As with any hobby/interest, there are always established hierarchies of awe that are instilled into us regarding insider figures. In the case of fashion, this is probably even more exaggerated. Let me rewind. So I’m 12 yrs old having spent all my Chinese New Year’s lucky money on amateurish books about fashion sketching and having read up every crusty fashion history books there are and I’m in awe of Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. The biggies. My knowledge of fashion is pretty much shallow if not non-existent but it is when I first discover the mysticism of fashion and the I get the feeling that there are ‘closed doors’ in this industry. I then shelve the idea of becoming a designer and throw my head into the ‘academic’ stuff that I’m on familiar territory with.
Fast forward to when I’m 17. I’m now buying all the glossies and fashion tomes like there’s no tomorrow. The people I read about are fully instilled as awesome figures in my mind, overly statuesque even. I gorge on interviews with designers and photographers and when there are rare interviews with the top notch editors/stylists, I practically ravage them. It’s the art of fashion that I’m obsessed with. What sort of an effect these clothes are having on the wearer. What the designers studios might look like. What working at a magazine might be like. What’s going on behind the scenes of the clothes. What do the clothes actually look/feel like in person. The awe factor has set upon me regarding fashion.
Then at 22, the reason why I started Style Bubble was because of this awe. Some people may read this blog and think ‘My my this is someone who doesn’t really understand the ins and outs of the industry’ and it is true that ,my writing has been described as rather ‘child-like’ and ‘pure’ (this is both a criticism and a compliment…).
Besides the ACTUAL clothes though, which is ‘apparently’ what fashion centres around (though I’m inclined to believe otherwise sometimes…), other paraphanalia forms a protocol behind the fashion ‘industry’ - attending fashion shows, the after parties, press discounts, press days, goodie bags, PR’s press releases, the coaxing ‘you-scratch-back-I’ll-scratch-your’s’ attitude that exists in fashion. This was all completely alien to me up until recently since I started writing Style Bubble and gradually, the mystique and enclosed world of the fashion industry opens up a little and I end up taking a peek inside.
I used to post on an obsessive basis on the forum The Fashion Spot for a good few years (sadly I’m so bogged down with the blog, I’m rather inactive these days…), and I notice that the awe of fashion is everywhere. Especially for those who aren’t in the industry Members would write about what they would give to see a show, congratulating people for ’spotting’ a model/designer and basically wanting to know as much insider information as possible. I’m not ashamed to own up to this sort of awe that hopefully will probably remain with me.
As fashion becomes less insular and closed-up going into the 21st century and as I’ve begun to step slowly inside those industry circles, I’m saddened to discover that there exists people who are so jaded by fashion that their attitude seems bored and cold. That people seem to be at shows to scoop up goody bags or to bump into the ‘right’ people to make the ‘right’ connections’ as opposed to the actually looking at the clothes. My excitement about clothes to some seems amateur and green and perhaps that is true. Perhaps to some, I will seem incredibly uncool and disctinctly UN-fashionable for getting excited about meeting designers, seeing their work, reading their biogs/press releases, seeing their shows as I treat these as privileges not obligations. My awe is still there and I’m continually fascinated by what fashion is creating/showing and of course even more interested in the effect of all of this on what we, the consumers actually wear I gush about things because it’s all genuine gushing and I don’t say things to illicit a favour in return.
This is supposed to act as a little ‘end of 2007′ note similar to the one I wrote about internet fame last year so what I’m really trying to say is that the awe factor with regards to fashion, going into 2008, is still very much there and I’m not going to say otherwise. No, you won’t find me shooting ‘vole stoat’ bored looks at fashion events. No, you won’t find me moaning that there isn’t enough champagne at such and such a party. No, you won’t find me bitching that I didn’t get such and such a seat at a show. At the end of the day, I’m grateful for opportunities, invitations and realising that nothing is a RIGHT of mine to take. Whilst my original statement regarding this blog is that I’m a fashion outsider commenting on the inside - that statement is still true in the sense that though I am getting the chance to see the inside fashion world, my outlook is still very much that of an outsider, of someone on the periphery. Maybe it’s because of my very strong sense of awe.
Source: The Awe Factor
