Why Fashion Matters

When people find out I'm interested in fashion and pursuing a career related to it they often wonder why. Why do I waste my time with something so vain, shallow and unnecessary? These people tend to see fashion as a business and gloss over its artistic and highly psychological value. I could rant and rave on the close mindedness of this view forever, but after fighting for the importance of fashion for years now I have managed to boil the whole argument down to three key factors of why fashion matters.

1. Fashion Is The Ultimate Means of Self Expression

I, along with most people who take an interest in fashion, consider myself an artist of some sort. Why is is that the fashion-conscious are mostly a creative people? Because it is the ultimate form of self-expression. A person can try as they might to express themselves through their art, their writing, their music or dance but when it comes down to it that expression only reaches a small number of people. The most direct and effective way to express yourself is through what you wear and how your wear it. Personal style is an art form, that's why not everyone can do it well. And high fashion is art in itself, so much so that at times the wearable factor is taking completely out of the equation. There is a reason why the Met has the Costume Institute. So to those that ask "why does fashion matter?" To them I ask "why does art matter?" It simply fuels the human need to express themselves.

2. Fashion Transforms

Another reason why fashion is important is because of its ability to transform its wearer. Not only in the physical sense, with its power to create beauty and intrigue, but also to transform mental states. I won't get into the science behind color affecting mood, but even just the power of simply putting on a favorite outfit, a new pair of shoes, a particularly flattering dress. I know that when I'm feeling down I escape who I am just a little bit by trying something different with how I look. Call it what you will, but it's natural for people to feel better when they know they look good, or when they wear something that makes them happy. And when they dress the part of someone who's confident, or powerful, or sexy or smart, then it's truly the first step sometimes into embodying that spirit. The whole 80s "dress for success" movement was not a bunch of crap. The way you dress affects how you act, and it affects how people perceive you. People have a difficult time accepting that the way they're dressed can open, and close, a lot of doors. So fashion gives people a chance to grow both within themselves and out in the world around them.

3. Fashion Is Fun (Yeah, I Said It)

I'm not going to sit here and pretend that the importance and the intrigue of fashion is all based in some deep psychological roots. Fashion's primary purpose is to decorate the human body; it's meant to be fun! So I'm not quite sure why people attack it so much as opposed to all the other forms of entertainment people have developed. Fashion is an escape, it's dress up. In all of life's seriousness fashion is an outlet to smile. Sometimes the only reason I'm looking forward to a day is because of the outfit I have planned to wear for it. It's a game to play; what outfit suits which occasion best? What character am I going to play today? Whether it's the fantasy of flipping through fashion magazines, the guilty pleasure of tearing apart everyone else's fashion choices or the simple joy of getting dressed in the morning it really all comes down to the fact that people like fashion because it's fun and exciting.

It has always baffled me why people have developed such a stigma against fashion. People think they're too good for it (listen up: I hate to report, but anti-fashion is, in fact, a fashion statement) , they think it's a blight on our society. And when all is said and done, when my face is blue trying to argue in the name of fashionistas everywhere, I just have to shrug my shoulders and say "lighten up, it's just fashion."