I recently had the pleasure of watching the Disney film Cruella, about an anti-hero Cruella Deville who was featured in the classic 101 Dalmatians. The movie began with an orphaned girl named Estella who eventually worked her way to the top of the fashion industry while unseating her evil rival.
Although the film was quite good, I must say that I was not exactly impressed by the outfits that were supposedly fashionable. Perhaps I don’t have a critical eye but most of the gowns worn by Cruella looked quite atrocious. Also, one of the male protagonists named Artie wore weird makeup and a strange shirt that were deemed fabulous.
All of this wouldn’t be noteworthy if the odd fashion was reserved for theatrical value, but it isn’t. Scrolling through Vogue’s fashion section one will see an agglomeration of outfits that are either extremely ugly or designed to show as much skin as possible. Not quite what I would call the height of an industry that has a profound impact on civilization.
It seems that much of what fashion has become is the desire to break social customs by creating what are often quite hideous outfits. Alternatively, it is the desire to sexualize those wearing certain outfits in the name of “empowerment” or some other ill-thought concept.
If fashion is merely the breaking of social customs then fashion gurus should certainly not receive much credit. I could go to school in boxer-briefs and a tank top and break social customs (and still look more fashionable than some of the models out there). Additionally, if it is the attempt to sexualize its subjects then all fashion is an impediment. Why not just walk around naked all the time?
Fashion used to be quite unique and interesting. For women in Victorian England the desire to “look good” had to be reconciled with the morals of the time, posing a challenge for fashion designers. The sexual had to be combined with the tasteful discipline of the era. Quite a contradiction that could only be reconciled with the intelligence of a true artist.
In the case of men, the problem of fashion has been related more to the willful breaking of social customs than their sexualization. Thus, Harry Styles and others don dresses or wear their pants around their knees. This trend of men breaking social customs is actively promoted by fashionistas who are clearly destroying their own profession. The term fashion is meant to denote a socially acceptable code of dress that is considered tasteful. However, the only thing that is fashionable now is everything that is unfashionable. This is a symptom of undisciplined postmodernism. A truly communist position that makes fashion a “wear whatever the hell you want” construct.
I believe that fashion serves a very important purpose that has been completely degraded by those who attempt to call themselves fashion designers. In the case of women, fashion designers have the difficult task of making a woman pleased with the way she looks while reconciling this with the necessary moral demands that are placed upon society.
In the case of men a code of dress is meant to instill the discipline necessary for success. The job of the fashion designers is to create outfits that maintain that discipline while also making the wearer of the outfit outstanding in a way that does not make him seem obnoxious and stupid.
Fashion is a combination of both self expression and societal expression. To claim that it is self expression is to engage in needless arrogance, indiscipline, and immorality. To claim that it is societal expression is to become a fashion Nazi who polices dress codes with the utmost rigor. Fashion designers must reconcile these two concepts to create something truly beautiful.
