Style

Ok, So I have a fashion crisis.... I see these beautiful things in the shop, try them on, and this is the result: (Please excuse the lighting, it's taken in the change rooms that have diffused light, for whatever reason). Jeans are mine, I tried on just the tops/dress.

So, in essence, I'm not a super model and I don't think I want to be, but style is important. You does have to wear things according to what suits you and your body type. In the first picture, there are several reasons why the outfit doesn't work, one being, that the jeans are too flared at the bottom, distracting from the shape of the dress. I think it would have worked better with tights, but then again, am I willing to wear them? It's also about modesty now, isn't it?

The second outfit works better, because the waist is accentuated and not flared.

This brings me to how critical we look at ourselves. How do we view our bodies and compare them to what we see in magazines. Sometimes our self-image changes from day to day. This day may have been not a great day for me and looking at pictures now makes me realise that both outfits don't look that bad actually. Just changing a mindset makes all the difference in the world. Isn't this exactly what the Bible teaches by taking every thought captive.....?

Branding

Developing a following in the fashion industry depends on the image that the brand portrays. This means that the brand name will evoke a certain image in the person's mind and thus, if they can and want to identify with it, they will usually support the brand. If they have been part of the brand since the beginning and then the brand re-invents itself, they still have the choice to continue following, or to switch. Usually switching comes at a cost tot he consumer, because they will now need to find another brand that will stand for what they themselves believe and stand for.

Is this not the same as worshiping? Even the experts agree in an article I read from the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, (Fashion retailing and the bottom line by Robin Pentecost and Lynda Andrews) - yes, read that first surname again ;) The following was mentioned from research conducted by Redden and Steiner(2000) - reference to follow below:

Redden and Steiner (2000) [... suggest] that fanatical behaviour retains aspects of normal behaviour, based on the degree of enthusiasm, excietment, passion and commitment and /or extremes to which an individual is prepared to go to consume an identified product or service. Researching branding, they suggest behaviours such as loyalty or worshiping potentially denote a fanatical consumer. thus, higher degrees of fanship can relate to higher degrees of consumption. We argue that fans portray distinctive behaivour that means they are not necessarily fashion leaders but very enthusiastic fashion followers.

(Redden and Steiner published in Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 17 issue 4 pages 322-337: Fanatical Consumers: towards a framework for research.)

So, what does that mean for the general Christian? Can we still be fashionable or do we need to walk around like our grannies? What do we make of the consumerism and branding of shops we like and go to? Where do we draw the line? If their advertising starts offending us, or if we cannot wear anything in the store? I think we really need to think about this more, especially when we look at advertisements.

I think this post will link up nicely with another one I have planned for future, discussing modesty.

Green

I have heard or read once that green has more shades than any other colour - just look at the colours when you try to change the colours in a program

Usually associated with hope and growth, but also with death, jealousy, sickness and envy. Nature is most likely to come to mind when thinking about green, though.

Just look at those shades....

Now we can get lost in nature - all of God's creation.

From the history of fashion we can learn a few things:
1) during the middle ages, right up to about the turn of the 20th century, fashion took forever to change -sometimes decades went by with only minor changes in dress.
2) Fashion was determined by the upper class - mainly royalty
3) Exclusive fabrics were only available to royalty - as in the Napoleonic era, where the French silk production was not allowed to be used for anyone else but the emperor and everything, from curtains to upholstery to fashion was done in silk. This also meant that the French silk industry flourished, but faltered thereafter, since it could not be sustained.

If we dig a little deeper, we can very quickly get to environmental issues and protection. This of course links up with environmental fashion or sustainable fashion. Unfortunately no-one really knows how to define sustainable fashion, since fashion is not really sustainable in any way, because of planned obsolescence. This means that every six months, if not more, fashion changes. This is either because we demand the change (instant gratification), or because we have become used to the changes that anything that lingers in the shops will be old fashioned. Now if you have linked to the article, you will notice that there is much work to be done, and though words like "green" and "Eco-friendly" and "Organic" pop up, what will that mean for the normal guy on the street?

I cannot answer those questions either and I suppose they turn into ethical issues as well - how much do we need to take care of our planet? Are we not supposed to be its steward? When it comes to fashion, how much are we destroying the planet in the process, with all the dyes and processes that a piece of fabric goes through? If we continue like this, where is it going to stop?