The glamorous world of glossy magazines and celebrity designers makes fashion feel like fun, whilst dictating what is in or out, what is hot or not, explaining to us in colorful detail all of the current must haves, and the no-goes.
Fashion dictates act as social norms most
of us try very hard to comply with, in order to belong to the in crowd.
We all want to be invited to the party,
and the fashion gurus will tell us what we need to buy, be and do, in order to
make the list.
The fashion industry essentially caters to
our need for social acceptance, inclusion, safety and survival, whilst at the
same time providing us with a sense of orientation and direction, a way for us
to navigate the minefields of the social context we live in.
Fashion will even
help us to define our own identity, maybe as a Cosmo-girl, an Armani-guy, or
would you prefer to be a sophisticated Prada-lady?
Fashion does an incredible job at pleasing
the masses, providing a sensation of freshness and novelty through the updated
styles, designs and color schemes the industry propagates every season, along with the
perfect excuse for us to shop until we drop, feathering our nest with fun new
things, activating our feel-good hormones, whilst keeping us temporarily amused
and distracted.
Fashion provides a feel-good factor, whilst
the shopping fix lasts, making sure we are supported by our local dealers with
fix after fix, keeping us happy in a permanent fashion high.
Most major media companies support this
fun factor by cooperating closely with the fashion police, catching fashion
offenders red-handed and exposing their crimes publicly, whilst providing us
with perfect examples and photoshopped images of celebrities doing the right
thing. The industry knows that fashion addicts respond well to social
conditioning and mind-control.
Fashion provides a relatively safe way of
having fun, as long as you comply and fit in.
Fashion is even more fun, when you get to
create and dictate the norms, I am sure.
As Coco Chanel said:
“I don’t do fashion. I am fashion.”
The high priests of fashion wield an
incredible amount of power and influence, not just within their own business empires.
Their social impact is often world-wide, affecting more than just how we dress
and paint ourselves. The media and marketing specialists make sure the fashion
industry continues to make more money by ensuring that you and I toe the line.
However, if you scratch the surface of
this glossy industry, you may find there is nothing beneath it. It is in many
respects purely superficial, devoid of meaning or substance, keeping us in a permanent
high, but never providing us with any true, lasting sense of satisfaction.
We are conditioned to live from one fix to
the next, in order to forget the pain caused by the hole in our soul.
Interestingly, it seems that when we allow
inner healing to take place and become whole, we no longer need the fashion
fix. Making our own choices and becoming true to ourselves provides a much
richer, more fulfilling life-experience than what fashion has to offer. Coco
Chanel nailed it when she said, “beauty begins the moment you decide to be
yourself.”
This unique, individual, personal type of
beauty emanates a powerful sense of grace, poise, style, inner calm, and an
irresistible attractiveness. Such elegant beauty emerges when individuals take back
ownership of their lives and make healthy decisions on a daily basis. The
fashion industry may try to persuade you not to go down this route, threatening
to excommunicate you, if you do.
Elegance would invite you to take back
control and get in the driver’s seat.
As Isabella Rossellini said: “Elegance is
the manifestation of an independent mind.”