When you see those supermodels walk down the runway
in blouses unbuttoned to the waist, or in shoes looking like anything
but shoes, you know that somewhere in fashion history something must
have gone wrong. And as you flip through today’s women’s glossy
magazines to reveal pages and pages of girls (and guys) looking stoned
or sexually charged, you know that something’s definitely wrong. What’s
ironic is that all the hype makes the whole thing look perfectly all
right.
A bit of history
Fashion
shows have been around for ages. But it was originally the designers’
salons that served as “catwalks” twice a year for the big seasons, as
well as a few times in between for other collections. Designers invited
buyers to these presentations where models simply wore the clothes for
the guests to see before these were released in the stores (much like
today’s exclusive movie premieres). Fashion then was already big
business, but kept to a simple affair.
Then
in the 1970s all that changed. Some guy decided to be different and
presented his collection onstage. What was simply a change of venue
turned into a radical alteration of the whole concept of the fashion
show. For along with the stage came the pageantry, the flamboyance and
the circus-like atmosphere characteristic of today’s runway
presentations. These elements were inevitable for designers who wanted
to show their work to full advantage, since mounted in a big stage, the
clothes were too small, plain and unnoticeable. Thus emerged the
outlandish hairdos, the gigantic hats and other attention-grabbing
props; then later it was “deemed necessary” to unbutton buttons and
unzip zippers to bare bosoms, expose derrieres—in other words, to use
more flesh than fabric—in successfully presenting the clothes to the
public. This is what has come to dominate the shows in every fashion
capital from Milan to New York, indicating the “progress” that has taken place in the world of fashion.
Behind the scenes
This
obsession with getting everybody’s attention is all about attracting
the market and the media, so what better way to do it than exaggerate or
go to extremes, right? If attention is what the industry is after, it’s
got it, but unwittingly, it traded off much more for that. The face of
fashion has evolved into something other than more spectacular. For
Grace Mirabella, a Vogue editor-in-chief for 17 years and founder and director of Mirabella
magazine (another monthly glossy), the shift from the salon to the
runway marked the beginning of the downfall of the fashion industry. And
in 1995, the downfall became apparent: sales around the world just
dropped. The reason? Designers were coming out with increasingly
ridiculous things (read: unwearable) and stamping these with sky-high
prices. Like how ridiculous? Try aluminum pants, plastic gowns, sequined
underwear or miniskirts that look more like wide belts. And how
expensive? Well, you wouldn’t believe it anyway. What’s more, by 1995,
trends changed too fast for people to keep up with (who would want to
buy a tight-fitting killer-collared satin blouse when the ‘in’ thing
after six months would be preppy loose cottons that would make you look
like you’re stuck in the ‘70s in your killer collars?).
Here’s
a secret that you probably knew all along but didn’t bother thinking
about anyway: all this obsession with fashion is fueled basically by two
things—industries that are focused on money-making, and consumers
(that’s you) who are too gullible. A Claudia Schiffer, therefore,
donning an elaborate 5-pound headdress on the Milan
runway, or a half-naked Kate Moss in spaced-out makeup in the
fall/winter collections, is part of the continuous attempt to attract
the media and ensure maximum exposure.
For
the jaded and sometimes unthinking press, such shocking events are the
new and spectacular materials it looks for. The result: a
much-publicized fashion event (where ironically, the weird outfits get
the most attention) and, hopefully, whopping sales. Well, admit it.
Aren’t photos of men and women in sassy clothing—especially those
striking provocative poses—just a little too hard to resist and
extremely easy to remember? Any normal human being’s attention is
initially drawn to the out-of-the-ordinary, so that’s good news for you
(you’re normal after all). The problem is that some people are using
this natural tendency for their own money-making purposes at the expense
of society’s sensibilities. And most of society don’t even have a clue
that their whole value system is gradually being altered.
From the pages to the person’s psyche
So maybe most of us don’t care about the Paris
runways or what Jil Sander or Miuccia Prada are up to halfway across
the globe. Or maybe you haven’t even heard of these people which doesn’t
really matter because their merchandise is way too expensive for most
people anyway. However, be convinced that what many acquire are the attitudes
that fashion promotion dictates on an impressionable society like
ours—a society that usually accepts and imitates whatever comes from
Western shores.
Sad to say, the average
women’s magazine has stopped thinking about the woman and her real
needs. It has instead focused on what will make her buy,
at all costs. On the same line, many designers and other fashion
practitioners have stopped making the woman beautiful, judging from the
flamboyance and frivolity pervading the shows. Especially in the past
several years when shades of androgyny and suggestions of homo-eroticism
have been penetrating mainstream fashion, looks and entire concepts
that affirm femininity have become sparse.
With the fashion industry and the concept of beauty in such a state, it has become harder to remember that a
piece of clothing exists for the
wearer—not the other way around. Fashion is created
for
the person and so must revolve around the person. Think about it: when a
female model shows up in a flimsy dress, what do you see? A dress put
on display by a walking mannequin? A dress that just happens to have a
body underneath it? Or a gorgeous body wearing a dress? Whether it’s the
first, second or third you choose, you’ve unfortunately fallen into the
trap of putting the model on the same level as an object (a mannequin, a
hanger with breasts and legs, whatever), the job of which is to make
clothing look good. Well, it
is easy to forget that
those ‘walking mannequins’ are actually not mannequins; neither are they
merely flesh and bones (gorgeous flesh and bones for some) but flesh
and bones—body—and soul. Hence, those bodies with souls (gorgeous or
not) are infinitely more important than the silkiest silk and the most
brilliant designs draped over them.
When
you see those supermodels walk down the runway in blouses unbuttoned to
the waist, or those girls and guys on magazine pages looking stoned or
sexually charged, you know it’s only hype. Fashion sense and attitude
dictated by them can be merely products of big-time money-making.
Fashion sense and attitude without the hype, on the other hand, is the
real thing.
So, what’s your idea of fashion?
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Woman Today magazine
October 1998
