Stupid fashion: a dedicated rant to why I would not want to pursue this passion
Sometimes I get this cold sick feeling when I wonder if this is what I want to do. Correction- if this is what I was created to do. I was surfing a few personal fashion sites (I found a new socially responsible fashion designer! Yay. This guy uses cotton from Uganda: fair trade) and I felt this dread come upon me: the fashion world is really monotonous and there isnt much creativity in the 'Vogue World'. Sometimes I really hate the industry who claims to be all 'artistic' and on the cutting edge of design when it's really not. They all have the same celebrities plastered on their magazines around the same time depending on what movie is hot or whatever. And they're all so airbrushed and the sad thing is is that you can tell and it drives me crazy. There are stupid 'rules' according to the industry on how to dress. Such as:
1) Every girl must have a LBD in their closet (LBD= little black dress).
Why? I don't like black (except when a dress is on sale for $4. :P). I like chocolate brown.
2) You can't wear black and brown together
But one is a neutral and the other isn't even a colour.
3) You can't wear white after Labour Day
I found this one out when I got to know Allie more. I have this fall coat that's a snowy white and was wearing it and she turned around and asked me "Did you know you're not supposed to wear white after Labour Day?". No I didn't. I think white is so pretty and again, it's not a colour.
And yet we pretend that we're the most creative fashion bunch there is out there.
Anyway away with you capitalist, money-driven, American companies who try to dictate what's wrong and right! I have found a far more interesting site that allows me to see what everyone else is wearing on the other side of the ocean (Pacific that is).
When I lived in HK, I disliked anything Asian and thought the Anglo look was far superior. Now being in North America and looking for some inspiration, I found this site that snaps pictures of random pedestrians on the streets of Japan. Very interesting:
http://www.style-arena.jp
I know I've been guilty of this in the past but I really dislike it when girls put down mass produced clothing companies and those who wear those brands. I've always been monitoring a few forums and there are always a group of cocky girls who think they're above their school when it comes to clothes (ex. "Ew I hate girls who think they're so cool when they're walking down the street wearing the same Hollister shirts and Uggs."). They're always putting down people who follow trends, saying that they started off wearing/carrying a certain article of clothing or a bag and then everyone else in their school copied them and calling them low-lifes.
Yikes. And this is when I'm thinking to myself "do I really want to go into this industry.. yessss... NO."
Although I do not like certain brands such as Hollister or A&E and condone those people who wear it, they do make clothes more accessible to the public than designer boutiques who charge several times more for the same product. I just wonder why we find it acceptable (I'm speaking more specifically about people who are interested in this stuff) for someone to be carrying a huge Chanel bag with the huge 'CC' stitched on the front while it is almost a sin for someone to be wearing a tee with the word 'Roxy' splashed across the chest.
I do not, however, like it when people wear those labels for the label. Except I do that too when it comes to thrift shopping.
There has also been this 'discussion' on children clothing stores and how the goods you find there look like the mini version of adult/teen stores. Some say that 8 year old girls look up to teens and thus want to dress like them. It's not wrong. I remember going into Le Chateau and I'd wander around the store and suddenly realize that the clothes are a lot smaller. Then I see a neon sign saying "Le Chateau Kids". The stuff looks exactly the same. If I had a daughter, I do not want her to be wearing a tiny halter top at the age of 8. Abercrombie actually sold children thongs with the words 'wink wink' and 'eye candy' on them. Ai yah.
So anyway, this industry can be so brainless and shallow, I feel I'm getting sucked in with them. Some people call Marc Jacobs a genius and I'm wondering "why can't I see that?" His stuff is okay but it's not like revolutionary. What if this isn't what I want to do and is just a hobby? Lucado wrote that so many people are in the wrong career though they may make tons of money, they hate their job. That's so simplistic though because pain comes along with the pleasure of work. But how long must you endure the 'work' to get up the ladder to where you want to be? Must you enjoy every second of it? For example, I don't enjoy every minute I do art. I've often sat inside my art teacher's studio, bathed in warm sunlight with the smell of freshly baked bread wafting in from the Subway next door and feeling my eyelids slowly drooping down while my pencil is still in midair. That's when I'm thinking, "I'm so bored with this... I want to do something else. I don't want to sit here and draw."
So do I just get up and say "art is not for me. I'm bored." and just leave art and pursue something else? Or do I stay in Parsons and get through all of this and through all these lessons and dislike what I'm doing but hope that it will, in the end, get me into something that I do like? Ah I don't know.
This is so hard.
I realize I don't know myself that very well. It also makes me more aware of how I cannot depend on myself to find answers. I don't expect to do this on my own.
It's difficult to erase what you've grown up understanding. I've been very much suckered into believing that skinny is beautiful when it comes to modelling and how clothes hang. Or that beautiful is a slender nose with luscious lips, flawless skin, high cheekbones and large, wide eyes. I still think that (less of the latter now because they're all starting to look the same). And I'm trying to reformat my brain to think differently. But honestly, it's really really hard when you've been growing up surrounded by Barbie dolls and advertising.
You may not care of what is defined as beautiful according our culture's standards, but try mentally erase something that you've thought all along was right, realized it wasn't, and relearn what is correct.
And I am thoroughly disappointed by Canada's Next Top Model. Crappy winner. She looks extremly awkward and stiff and waaaay to skinny. Sad sad sad if you compare those Canadians at the top of the industry like Linda Evangelista (apparently on the new US Vogue with extremely hideous word/text crampage. Why can't Americans do it like the Italians: just have the picture and the title. Why squeeze and suffocate the life out of a beautiful photo? It makes no sense:
It's as if they didn't trust the photo to do all the speaking. They just had to stick a lot of word 'pukage'/vomit just in case you didn't want to buy the magazine for the cover shot. Word binge. Yuck. On the other hand, the one on the right is stunning. The picture is what you see first, and there is some subtle text in the corner. It allows you to breathe, to engage with the picture and just to take it in. Americans. Sigh. Click on the American one on the left. The text itself sounds absolutely shallow: 'Dress Your Age'- they have those at least twice a year. 'Red is the New black'- that is one of sayings I hate the most because it sounds really silly. Haha these magazines are also popular for having a 'Body Type Issue: how to dress according to your body shape' and last time 'short' was considered 5'6" and under. HAHA. I'm just two inches shy away from being short. I really do think they should take a look at their current staff and hire some more interesting, avant-garde people.
I like being female but there are at three days every month I wish I was a man. It sucks.
1) Every girl must have a LBD in their closet (LBD= little black dress).
Why? I don't like black (except when a dress is on sale for $4. :P). I like chocolate brown.
2) You can't wear black and brown together
But one is a neutral and the other isn't even a colour.
3) You can't wear white after Labour Day
I found this one out when I got to know Allie more. I have this fall coat that's a snowy white and was wearing it and she turned around and asked me "Did you know you're not supposed to wear white after Labour Day?". No I didn't. I think white is so pretty and again, it's not a colour.
And yet we pretend that we're the most creative fashion bunch there is out there.
Anyway away with you capitalist, money-driven, American companies who try to dictate what's wrong and right! I have found a far more interesting site that allows me to see what everyone else is wearing on the other side of the ocean (Pacific that is).
When I lived in HK, I disliked anything Asian and thought the Anglo look was far superior. Now being in North America and looking for some inspiration, I found this site that snaps pictures of random pedestrians on the streets of Japan. Very interesting:
http://www.style-arena.jp
I know I've been guilty of this in the past but I really dislike it when girls put down mass produced clothing companies and those who wear those brands. I've always been monitoring a few forums and there are always a group of cocky girls who think they're above their school when it comes to clothes (ex. "Ew I hate girls who think they're so cool when they're walking down the street wearing the same Hollister shirts and Uggs."). They're always putting down people who follow trends, saying that they started off wearing/carrying a certain article of clothing or a bag and then everyone else in their school copied them and calling them low-lifes.
Yikes. And this is when I'm thinking to myself "do I really want to go into this industry.. yessss... NO."
Although I do not like certain brands such as Hollister or A&E and condone those people who wear it, they do make clothes more accessible to the public than designer boutiques who charge several times more for the same product. I just wonder why we find it acceptable (I'm speaking more specifically about people who are interested in this stuff) for someone to be carrying a huge Chanel bag with the huge 'CC' stitched on the front while it is almost a sin for someone to be wearing a tee with the word 'Roxy' splashed across the chest.
I do not, however, like it when people wear those labels for the label. Except I do that too when it comes to thrift shopping.
There has also been this 'discussion' on children clothing stores and how the goods you find there look like the mini version of adult/teen stores. Some say that 8 year old girls look up to teens and thus want to dress like them. It's not wrong. I remember going into Le Chateau and I'd wander around the store and suddenly realize that the clothes are a lot smaller. Then I see a neon sign saying "Le Chateau Kids". The stuff looks exactly the same. If I had a daughter, I do not want her to be wearing a tiny halter top at the age of 8. Abercrombie actually sold children thongs with the words 'wink wink' and 'eye candy' on them. Ai yah.
So anyway, this industry can be so brainless and shallow, I feel I'm getting sucked in with them. Some people call Marc Jacobs a genius and I'm wondering "why can't I see that?" His stuff is okay but it's not like revolutionary. What if this isn't what I want to do and is just a hobby? Lucado wrote that so many people are in the wrong career though they may make tons of money, they hate their job. That's so simplistic though because pain comes along with the pleasure of work. But how long must you endure the 'work' to get up the ladder to where you want to be? Must you enjoy every second of it? For example, I don't enjoy every minute I do art. I've often sat inside my art teacher's studio, bathed in warm sunlight with the smell of freshly baked bread wafting in from the Subway next door and feeling my eyelids slowly drooping down while my pencil is still in midair. That's when I'm thinking, "I'm so bored with this... I want to do something else. I don't want to sit here and draw."
So do I just get up and say "art is not for me. I'm bored." and just leave art and pursue something else? Or do I stay in Parsons and get through all of this and through all these lessons and dislike what I'm doing but hope that it will, in the end, get me into something that I do like? Ah I don't know.
This is so hard.
I realize I don't know myself that very well. It also makes me more aware of how I cannot depend on myself to find answers. I don't expect to do this on my own.
It's difficult to erase what you've grown up understanding. I've been very much suckered into believing that skinny is beautiful when it comes to modelling and how clothes hang. Or that beautiful is a slender nose with luscious lips, flawless skin, high cheekbones and large, wide eyes. I still think that (less of the latter now because they're all starting to look the same). And I'm trying to reformat my brain to think differently. But honestly, it's really really hard when you've been growing up surrounded by Barbie dolls and advertising.
You may not care of what is defined as beautiful according our culture's standards, but try mentally erase something that you've thought all along was right, realized it wasn't, and relearn what is correct.
And I am thoroughly disappointed by Canada's Next Top Model. Crappy winner. She looks extremly awkward and stiff and waaaay to skinny. Sad sad sad if you compare those Canadians at the top of the industry like Linda Evangelista (apparently on the new US Vogue with extremely hideous word/text crampage. Why can't Americans do it like the Italians: just have the picture and the title. Why squeeze and suffocate the life out of a beautiful photo? It makes no sense:
It's as if they didn't trust the photo to do all the speaking. They just had to stick a lot of word 'pukage'/vomit just in case you didn't want to buy the magazine for the cover shot. Word binge. Yuck. On the other hand, the one on the right is stunning. The picture is what you see first, and there is some subtle text in the corner. It allows you to breathe, to engage with the picture and just to take it in. Americans. Sigh. Click on the American one on the left. The text itself sounds absolutely shallow: 'Dress Your Age'- they have those at least twice a year. 'Red is the New black'- that is one of sayings I hate the most because it sounds really silly. Haha these magazines are also popular for having a 'Body Type Issue: how to dress according to your body shape' and last time 'short' was considered 5'6" and under. HAHA. I'm just two inches shy away from being short. I really do think they should take a look at their current staff and hire some more interesting, avant-garde people.
I like being female but there are at three days every month I wish I was a man. It sucks.
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