Dear Diary...

The first and perhaps most serious posting in this blog...

As of right now I see certain categories of fashion writing and not much else. There are high brow versions, as seen with WWD, Vogue, Vanity Fair...they specialize in industry talk, highlighting collections and designers, and editorials. Mags like Glamour, Elle, etc. have gotten much better at becoming experts at bringing high fashion to the masses, but in terms of subject of writing about the industry, I believe they fail. There are also mags who are more purely promotional for certain asthetics, such as NYLON and Lucky. They have little to no writing about the products they endorse and are actually more like catalogues.

The most exciting shoptalk I've seen lately has come from the Internet, of course. It's produced more of a free-thought, open discourse about style and fashion. Although the majority of sites are dedicated to oohing and aahing over designer goods, models, and celebrities, there is more honesty online. Even so, I'm slightly disappointed that there are not more thoughtful discussions on important factors involved in the fashion industry. The recent economic crisis and effect it's had on the retail sector must have people re-examining the way we've been treating this very important part of our society. Why are there not the kind of honest, open discussions about the trends in the fashion market as there are in other areas, such as the music or tech industries? My theory is that the throw-away, nonstop trend/fad based culture of the fashion world has halted some of the processes that are used in other industries as natural tools to cope with problems within. I also think that if we, as consumers, become more engaged with the fashion industry in a different way than we have been, it would improve quality of products and the way we think about what we wear. Take the technology sector, for example. When reading tech reviews of new products, there's an almost obsessively detailed examination--they discuss the product, company, how it compares to the competitor, etc. A smarter kind of competition between companies occurs when this kind of critique, a more technical approach, takes place. Why should the fashion industry be so slow to take on new and exciting ideas because of the lack of demand from the public? Things like industry practices, globalization, local trends, and environmental concerns should not be thought of only when they become world-wide news, or because the industry wants to capitalize on a trend based on organic fibers.

As consumers, I believe we have the right to be informed and basically not be talked down to. Fashion media has only given the public a certain type of reporting on the industry, because they think that's what we expect, what we want. But really, it's just because that's all we know...and if given a chance, I think people would love to have interesting debate about different aspects of style, what we wear, how we wear it, and on and on. Of course American fashion has usually been lighthearted and about celebrating life in different ways, being unique. To women especially, I think fashion can be empowering in certain ways. But it took me a long time to feel that empowerment, and I think to most the industry feels more like a constant pressure on the backs of people to act, think, and of course dress, they way they think they should.

So I'm going to be posting some thoughts of mine about these things, and hopefully the following posts won't be as ranty and depressing as this one...there are a lot of different topics I want to write about, from my local fashion environment, to current trends in vintage clothing, to Walmart...(exciting, right?) LATER!