Morals

I think that the best word to describe my view towards fashion is ambivalence. On the one hand, I love it. I love dressing up, I love expressing my mood with what I wear, I love the endless options and varieties, I love matching things together, I love guessing people's personalities according to what they wear, and I love the feeling of excitement when I buy something new.

On the other hand, I despise the fashion industry. A slim model walking on impossible heals, snobby and alienated society, and abusive behavior towards enthusiastic new blood are some of the things I resent. I keep on wondering whether the attitude carried by the people of the industry- is what makes it what it is- glamours, harsh and unattainable.

This 'split personality' of mine, which admires beautiful and fashionable artifacts, but is also repulsed by the worship of it, is torn, trying to find a way to live with the contradiction.

Speaking of fashion....

I was on my way out from the library when i accidentally noticed 'Cleavage', a book by Wayne Koestenbaum, which I have decided to borrow without even reading its description. In his book (which I haven't finished reading yet) Koestenbaum is giving great attention to people appearances, and what it communicates. The book is a collection of fun essays, which gives an interesting view on material culture.

In his essay 'Thrifting", Koestenbaum is writing a few stories about pieces of clothing, and in the end he is giving a list of morals he got from the stories:

"wear what you want; don't let designers bully you; visit flea markets to create trends of your own; don't be afraid of the return of the repressed; wash your vintage items so they don't stink; think of the concept that you are dressing towards (French sailor during Fleet Week); don't be afraid to abandon a favorite color; dress either to be noticed or overlooked, but not both; ignore what friends tell you; if your not bald, keep your hair clean; stand up straight, or, if you can pull it off, slouch; when someone, even if that someone is your mother, gets remarried, wear a thrift-store item to the wedding; observe no proprieties; cross-dress at whim; create private mythologies around each garment you wear; tell these myths to your friends and lovers; dress down or dress up but not both at once; donate; do not condemn the garments of passerby, lest you be harshly judged; admire relentlessly, lest your spirit's springs dry up; choose a fetish (high heels) and stick to it; don't weep when a garment's life is over; say proper good-bye to every garment so that when it's dead you won't regret what was left unsaid; remember that garment have as much soul as you do; respect the genus locii of shoes; worship at the shrine of no one else's wardrobe, only your own; say a fashion pray everyday before falling asleep, lest you wake up without a style; everyday reevaluate the distance between the grotesque and the beautiful; do not fear the grotesque, lest it kidnap you; love the garment for its insufficiencies as well as its strengths; do unto your garments as you would have them do unto you." (Wayne Koestenbaum/ Cleavage- essays on sex, stars and aesthetics/ 2000)

I agree with most of the morals in the list- but not all of them. I guess what i like about it so much- is that it makes me wonder about the important of artifacts in our modern life style.