Why is fashion often a dirty world? / Zašto je moda često prljava riječ?

Is fashion a dirty world? Why is it something that is not supposed to be debated among seriour or even decent people? Why it is not something that most of us would consider as a job choice? Is it because we think it is unapproachable or because we're kind of ashamed of wanting to work in fashion? Is there something wrong with liking fashion? Or why are we so often ashamed of our interest in fashion? If we admit that we like it, we often get this feeling of forbidden pleasure. Why is fashion often seen as a modern demon? Is there something that makes it fundamentally bad and wicked or is it all in our heads? Why do we demonize those working in fashion? Why do we assume they’re mean and shallow? Why do we find it so easy to believe that it is all about ‘mind games’ (as portrayed in Devil wears Prada) and less about work and talent? For if we are going to be honest, fashion is about work and talent. Do you really think that someone can last years working in an industry that is all about the next thing without genuine work ethics and talent? Still, this aspect of it gets often ignored.

 You know, you can often hear people saying things like:

- I'm not really interested in fashion, I'm interested in couture.

-I’m not really interested in fashion, I only care about street wear.

-I don’t care about fashion; I’m only interested in aesthetics.

-I buy fashion magazines because of photography.

- I watch fashion shows because I’m interested in designs.

- I collect fashion illustrations/ fashion photography because I love art.

But, really…. isn’t fashion all of these things? Isn’t it a business as well as design, couture as well as street wear, fashion illustrations as well as selfies, fashion photography as well as market research diagrams? Isn't it composed of all those things?

 Fashion is as artistic as it is kitsch. Sometimes a starlet plays as much as a role in promoting a certain brand or designer, that a whole team of PR experts and hardworking journalist. Maybe it is not fair but it is so. It is probably not easy for those working hard every day to feel so overlooked, but that is reality that can’t be ignored. Fashion exists on so many levels it is insane. In one way it is wonderfully democratic. Everyone gets to have a say in it and sometimes just about everyone does. You could say it is not so, you can saw that kitsch is not real fashion, that it isn’t arty enough but who gets to say what is real fashion and what is fake one? Do you know what I really  think? IT IS ALL FASHION.

It is all fashion. Fashion can be art but it can also be incredibly vulgar. Most of the time it is both at the same time. It is the fashion editor with years of experience and some Hollywood A star choosing a gown for a red carpet. Both of them will influence buying options of millions. It is all fashion.  It is the it starlet of the moment,because as much as some people hate it, that starlet will sit the first row at fashion shows and her saying will carry weight. Fashion is a fashion photographer with hundreds of awards and some guy in a suit who only cares about profit. Fashion is the women who sews the clothes and the designer that designs it. Fashion is an investor and the buyer. Fashion is what people are wearing on the streets. Fashion is as much about what you see on catwalks during fashion weeks and what you see people wearing to those fashion shows. Fashion is a girl who will start the next start without knowing it.  It happens every day and it is not only about what some market developer says it should be. 

Thousands of designers work on new collections daily and fashion industry employs millions, but in a way everyone gets to have their say. Fashion trends are born not only in mind of creative and business people, but they come alive on streets and sometimes they explode globally. All of us that write about fashion without ever having been a part of fashion industry or having worked a day in a fashion magazine, are a part of it too. It is weird when you think of it, but in a way it is also kind of cool. How everyone can inspire everyone. How we can support one another. What is not so cool is how we can  bring one another down…. all with fashion because like just in every field of great human interest, there are plenty of snobs and manipulators in fashion. Perhaps that is how fashion got its bad rap, but no I don't believe that fashion is to blame for anything. There is nothing in the business of designing beautiful clothes that is wrong, what is wrong is the human need to humiliate others to feel better, but this happens everywhere and always, and is in no way restricted to only fashion.

 Internet has certainly had a major impact on the fashion. We all get to have a say, we get to interact with brands and among ourselves. We’re all part of it too. All of us bloggers, instagrammers, twitter users and people expressing their point of view on whatever social platform. Some may say it is not fair, but it what it is. Fashion is an industry. Fashion is elitist. Fashion is democratic. It is all of those things at the same time. Fashion is a paradox.  Fashion is insane and irrelevant. Fashion is important and serious. Fashion is impossible to define. Is it any wonder it fascinates us so much?

P.S. We shall do a lot of talking about fashion on modaodaradosti in the next few days, so stay tuned.

Dress/ Haljina: Galeb
scarf worn as belt/ rubac nošen kao remen: vintage
bag/torba: vintage
shoes/ cipele: Nosens
*Location/ Lokacija: Čapljina, BIH