Fashion Is Self-Expression
How you dress says a lot about you. It’s the first impression people get before you even open your mouth. It’s a reflection of your inner self that speaks louder than words ever could.
Fashion is self-expression that you choose every day.
It can reflect your sub-culture and inner state. It can stay the same or morph depending on your environment. It can show the world what’s cool about you.
Unlike your genetics, it’s a part of your self that you can control. No matter what part of your self needs to be seen, a great first step is to consider your style.
Fashion Has Power
Fashion has the power to change others’ perception of you and your own self-perception.
When you’re dressed to the nines, people think you’ve got it all together and it’s hard to feel like you don’t. When you wear your favorite clothing or color, the one that looks really good on you, you feel comfortable in your own skin. It’s all self-fulfilling cycle of confidence.
When you’re dressed to fit in with everyone else, there’s an innate sense of belonging, camaraderie, and trust. But dressing to stand out can bring its own rewards; a perception of uniqueness and the power to change the status quo.
In this way, fashion is a potent application of your own self-expression that can affect the world around you and within, but only if you use it with purpose. There’s just as much negative power in an ill-fitting suit or inappropriate look when you’re trying to blend in.
Fashion Is Culture
Clothing is as essential to modern humanity as food and shelter; fashion is the underlying art of it all. You can easily trace a path through space and time by examining historical fashion trends across the world.
If fashion is a way for an individual to express themselves, it’s inevitable that culture is expressed through fashion too. Fashion is a reflection of, and force of change for, the culture that creates it.
Fashion is an accessory of social change too. Just look at the popularization of bikinis or the little black dress or pride fashion or any other socially-charged wardrobe and you’ll discover the social movements beneath the clothing.
It also can’t help to cross-pollinate with other aspects of culture like movies, music, and fine art in ways that are profound and deeply rooted. They’re all expressions of who we are or who we aspire to be.
Fashion Is A Huge Industry
The fashion industry has had many shake-ups in recent years with the rise of fast fashion and shifting social values, but it’s still an incredibly lucrative economy.
The global fashion industry generates more than 2.5 trillion dollars every year. If Fashion were a country, it’d be the world’s seventh-largest based on GDP.
It’s certainly a mover and shaker around the world, but it’s still a part of the global economy at large. As a potential global economic slowdown approaches in 2020, the fashion industry will have to continue to reinvent itself to stay productive. That means new markets, new practices, and new trends.
It remains to be seen what the fashion industry’s future holds, but it’s not going anywhere.
