Fashion and Feminism

[softgrey]

regarding wanting to be attractive...
well- the clue lies in the word...
we want to attract people...not just for sex...but for all sorts of reasons...
it's certainly better than repelling them, yes?

so- everyone wants to be attractive, for some reason or another - and i don' t think we betray feminism and women's rights by pursuing the means by which to make ourselves as attractive as we can be...

i used to think that looks were not as important as brains...
and i would down play my looks...
but experience has taught me that if you have both, you are a fool to throw one away and only use the other...
use BOTH!...if you have more to offer, then you don't have to rely so heavily on your looks and you don't have to go to the extremes that some people have to in order to attract people - ie- fake everything!
but there is nothing wrong with being attractive and being the best version of yourself, physically and is every other way...

am i babbling>?
...

oh- and i just want to say-
i do feel like gay men are running around telling women what to wear and making clothes for barbie dolls...
specifically- in the music industry...
katy perry, rihanna, lady gaga, etc...
ALL their costume stylists are gay men who dress them up like drag queens and little girls want to dress just like them for haloween, etc...

i really do wish there was more diversity in terms of fashion designers...
and i'm not just talking about race... it's everything...

 

[fashionista-ta]

Pushing someone too far and not accepting them if they don't do everything well does a lot of damage, but letting someone believe that no matter what they do they'll always be a worthless 2nd class citizen because it's in their nature, that their only purpose is to serve others and that they have no business being empowered does so much more damage in my opinion.

I agree with pe77, abuse is abuse and it's best not to try to map it on a scale.


I don't know if I'll be able to articulate this well in the context of fashion, but the importance of acceptance is something I've been giving thought to lately. I think acceptance may be just about the best thing you can do for someone ... the worst being to screw with someone in such a way as to push them off their path and to interfere with what they came here to do. There are a million ways to do that, but it's clear to me that if you simply accept someone for who and what they are, it will never happen. When you do that, it's the ultimate facilitation for another person. So in my view, failing to accept someone for who and what they are is very bad indeed.


I think it's misguided to assume that looks are the only way to attract other people. We used to have a member here, I haven't seen her post in years, but I think her name was Michelle. Her posts shed a lot of light on this topic.

 

[fashionista-ta]

This is exactly my thought.

I think people need to understand that designers, photographers and stylists, etc. within this industry simply are presenting ideas. They're just ideas. And more than that - it's a LOT of ideas, considering how much product and output is required from everyone in this industry. As a designer myself, I have to churn out tons of product, and I can assure you the last thing I'm thinking about is being dictatorial about my product being worn by everyone or that it would symbolize being "correct" by wearing it or whatever. It's simply an idea, and it's usually an idea that I've moved beyond creatively by the time the product is actually presented...on to the next!

If you think a designer's collection is somehow telling you what to wear, I can guarantee you that that is the last thing the designer is thinking or intended.

So to give this industry the power to determine your self-worth shows very weak character, to me. If anyone honestly thinks that they have to wear what a designer presents, or look exactly as a model does simply because those things exist and are presented is very, very foolish. I understand people can be and are impressionable, especially at younger ages, but I believe people are responsible for their own lives and their own happiness. Blaming others or blaming entire industries avoids the real central issue of learning to find satisfaction and happiness and validation from within yourself.

I disagree with this. There is a segment of the population (a significant one) that looks to authority of various kinds for direction. I don't think this is weakness, I think it's innate in some people. I'm sure it has evolutionary value, or it wouldn't exist. I'm sure you've been in a situation where there were 'too many chiefs' ... if so, then you understand the value of having some followers. I think anyone in a position of influence has responsibility to make that influence positive.

 

[dior_couture1245]

I disagree with this. There is a segment of the population (a significant one) that looks to authority of various kinds for direction. I don't think this is weakness, I think it's innate in some people. I'm sure it has evolutionary value, or it wouldn't exist. I'm sure you've been in a situation where there were 'too many chiefs' ... if so, then you understand the value of having some followers. I think anyone in a position of influence has responsibility to make that influence positive.

I suppose my point maybe wasn't clear or fully articulated.

Not everyone is meant to be a "leader" in that sense. What I meant was that anyone presenting their ideas will end up with followers - people that "identify" or "relate" to the product or the concept that designer is presenting. That is absolutely natural - it's the same for musicians, movie directors, authors, politicians, etc. all can amass a following.

That is very different than thinking that a designer or creator is dictating to the public what they should wear or what they should think. I always think of a designer's work as simply a proposition. A question being posed - "How about this?"

What I do disagree with, though, is about the responsibility to make their influence positive. There is simply too many interpretations of what is positive, what is meaningful, what is important and what is good for anyone to expect a designer to live up to that expectation of creative power and platform. Again, a designer or creator is simply presenting ideas...sometimes those ideas are aggressive, controversial, dark, divisive. All the better for it. If everything was "positive" we'd be living in Pleasantville - and how interesting is that? Life, and the human psyche, is far too complicated to demand positivity out of all designers and creatives. I believe a creator's sole responsibility is to create from their heart and create with integrity. That's it. If you agree with their product or philosophy - you can absolutely buy into it, literally and figuratively. And if you don't agree with it, you don't have to buy into it, literally or figuratively.

 

[fashionista-ta]

To me, creating with integrity IS creating something positive. However, something dark can be positive ... for example, a film about the Holocaust. We can't ignore the shadow. So no Pleasantville. I also see no conflict between individual vision and positivity. I would like for those who are creating to believe they are creating something positive, rather than intentionally putting something negative into the world.

The problem in my view is that, for whatever reason, designers don't really act independently. Based on your theory, there should be a huge variety of propositions to choose from. But that is far from the reality. There is some choice, but it's far more lockstep than it is endless cornucopia. Which brings me back to responsibility ...