fashionfunded

For as long as I can remember, I’ve taken mental snapshots of style that inspires me. Seared in my mind is the moment before fourth grade, having just returned from a summer in the U.S.– where my sister & I had been indulged in buying a year’s worth of clothing, although at a fraction of what it would cost in Switzerland– of placing a carefully crafted outfit on the floor in front of my closet, and thinking: “this would look perfect in a picture.”

Another snapshot is the instance upon entering a friend’s medieval stone house– all gray from the outside and arching over one of the streets in the old village of Cressier– only to discover sumptuous persian rugs covering the uneven floor and the most exquisite blending of velvets, toiles, paintings, and vases, all more ancient & exotic looking than the other. I had no words for such style, but knew it was special, and from the Ethan Allen interiors of Orlando suburbia, this was the beginning of an education.

Fashion & design have a special place in my heart. Inexplicably, when I discover a designer making pleats out of flannel, it makes me happy. I take the most pleasure in the most unexpected combinations. So much of life is out of one’s control, but you can trick your mind into seeing & feeling things in a new light each day, whether through the clothes you’re wearing, the book you’re reading, or the song you just discovered.

The thrust for this post comes from this impression I’ve developed over the years– from the media, colleagues, friends & family– that the world of fashion is frivolous, not to be preoccupied with or indulged in. This stereotype is so at odds with the role fashion & design play in people’s lives that I think it’s worth taking a look at.

Most perplexing of all is that this stereotype is perpetuated by the media, especially in fashion blogs. Comparing my Twitter streams– one being my main account with people of general interest (mainly econ, finance, or startup related), and the other being for fashion & design people– is revealing and disturbing. While mainstream newspapers and publications like WWD and Business of Fashion balance the job of taking themselves seriously with indulging in the whims of fashion, the vast majority of fashion voices out there have little substance.

Even when there is substance, like in Vogue or W magazine, for me it usually doesn’t strike at the core of why fashion is worth paying attention to, i.e. a style profile of some Middle East royalty figure or socialite is not quite what I’m looking for.

Then there’s the equally perplexing paltry business coverage of the $270 billion industry that is apparel in the U.S.

So I ask my husband: “is the world of fashion really just frivolous and mindless– is this an accurate portrayal? Why does it not have the heft & get the same attention as other industries that make up our daily living, like music, film, literature, and food?” He says he thinks it’s both frivolous and important. Clearly he doesn’t seem as conflicted about the public image of fashion…. But he does make an interesting point that the lack of business coverage probably stems from most brands being private and not publicly traded.

But this lack of (the right) substance in blogs and the media got me thinking. What if it’s because the medium has never been suited to the art, until now? The age of print was the perfect medium for the flourishing of news publications, and book publishers. And the advent of the radio and recording devices were good enough for the music industry to take off. But maybe fashion– the act of assembling, chronicling and disseminating style pictures– has been stymied by the medium of print. Up until very recently, it’s been pretty hard and costly to take great pictures and have them turn out well in print.

There’s also the democratization angle which is particularly meaningful for matters of taste. It could be argued that the music and publishing industries have been doing an OK job capturing the vast pool of talent in the world. But before Project Runway– only half kidding– I’m not sure there were many vehicles for breaking into fashion. If you had impeccable taste, well this was probably to the exclusive benefit of those who appreciated your stylish company. The Sartorialist and millions of Polyvore users are much better at getting at the core of what makes fashion interesting, in addition to being its most effective evangelists. The low barriers to entry do mean that it’ll be noisy, and maybe this is what we’re seeing now with the rise of advertorial low-substance fashion blogs, but that just means we need better filters.

So maybe the age of the internet and computer screen will usher in a new dawn for fashion: a new medium suited to the enjoyment & dissemination of pictures, with a democratic internet propelling the best talent to the top, for the world to see.