recently arrived at hypothesis

I've made it a habit to click on a random blog from the recently posted list you get.  I do it almost every time "at random" but mostly on female blogs for some reason.  Anyway, I've noticed that a large percentage of those blogs have some portion of their posts dedicated to reviewing the latest fashions.  These reviews obviously contain many photos and are totally lame and pointless... to me.  So, I kinda kept going, what the heck.  I mean, I know girls like shopping, but I'm pretty sure this academic interest in the actual fashion industry is new.  But I have a hypothesis.  Well, I have two, but one is probably right and sad, so I'm glad I came up with an alternative.  Hope is good.

Hypothesis #1 (the sad probably correct 1): The rise of fashion based reality TV is increasing interest in the fashion industry.  This coupled with increased access allowed by the internet is creating a broad base amateur fashion following female flock.

Hypothesis #2 (HOPE): Women are complicated creatures.  They have conflicting desires and their brains are designed to allow them to partially address all of them simultaneously without necessarily knowing it.  One over arching desire is to get a mate.  Another desire is to not be kicked from the tribe, meaning to be accepted by other females.  Step one, appease the females by doing girly things.  Step two, attract men.  In the blog world these two steps can be merged with the fashion post.  Fashion is girly, but if you put enough pictures of models on a blog male readership will increase.  BAM!  Problems solved.  Plus there's probably some percentage of guys who want a chick who's into fashion... maybe.

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Mecha-LaRouche
Fashion is as much waste of time as D&D or painting or blogging.

I agree that the increased amount of fashion in the media has probably sparked new interest. But is that wrong? People choose interests partly based on what they are exposed to. If I never had a friend that showed me Baldur's Gate all those years ago maybe I wouldn't be into D&D.

I think the only "sad" thing about your hypothesis is that alot of people watch crappy television.
Six

No. Fashion is worse than all your examples.

Blogging develops writing skills and requires that someone think at least a little bit. Might even learn a little web development.

D&D is totally useful. Boosts creativity, increases vocabulary, develops interpersonal skills, planning and organization, yadda yadda yadda.

Painting is actually creating art, which isn't the same as being a fashion enthusiast.

So, yes, it is bad. People should be exposed to something better than fashion, like science, or D&D.


Mecha-LaRouche
Yes people should be more exposed to science, but most of them would not be interested beyond pop science (which certainly has its merits) or have the right mindset.

I guess I was referring more to actually DOing fashion, not being a fashion enthusiast in my previous post.

Any way you look at it, fashion enthusiasts are coming up with an opinion about a facet of the world they live in. If they're writing about it on a blog or talking about it with friends they are sharing opinions and possibly doing some critical thinking. Do you think that it's that much different than enjoying art, listening to music, analyzing fiction, or following sports?

Six
Eh... I think a painting and an making an outfit are pretty comparable in the creating or appreciating spheres, with the caveat that I think fashion is more limited. Like, if you were climbing the scale of artistry, you can't get as far in the fashion medium. You can convey much more deep meaning through a painting that through a shirt, no matter how hard you try.

That said, I'd say fashion definitely does not promote any sort of intellectual growth. Like, to appreciate most arts you are encouraged to search for the meaning behind the piece, and not just look at a bunch and say "Oh cuuuute!". I mean, plenty of people just like paintings they think are pretty, and just like music they just like, and don't ever learn anything about either, but in both genres increased knowledge is ecouraged. I just don't see that in fashion. That's likely because there's just not very deep to go. They like to pretend, but really it's pretty much all just trying to make people look pretty.
Eight

I think a painting and an making an outfit are pretty comparable in the creating or appreciating spheres, with the caveat that I think fashion is more limited

What about SCA people? They spend countless hours researching the fashion of a historical time period so that they can create an accurate garment. I feel this falls into the creative fashion category. I grew up around some pretty -hardcore- SCA people.
Six
Sounds pointless to me, but I'd say as a hobby it's pretty far down there because it only brings enjoyment to the participant and possibly a little historical knowledge. Well, and the skills to actually craft the clothes, which is somewhat cool. So there are worse things, I suppose.
Mecha-LaRouche
I'm not so sure it's just trying to make people look pretty. Most experimental fashion and alot of the stuff you see on the reality shows (America's Next Top Fashion Designer was on the TV outside my room alot this summer) does not make the models look pretty. Maybe it's because most of the models are freakish looking to begin with, but most of the clothing was pretty damn out there too.

Can you really convey deeper meaning through a painting than a shirt? Maybe to you. Meaning is pretty subjective, and different things strike different people.

The thing is, I'm sure there are people who are very intellectual about fashion. I think that if paintings were pop-chic and we had a dozen reality shows about painters and paintings you would have alot of vapid people loving paintings putting no more thought into it than they put into any other pop-chic fad.
Six
Explain to me how you can express the complex political, or philosophical statements in a fashion statement to the same extent you can in a painting.
Mecha-LaRouche
I don't know much about either, but how is the medium of paint on canvas superior to fabric, etc. on the human body?

I'm not saying that 'fashion' as a current art form matches painting. But I don't see the inherent failure in the medium.
Six
Yeah, and I'm disagreeing. There's simply not as much you can do with cloth on woman as you can do with paint. Perhaps some artist can argue their red smock is meant to symbolize the fall of communism, but the percentage of people that will get it can never be as high as in other art mediums. That's inherent in the fashion medium.
Eight
I disagree with that historical reenactments "bring enjoyment to the participant" only. You've been and must have observed that it was the group effort that made it interesting/worthwhile. And some of the effort people put into it is just unfathomable. I know a woman and her husband who do nothing but frequent SCA events and bicker about what is and isn't accurate. /shrug
Eight

Explain to me how you can express the complex political, or philosophical statements in a fashion statement to the same extent you can in a painting.

If you're going to debate the relevance of the medium, I don't think that painting vs. cloth is a fair choice. Of course there is more you can do on canvas than on cloth.

It all comes down to what is written/said about any form of art. Sure, the picture or shirt was pretty/interesting/meaningful but without critique or debate, who cares? Words win.
Six
Bah. Just because nobody wrote down a thought doesn't mean the thought never occurred. But basically you're agreeing w/ me that painting as a meium > fashion as a medium.
Eight
Yeah, basically.
Mecha-LaRouche
CURSES.

I'll just be over here, creating great, meaningful dresses to secretly wear when no one is around.

...


...


D:
Six
I knew you were doing something in the bathroom all that time, but I didn't guess that.
soslala
Hi there,
Another reason? Our society creates lots of people with really low self-esteem. And our society tells those low people that the way you can be somebody is to wear an expensive brand name (drive an expensive car, go to cool parties, drink the right drink, on an on ad nauseum.) Then you are WORTH something. The problem is very few babies are raised by caregivers that allow them to feel their true worth, usually it's more about the caregiver getting their way, and thereby feeling THEIR worth.
Six
That whole low self esteem thing is kinda old hat. The latest is that my generation has been coddled to the extreme and we're self centered , self entitled, self important, egomaniacs. The obsession with products is just due to the consumer driven culture, imho. Most low self esteem is a product of having nothing substantive in ones life, and focusing too much on things like brands and fashion. Plus there's genetics and stuff.

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