the present fashion trends. Celebrities and models are garbed in odd-looking gowns and dresses that do not impart any fashion sense but love for the outrageous, as if attempting to substitute the traditional meaning of beauty and esthetics with the idiosyncratic and the rebellious. Nietzsche, in one of his writings, referred to nihilism as “the measure of unbelief, of permitted ‘freedom of the spirit’ as an expression of an increase in power” and this kind of attitude can be seen in the fashion sense of many of these celebrities and models. Such freedom of spirit, often outrageous and irreverent, are gleaned from the attires, make-up and hairstyle of Ke$ha and other celebrities, which seem to deliberately veer away from the traditional sense of beauty and agreeability. Ke$ha and the other celebrities seemed to be, not only stating, but shouting out to the world that they have the guts to be different from everyone to the extent that they could opt to look ludicrous in their outfits – outfits that when examined tallies with Nietzsche’s musings that nihilism “is partly destructive; partly ironic” and that a nihilist “does not believe that one needs to be logical.” IV Nihilism and the Students of Pasadena City College Pasadena City College students should not be concerned with the growing nihilism in the fashion world. In the first place, nihilism is merely a phase according to Nietzsche, who is tagged the father of nihilism. Thus, if Nietzsche is right, no one can put a stop to societies evolving into the nihilistic phase. Secondly, if Dreyfus, whose nihilistic views are largely based on Kierkegaard’s writings, is right, nihilism proceeds from the inability of people to consummate the last step of their inner desire and aspirations by taking the actual, and not merely the virtual, risk of laying their selves out in the open, wholly identified and taking concrete sides. The students of Pasadena College need not worry about the seeming anarchy in the fashion world because it is merely a symptom of the evolutionary process of the civilized world – that is, if Nietzsche’s concept is taken into consideration. According to Nietzsche, nihilism is part of the evolutionary process of the world that occurs at that stage when society fails to correlate their personal values with what is actually happening and in frustration, devalues and loses meaning in everything. This is the passive part of nihilism and the next stage that must necessarily follow is the active stage when society stops from mere resignation and deliberately rejects and destroys values for the purpose of leveling and rebuilding its own new values. Applying Nietzsche’s conception of nihilism, it would seem that the present trend in fashion where people are wearing outlandish attires and sporting ridiculous hairdos illustrate active nihilism where people are mowing down values of aesthetics and beauty traditionally held to reconstruct a new set of values of aesthetics. The students of Pasadena College, therefore, need not worry either because being a natural process it is out of their hands or because it is a mere symptom of the leveling phase to pave for the new set of values that will govern the world of fashion. In addition, neither should Pasadena College students worry about the present state of the fashion world as illustrated by the HuffPost articles because unlike public opinion engendered by the free press or the blogs and virtual worlds created in the internet, in expressing themselves through fashion, people really take actual risks, which can result in more fulfilling lives. Dreyfus’, and Kierkegaard’s, primary concern with the concept is that nihilism is brought on by certain forces that are collaterally destroying people’s ability to unconditionally commit themselves and take risks, some of the things that can make life really fulfilling. This condition can be brought about when people are free to express their opinions on almost everything, even without the benefit of actual experience and knowledge about them or when they are free to experience life unbounded by finitude and yet do not take actual risks that are supposed to accompany them. This is not so in the fashion world. Although anarchy seems to rule fashion today with senseless attires and styles that are often impractical and unwearable, people who sport these clothes do not really parallel coffee shop habitués, bloggers and internet denizens who merely experience ‘life’ virtually. If Dreyfus’ theory is taken into consideration, people with a ‘weird’ sense of fashion are relatively in a better state because they show to all and sundry their ‘odd’ sense of fashion, which is expressing a definite commitment and taking risk. Ability to express one’s self is often good and often precludes depression, often a recipe for nihilism. IV Conclusion The students of Pasadena College need not be concerned with the present state of the fashion world because there is nothing to be concerned about. Albeit Nietzsche would call shedding off traditional values of aesthetics and beauty and making a strong statement about one’s individuality nihilism, this is the good part of Nietzsche’s nihilism. According to him, active nihilism, which is the deliberate and active rejection of values considered meaningless, will pave the way to the reconstruction of new values that are truer and more meaningful to society. On the other hand, the present state of fashion merely shows that people are willing to take the risk of showing and expressing their preferences, however weird they may seem to others, in the open and are therefore taking actual risks. This is not merely opinionating on something that does not concern one or blogging about inconsequential things of which one has no real experience about, as Kierkegaard or Dreyfus are concerned of. Although fashion may seem a trivial way to take risk, it represents a statement of a person’s personality that says who and what a person is, which takes guts. Definitely, this is not the same anonymity, cowardice and lack of commitment that Kierkegaard associated with mere opinion-making in coffee houses and other public places or that Dreyfus attached to internet blogging and virtual-world playing. Expressing one’s self through fashion is a form of risk taking that ultimately powers and builds confidence in one’s self. Certainly not a recipe for nihilism, according to Dreyfus. References: American Music Awards 2010: Who Was Best-Dressed, 22 Nov 2010. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/22/american-music-awards-2010-ama-2010-rihanna-taylor-swift_n_786697.html#188015. Dreyfus, Hubert. On the Internet. Taylor & Francis. 2009. Ke$ha’s Hair Hits a High Note. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/19/kesha-hair_n_786096.html#s187029. Nabais, Nabais & Earl, Martin. Nietzsche and the Metaphysics of the Tragic Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006. Nietzsche, Frederick. ‘The Will to Power’ Athenaeum Library of Philosophy http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/nietzsche_wtp01.htm. Read More