“Fashion
Noun: A popular or the latest style of clothing, hair, decoration, or behaviour”
As you would expect, as a designer, I am often asked by clients and friends what is currently fashionable or on trend. “Is it in fashion?” or “would it be fashionable to...?” In fact, it happened again earlier today prompting this piece. The internet and media is flooded with talk and images of "fashion/fashionable items/fashionable behaviour" but we rarely address the question… What really is it, and why does it matter so much to people?
“Fashion” is a term which is thrown around a lot, and has been ever since the birth of the designed and marketed product. It refers to the popularity and desirability of something within a time frame, however long that might be! It refers to many things and increasingly something which the modern day consumer is concerned with, or very often… Consumed with. Pun intended.
If we were playing the word association game and I said “fashion”, the immediate response for most people would be “clothes” or something relating to the clothing and fashion design industry. This is however a tiny piece in a very big picture.
We all know and understand the reason why most people living in the developed, media-driven world want to comply with and be part of ‘fashion’ to a certain degree. We want to feel that we belong, to display to others that we are relevant, that we are actively in tune with, and understand what is going on around us.
No one would purposely aim to appear detached in terms of their tastes or ideas, unless the aim is to be ridiculed. In recent years, social media especially has propelled this need to be validated, relevant, popular and accepted by our peers to almost obsessive levels. To some people it is all which seems to matter in their life. Their day is a series of photo opportunities to display to the world that their choices and lifestyle are relevant, fashionable and in-line with any latest trend, whether that be their holiday location, nail colour or lavish new purchase.
To some of us, fashion is of such importance that to permanently mark our skin with tattoos in the name of fashion is now considered by many as the norm. Whether permanently branding yourself with something which is by definition ‘of its time’ is a good idea or not, I'll leave to your own subjective opinion!
At the opposite end of the spectrum, there are those among us who would claim to take no notice of fashion or simply have no idea what is currently in fashion. I would possibly suggest those people are stubbornly ignoring it for fear of change, refusal to fit in or to not be seen as a 'sucker' (fashion victim). Let's be honest, it's a moot point and they're doing the proverbial into the wind. You can't not buy anything!
To put it one way, fashion is an all-encompassing, consumer retail-driven 'thing' which touches and penetrates everything whether it be consciously or subconsciously. There is no ignoring it or getting away from it. It controls opinions on the world around you, the adverts you watch, every product you buy, the car you drive, the clothes you wear, the places you go, the music you listen to, the architecture of the building you’re sitting in, how you trim your body hair!… You get the idea.
The birth of the mass produced consumer product can possibly be traced back to Henry Ford's invention of the first mechanical production line in 1908. You could argue this was the single biggest leap in shaping design, retail and manufacture forever.
Nothing in consumerism or industry is left to chance. None of it is organic, things don’t just happen to become fashionable. In nearly all cases, it is worked out in conjunction with the forecasted economic climate, market research, projected consumer patterns, planned introduction of technology, testing and development and so on…
Sometimes underground fashions and cultures (ironically intended to go against the grain) will infiltrate mainstream design and become the norm, for example custom coloured wheels on cars. The only option used to be silver until manufacturers realised the demand for other options via the 'modding' culture and now most will offer it as an option in the brochure. Simple supply on demand.
We are, in effect, told (or at least strongly suggested to) what we will deem as fashionable and desirable. We are manipulated whether we are aware of the fact or not. Most lifestyle choices are not a completely free choice, we only choose from the options presented to us. Everything is linked, developed, planned months and years in advance. Clothing fashion houses tell us what will be in fashion in spring, during the previous autumn. We didn't have any say in that but we'll accept it and buy it whether it suits us or not.
For example: It is not by chance that white coloured products became fashionable in recent years (cars, watches, gadgets, accessories, electronics). We didn't decide that we suddenly wanted white products and demanded them, we were told that white products are the thing to have via the media, paid-off magazine editorials and marketing and we buy it. Not only do we believe it but we believe it was our own free choice to like it because it speaks to us and says something about us. We go along with it to appear relevant and validate our position as 'fashion aware'. Grown men who would previously never be seen dead with a white phone, suddenly via the ‘drip, drip, drip’ effect of the media, now consciously want them.
Fashion is the basis on which to sell products. It’s necessary for manufacturers and retailers to create a lifestyle image choice to sell products, in fact it’s a vital part of industry. It keeps things fluidly moving forward, ensuring something doesn't outlive its shelf life and keeps the consumer hungry for the next best thing. For an economy like the UK which relies almost entirely on retail, fashion is its lifeblood.
For a designer, to follow fashion and copy something out of admiration or necessity to appear fashion conscious takes minimal talent, but to create something original which commands the admiration of others is another thing entirely. The majority of ‘designers’ do the former, but to do the latter takes courage and self-belief (sometimes bordering on arrogance) that your ideas transcend fashion and are desirable regardless of shelf-life. This is a rarity but these are the people who push things forward.
This, for me, is the challenge of design, to strike a healthy balance between the two. To offer the client something which references current trends and/or history just enough for them to easily associate with it and find some familiarity, while presenting them with something which they haven’t necessarily seen or experienced before. It's a clever balancing act.
In my opinion, nothing truly great or iconic ever came from reacting to a fashion or trend set by someone else. No one ever followed to greatness. Steve Jobs is the obvious, popular modern day example of a man who identified and predicted future lifestyle trends and fashions with enough belief and conviction that others followed. Of course it is not always possible to pioneer or offer something radically new because people aren't ready for it and can’t associate with it on a personal level. It is possible to have a truly wonderful idea which fails because it’s just too far ahead of fashion and just doesn't fit with a person's current lifestyle.
I always urge clients to take into account their own identity, personality and what makes them special before they start bending over backward to meet fashion, seeking the approval of the masses.
As a public-facing business owner, for example, if you focus only on what client expectation is and what’s in fashion right now, you’re immediately giving yourself a shelf life. You’re offering the public a popular but repeated formula which will only hold their attention until the next new, slightly more fashionable venue opens just around the corner. Your business model might last three to five years at the most, then what? You’re repeating and reinvesting every few years, clawing away to keep up with the new trend whilst never building a lasting, recognisable brand of your own. The most successful businesses I know, are successful because they haven't limited their model to fashion. They are not, and will never be 'stuck in a moment'.
Very few business owners or entrepreneurs can remain fashionable and relevant while offering something individual with their own stamp on it. That is where a true designer earns their money and that is why we are employed… We get to the root of your business and who you are, the essence of what makes you individual, and package it in a relevant, desirable way to the public.
The same applies with your own home: To copy and be fashionable to gain compliments from your visitors is easy. To be fashionable and yet original takes a lot more, and again the reason good designers are in demand.
My point with all this? Regardless of who you are or what you do, It is vital to be relevant and offer something which is currently desirable in this climate because at the end of the day we are all selling. We’re either selling a product, an idea or ourselves, without exception. If you don't believe me, show up to a job interview and express unfashionable views, opinions and dress sense and see how successful you are...
As a slight contradiction, it is however just as important to find the balance, never be afraid to discard and side-step fashion if you want people to pay attention or if you want to achieve anything long-lasting and of genuine recognition. Always aim to create and lead, not follow and imitate as is all too often the case.
Maybe I should alter the definition I started with:
“Fashion
Noun: The language of making money from those who are happy to follow and adopt a given identity or lifestyle choice which is presented to them as being desirable.”
Paul Hancock
(Founder/Director)
