Fashion Isn’t Shallow. It’s just Shallow…
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My sister twittered awhile back about reading American Psycho
Nonetheless, we were still US American, and no matter where we turned our attention, there was always some significant advertising medium influencing our tastes. While I then and now still pursue fashion without pursuing brand, my sister is just as much brand aware as I am but her brand awareness is much more in the realm of science fiction and comic book publishing. DC and Marvel are her great influencers for good or ill the way Lane Bryant and Torrid are my current brand influences.
Fashion in the United States gets a bad rap that individuals with interest in fashion have done much to earn. Having spoken with fashionistas both in the US and abroad, the level of interest in fashion from individuals who care for fashion both as an art form and as a courier service of themselves to the world is pretty consistent – and is not the mind numbingly shallow thing that it is presented as.
Yes, it’s a convenient stereotype: teen girl/adult woman devours endless empty-headedness of magazines like Vogue and is herself an empty-headed drone rattling off brands as a chant of allegiance in the place of individual thought and style. Frankly, that’s the goal of Vogue and Vogue-like creations these days.
But the reality is different and subtle. Fashion is its own language, and the type of style a person chooses is much like taking on an accent or dialect. It’s one of the reasons I’ve taken up the banner of plus size clothing: we are not the trash of the fashion world, despite spoken and unspoken attitudes that we are.
Here are some examples of how fashion does make a difference. Some of it is rotten and seemingly shallow, but there’s a bigger picture afoot.
- Women are more likely to receive good service in department stores if wearing expensive shoes. If you want to see a great example of how your shoes betell your status, watch The Breakfast Club
While my classmates thought our sociology teacher was nuts, I thought she was on to something when she paused in the scene of them running down the hallways where the camera focused on their shoes.
- Manicures also make a difference in a much more silent way. I used to work with a woman who was an absolute slob in the way she dressed – but her nails were always perfectly manicured. I quickly realized that hands were the modicum of our office, where clean, perfect hands and nails somehow bespoke higher quality work. I didn’t start having trouble until one day when I went in with raggedy cuticles and couldn’t find my in-office beauty fix kit.
- Your clothing choices to actively indicate whether you want people speaking to you or looking at you. No style of clothing EVER invites intimate touching – only you, verbally, can/should do that – but typically a person in brighter colors is more extroverted and open to approach than a person who always wears dark colors.
I’m not sure how to break it down further, as I’ve been speaking the language so long and have sections of outfits in my closet specifically for visiting foreign territory – my classic pieces for when I’m being myself, my club pieces for when I’m amidst the punks and of course, my work clothing and my “oh, I didn’t know you were going to drop in!” looks.
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I have to agree with you about the shoes and hands. I notice them. Almost the first thing I notice about a person is their shoes. Then, their hands. I’ve told people this before and they tease me about it, but it’s true.
Boys with soft, well-manicured hands are a turn-off. I much prefer a man with rougher hands – it says to me he is a worker and is mechanically inclined and that’s hot. (It might not be a correct assumption, but how many first impressions really are correct?)
My husband also teases me about the number of pairs of black shoes I have. There are many. But on the rare occasion that he helps me plan out an outfit, he’s even more picky than I am about which shoes to wear. Shoes can make or break the outfit. Jeans and runners or jeans and stilettos will tell completely different stories.
I haven’t read (or seen) American Psycho and I am highly unlikely to do so. But I have read a lot about it, and it seems completely clear that the brand awareness that is bothering your sister also deeply bothers Ellis. He is exaggerating it to point out how disturbing it is–as he does with the sexual violence and with the gourmet food descriptions.
That might make her feel a little better