Language is my thing. It could be down to having had my entire education conducted through the medium of Welsh, meaning that I’ve been bilingual since about the age of 3/4, or perhaps I’m just wired in such a way that languages just appeal to me!
Perhaps this is the reason why Zoe’s post on the Colette Patterns’ blog on the Language of Fashion so appealed to me. I would give it a read, it’s a really interesting and thought-provoking commentary on an issue perhaps you haven’t considered before; I certainly hadn’t! Zoe writes about how her personal lexicon changed as she progressed through her Fashion Design Course:
…I discovered material was also called fabric. In fact, the lecturers, tutors and technicians there seemed to have their own foreign tongue. Like infants learning to talk, through emersion, repetition and reinforcement we students also began to adopt many of these words. Material became fabric. Photos became images. Magazines became sources (this was largely pre-internet)
Later in the article, Zoe speaks about when she felt the line had been crossed from a trade lexicon to ‘the fashion-speak satirised in ‘Absolutely Fabulous’, linked to well-worn fashion journalist phrases such as ‘must-have’ and something being ‘important this season.’’
These phrases are ones I’ve been giving much thought to lately, especially with the volume of magazines I’ve been buying in the past month, what with back and forth trips to Swansea. As a rule, I don’t tend to buy many ‘girly’ magazines, and gossip magazines are a big no go for me, so if I fancy something easy to read on the train, I tend to gravitate towards the many fashion weeklies that the U.K has to offer. Emblazoned on the front covers:
‘493 SEXY SUMMER LOOKS, NAILED – The perfect holiday wardrobe’
‘105 HOT NEW BUYS’
‘Love Your Shape Fashion : New Figure-Fixing Trends’
‘New’ seems to be the word to use. (Don’t get me started on the Figure Fixing bit, I think that’s for another post…) I noticed that us Brits, especially in comparison to Germans and possibly most Europeans, are completely OBSESSED with ‘new’ fashion. We want it NOW and we want it CHEAP. This attitude is the very reason that places like Primark exist. There was a girl in my school who couldn’t stand to wear the same dress twice on a night out.
However it’s easy for me to seem judgemental; I’m just as much a part of this culture as the rest of the U.K. If I didn’t love pretty clothes, then I probably wouldn’t be sewing in the first place. On the other hand, I’m not fond of how what’s ‘must-have’ and ‘important’ one season, is considered ugly and useless in another. I may love pretty clothes, but I wouldn’t call myself a trend hopper. In my opinion, the people who stand out the most are the ones who aren’t slaves to the ever changing whims of the fashion industry.
What’s so wrong with wearing something old, something loved, something that’s ‘out of season’? Not to mention the conundrum of what exactly happens to clothes that aren’t sold; where do they go when the time comes to make new for something ‘new’?
Perhaps the reason this is all bothering me so much, especially with regards to the fashion weeklies, is that in the course of giving my future plans a good old think, I’ve decided that I’d like to pursue a career in journalism, so the possibility that perhaps one day I could be writing about the HOT NEW TRENDS bothers me somewhat. What do you guys think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on any other points in Zoe’s article as well!
Great post! As a former journo, I’d say it matters what kind of journalism you want to do. Lifestyle journalism (esp of the fashion variety) definitely has different rules for what counts as “news” and “New,” is definitely at the top of the list. Add in advertising needs, and well …
I think it’s important for us all to be able to see through what language is trying to persuade us to do/think, the inherent warrants embedded. For me, I read, ‘Love Your Shape Fashion : New Figure-Fixing Trends’ implies the “I” this is intended for does not love her shape and requires a trend that will fix her figure (for a bit of coin, is all). And since it’s new, perhaps she’s tried everything that hasn’t worked. Or, less nicely, We Know We Hate Your Body, Buy Our Magazine and We’ll Lead the Way to Self-Love (I hope my sarcasm is coming through, I’m not bitter so much as suspicious). So it’s okay to hate our bodies? What message are we sending/receiving as women and how does this help/hurt us?
Anyway, that’s why I think language is so important. There’s lots of talk about new and nothing about quality or timelessness (though sometimes implied through brands/advertising). And by choosing to sew you have a very different relationship to clothes that you should be proud of!
Here’s to a better way of talking about clothes, our bodies, and the worth of both!