Let’s talk about some of our fashion woes & how to fix them and much more..
By: Shreya Sinha
Our daily fashion struggles
Remember that incident where you struggled to hold your pants in place because they were too loose? Or where you couldn’t find anything to wear for a date? Have you ever worn a top or jeans and just wanted to spring out of it when the day was over because you were so suffocated wearing it? Have you ever bought a beautiful dress but you feel you’re too bloated to wear it? Or those uncomfortable heels that you thought you can pull off for hours? Or you know a fresher who showed up in sneakers for a meeting? We have all been there, isn’t it? You may have tons of clothes but you still can’t seem to find the perfect OOTD. Also we hear how women have longed for pockets in their dresses for quite some time now. All these are our everyday fashion struggles and they’re here to stay.
Where did it all begin?
There was a time, clothes were picked by our parents and the school dictated us by stipulating uniforms we had little or no choice in deciding how we wanted to present ourselves to the world but as we grew we became more and more aware of who we are and tried to reflect that through our fashion, what goes with what and what doesn’t.
Gone are the days when clothes were just meant for covering yourself or protecting yourself from the cold/ heat. Now fashion & clothing define who we are. They provide crucial introduction to the self. Haven’t you noticed that if your best friend comes over you can just have a bathrobe on and they won’t judge because they know who you are but the case is different when you have to meet a stranger or go for a date you end up with a pile of clothes and still go with the first option. Based on our backgrounds, profession and so on we’re judged, so clothes help us to correct some of the assumptions that people around us have for example, a doctor doesn’t wear rock band t-shirt, or rock band member doesn’t wear formals can be some assumptions.
Why clothes matter?
Let me interest you in an experiment conducted by a professor at Columbia Business School wherein the people were divided into 2 groups, the first one wore the doctor’s coat and the second one didn’t. These people were asked to read the words printed, regardless of the color they were printed in to study the ‘stroop effect’. It was found that the ones wearing the doctor coats performed extremely well as compared to those who didn’t. A 3rd group of people were asked to do the same but they were given the coats, saying it was a painter’s coat, so when the experiment was conducted they performed the same as the control group(the ones that didn’t wear any coats). Thus, this phenomenon is called, ‘Enclothed Cognition’, a situation where we attach certain values to clothes that we are wearing. That’s the reason why some clothes make us look extra confident and happy.
How fast fashion affects us
fashion has become a mixture between auto-pilot and assembly line.
Our wardrobes contain some of ours most carefully written-lines of our autobiography. But the careful aspect has taken a dip in the past few years because of fast fashion, too many collections a year — leading us to think that fashion is disposable. Everyone wants to make a good impression and not spend a dime which has given rise to Fast Fashion. The creative director of Louis Vuitton Vigil Abloh says, fashion has become a Mixture between auto-pilot and assembly line. Do you know the richest fashion brand? No, it isn’t any luxury brand but a fast fashion brand Zara! And the best part about Zara is that it doesn’t advertise, seems like just word of mouth is doing them wonders. Another interesting fact is — Did you know 7000 liters of water is used to make just 1 pair of jeans yes you read that right! the pair of jeans that you discard yearly consumes the amount of water sufficient for 1 person to drink for 5–6 years. While lots of things are increasing in price, clothing is actually decreasing. Since 1992 the price of clothes has gone down by 8.5% Now isn’t that something to ponder upon?
Fashion, Social media and influencers
Fashion and social media go hand in hand like a married couple, so you won’t wear an outfit that is already on your feed to another party. Speaking of social media, how can we not talk about fashion influencers & celebrities like Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics, Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, Kanye’s Yeezy, Cristiano Ronaldo’s CR7, among many others have opened their fashion line so we wanna look just like them by buying what they wear. While some of them are doing a commendable job and provide us with useful tips to style ourselves but some go off-board even what we see on fashion shows, those looks are not ‘wearable’ per se, now how would you feel if you wore a coat with tank top inside during summers of Mumbai? That would be insane. Fashion influencers and the industry as a whole must focus on reality and actual inclusion, life is not a fancy dress competition so yeah no one is going to wear that all sheer dress for an actual party.
A fix which you longed for
“No matter what, just get up, dress up and show up”
We sure did look at what all is wrong with the fashion industry but what about the fix? The simplest solution to the everyday fashion struggle is.. wardrobe organization.. yes yes you read that right. But don’t we all keep our wardrobes organized? Yes we do but its not done in a way to ensure that we can access all our clothes whenever we want. I’m sure you wear some clothes more often than the others just because the others are always out of your sight. Wardrobe Organization means to make everything you wear accessible whenever you need it and even pair things that go well so that you save time on deciding the outfit (complete look with accessories) that goes a long way in saving time everyday before a hectic work day. Now you may wonder we’re all doing work/studying from home why do we need to organize our wardrobes? Well, aas much as we love our pajamas and comfy joggers they make us lazy so we must dress as if we’re to attend the meeting/class offline so that productivity is maintained and you do justice to the quote — “No matter what, just get up, dress up and show up”
What needs to change?
We often find ourselves attaching tags of ‘too sanskari’, ‘too sexy’, ‘too prude’, ‘too tom-boyish’, ‘too girly’ to clothes we wear
While fashion struggles may seem eternal, knowing yourself that is what defines you and your style can never go out of fashion no matter what the current trend is. We must be comfortable above all, we may be owning 5–6 pairs of jeans but the one that fits us perfectly and is comfy is our favourite isn’t it? Our fashion system must match with our value system to express ourselves we shouldn’t try to be someone we’re not. There is a common misperception that we can’t look good with basics, of course we can! We just need to know what goes with what and how confident it makes us feel. We often find ourselves attaching tags of ‘too sanskari’, ‘too sexy’, ‘too prude’, ‘too tom-boyish’, ‘too girly’ to clothes we wear even if others don’t that arises because we don’t know how to define ourselves through our fashion. Let’s change that and become more aware of how to become the best versions of ourselves through FASHION.
