Part 1. The Complete and Utter Pointlessness of Fashion

recreated color plate from Albert Racinet’s History of World Costume

The change of dress from season to season to suit the spirit of the times, the ebb tide of trends, the markers classifying us into the worlds of cool we belong to (or wish we belonged to, or especially do not belong to). Fashion is the game and while many of us might loathe it, it has cemented itself in both our culture and our own personal conceptions of identity. Clothes are not mere extensions of our bodies—more troublesome actually—they are expressions (conscious or subconscious) of who we are, at least who we think we are… for everyone to see, literally worn on the sleeve.

Fashion as we know it today was originally a luxury sport engaged in by only the extremely wealthy. The latest looks, wigs, boots, rings, make-up, trims, ribbons, poses, and other accouterments become folly for the deeply pocketed who used their show of excess to cement their status and to make the hurdle even higher for those who wished to make the jump to high society. It’s not that peasants and proletariats didn’t have their own trends, but practicality and economy were more urgent priorities. The industrial age was the Pandora’s box and as Singer sewing machines, computerized looms, department stores, and mail-order catalogs made clothes easier to produce and much easier to buy it was not long before the once exclusive cultural value disseminated to the masses. And from there begins the fallacy (or hilarity) of democratic fashion.

Wall Street Journal fashion reporter Terri Agins highlighted the effects of mass marketing in her book “The End of Fashion.” She details how designer names became household names; how brands that once sold their wares to the select rich found a way to get their hands into the coffers of the indiscriminate poor. And of course it didn’t help that the late 20th century saw a complete and total end to the sartorial codes of status and class as every youth, sub, and degenerate culture found its own meaning and voice—its own valid message, a recognized mainstream appeal. It enabled everyone and anyone with the raised expectation of fashion.

For the past 10 years we have seen fashion swell and cannibalize the exclusivity the industry once thrived on, becoming a farce as the aura and mystery that fuels reality television, celebrity clothing lines, and fast fashion retailers dissolve. This erosion is endemic to all tiers of the industry. The top names, most of which are owned by the same 3-4 conglomerates, are not without their own buck-earning tricks and schemes. The only difference between a $3,000 and a $30 frock is an uneducated consumer; but who really sews these days anyway? Of course well made luxury clothes are still out there, but with so much dross shoved in our faces, distracting us with gimmicks and advertising campaigns, who takes the time to notice?

Do you really need those $600 plastic sunglasses? Four seasons of advertising in every other magazine you’ve casually flipped through will convince you that you do. If you’re not buying for quality or craft, if it’s not for fit, if you’re not buying because of your individual taste, what are you buying?

Vintage clothing had its moment, grunge made a comeback, the 80’s are back in a big way, the 70’s linger, 60’s mod is here to stay, the early 90’s are on the cusp of an enormous revival, the 50’s, the 40’s, the 30’s, the 20’s, goth, punk, fly boy, fly girl, nerd chic, preppy, Mad Men, hood rat, vagabond, rock and roll, hipsters, aviation, military, dandies, gangstas, cowboys, Lolita, bikers, hunters, pirates, hobos— endless lists of references that have been used and abused for the past 10 to 15 years, their meanings emptied. The fashion game is seemingly inescapable but it has become so convoluted that the signifiers in our clothes are unintelligible. Anything goes, oh?

What is the meaning of high-end designer clothes that will either fall apart or be copied and sold at a fraction of the price within weeks? What is the meaning of your dark depressed soul when you can buy its outward incarnation, head to toe, from either Rick Owens or Hot Topic? Pick your poison because next season it will all change, yet stay exactly the same.

Jeremy Lewis manages and edits Nueve Musas, a fashion blog for progressive discourse and lateral thinking.

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