Can you get rid of your entire wardrobe and just keep a few essential things? You need to start rejecting by cleaning up your stuff. There is a difference between style and fashion.
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Reject fashion? Why? Surely fashion is a positive thing that brightens up our otherwise dull lives with frivolous fancy, and self expression? It’s a creative force that is an important part of our culture, which renews our vision and connects us with the zeitgeist. That’s what I used to think, with good reason to - it gave me status and money.
I can now see that I have been raised in a culture where a dominating influence teaches us from an early age to overlook & reject precious and beneficial aspects of life for the empty folly of fashion. All my life these empty values have be pushed upon me - even by my family & friends. We are almost constantly being presented with this stuff. And not once can I remember anyone ever speaking out against it, or trying to protect me from its influence. Who can blame me for believing in fashion and for actively promoting it?
To try and reject fashion is to embrace freedom – mental, physical and freedom of vision.
Join me,! It feels really good.
Karl
In reply to KaWai:
I can still wear the clothes which aren't clearly of fashion - surprising how things adapt, depending how you mix it. Had to get rid of quite alot though. Very liberating.
Style is a personal thing - it comes from your personality. Fashion comes from fashion and only serves itself.
The consumer industry create new products to keep the money coming, and advertisers make you think you can't live without the latest i-pod, and the latest this or that. We need to have a clear sense of who we are in order to not be slaves to products.
In reply to KaWai:
That is true.
The best way I can think of to help get a clear sense of who we are is to attempt to reject fashion. Through this process I have learned so much. Just try it for a day and see where it leads you.
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You know Karl ... I was thinking... must something be rejected in order to find the balance ?... For instance if you love eating delicious and seductive rich pastry as often as you wish .... then the pastry will certainly be eating you and that is definitely unhealthy because is bad for your body ..... But were you to eat the same delicious pastries sensibly ... you can then still enjoy such devilish delights and be healthy !! ... I hope so anyway :):) ... I believe to be the same with FASHION ...the problem is not always fashion but the wearer who perhaps creates the problem if his/ her values or real needs are not sorted out .... and if he or she hasn't a very clear view of what really matters ... in the end !
I absolutely love FASHION because it is theater and for its endless fantastic creativity and the vibrant energy it generates.....I believe that PERSONAL STYLE is far more important than FASHION and you can create your own style without having to become totally absorbed or obsessed with what is IN or what is OUT ! ... but then again the condition must surely be that you are pretty sure of yourself and with the feet on the ground in order not to allow yourself to become embroiled in the 'spider's web' of fashion just for the sake of fashion...
The fact that you have come to realise that certain values are of far greater importance that tells me that you are 'liberated' and that you can and should be in control .... so why not keep enjoying the delights of fashion feel good about yourself and in total style ! ... then , in my personal opinion, that is then when FASHION becomes truly enjoyable and fun :) ....
Fashion can be used as a barometer but it doesn't need to be your final destination and get totally lost in the way ........ :):):
In reply to Galileo's Universe:
But it is not about obtaining a balance. As I have come to understand, the real, essential values of fashion are not values I wish to be influenced by. Fashion uses and discards and wastes, regardless of any intrinsic qualities something has, or has not got.
The act of attempting to reject the influence of fashion has shown me things I would not otherwise have seen. I have learned so much from this experience and it has been greatly rewarding.
Of course you are right to believe that personal style, creativity and expression are more important than fashion. But it is precisely these things that the essential nature of fashion supresses.
In reply to Karl Fuler:
I quote...' But it is precisely these things that the essential nature of fashion supresses ' ..partially true I would say .... but again that depends on how you look at it... how can I put it ?... I'll try....
Fashion is not just 'fashion' anymore .... the soul was 'killed' by the ' devil$ ' , so to speak, when the 'devil$' saw the chance .... what we have today is the body that has been constantly modified and manipulated according to the wishes of the dear old clever ' devil$' ... but the 'soul' which I too would call ' style, creativity and expression ' plus originality ... that is something that hasn't totally died, it cannot die ... it is there still, it has been kept alive by those who will not be defeated and still believe in those qualities ... the problem is that it is kept.... 'underground' .... and as I see it with the way things are going today the 'devi$' is somehow ... slowly... loosing its grip by the change of circumstances and rules of the game in a favourable way. We are becoming more conscious about everything around us and that includes FASHION.... and that means , I believe, ... giving back the 'soul' to its body ... going back to basics and then I hope people will realise that quality is what matters and not quantity ! ... simply because ... QUALITY is the future - quality in design ... quality in aesthetics with a purpose ... suddenly ideals are gaining territory back .. that's the following turn in the quest for a better and viable future ........I believe that anyway ....
In reply to Galileo's Universe:
Look at TOpshop. How many looks it comes out in a season? The fashion industry is different than fashion and style-the industry is about trying to make you think you need what they are offering, and then you need some more-it never ends, it's about profit margin. Unfortunately, I don't think the future is about quality, look at H&M and Topshop. THey are about the quickest turnarounds of looks. THe whole fashion industry has to change the way it produces and create, we need more and more independant fashion designers, more small boutiques that sell one of a kind stuff, more independant thinkers and not more usual business people to do the same old usual ways. We can't keep mass producing, we don't have the natural resources, and we have exhausted every inch of the planet as we speak.
In reply to Galileo's Universe:
It appears that we both want to see the situation change in the same way but we both have very different ideas of what fashion is. How I see it is that there is style and art and creativity, and originality, and whatever else, and then there is fashion. Fashion is not made up of these things, fashion is something separate. It is just a code that is followed. Fashion is a phenomenon that has evolved within human society which applies or removes status value to.. .. anything. Of course money is going to play a big part in fashion, as it is the ideal device to charge its system.
It is my opinion that the only solution to this 'problem' lies with the individual, to change their own views and attitudes towards fashion and to see it for what is really is.