Can fashion be more than frivolous?

 

When I raise this question, perhaps the first thing that comes to your mind is sustainable clothing, eco-friendly attire that is a way of giving back to Mother Earth. I am addressing a different aspect, read on.

For a long time, the connotation of fashion was propagated by media; that it is about you, clothing and accessories that make you a larger person that what you think yourself to be. Fashion thus helped one to embody oneself into a role – as a home maker, a working woman, a religious leader, a politician. It is almost as if fashion helped create ‘uniforms’ for professions, vocations and walks of life! (You can see a visually rich narrative of this thought in https://youtu.be/b8fsap7xQuQ?si=4F7T1i1hVCADy8gx)

So, the question is, can we move away from the concept of fashion being a self-esteem and image booster? Can it go beyond proclaiming who you are?

There is a trend of celebrities acknowledging their hair dressers, their make-up artists etc. Similarly, should we not become conscious of the people that helped to shape our images, our clothing? So many pairs of hands are involved in the creation and reaching of an item of clothing to you. If you take a woman’s undergarment, there is the lace maker, the manufacturer of the elastic, the pattern maker, the person manning the special machines for cutting, and so on. (You can view this journey of a piece of clothing at https://youtu.be/b8fsap7xQuQ)

Now, let us ponder. When a product is bought on sale, surely most elements in the value chain of the making of the garment would be impacted? Unless each of the hands involved gets its due, is the garment sustainable?

We understand intuitively the value of home cooked meals: “I cannot eat all my meals ordered in from a delivery platform, my body will soon revolt.” Unfortunately, in fashion, there is no immediate bodily reaction when we do something unsustainable. It is up to us to deeply introspect and make a change.  

- Rama 

 

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