Comments on: “Do we need fashion? No.”

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:53:08 +0000

I personally can’t wait until society realizes how petty and narcissistic we are being in our never ending quest in search of cool and gives up fashion entirely. Didn’t we learn in kindergarten not to judge books by their covers. Fashion is only skin deep. What matters is who we are on the inside and as long as we are functional and well-kempt, WHO CARES? Get over your coolness people and embrace your humanity.

By: Alexis Designer Fashion

Alexis Designer Fashion — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:53:45 +0000

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By: Genghis Philip

Genghis Philip — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:46:01 +0000

While I’d like to grant this premise, Unknown, you’re only talking about small family farmers. A majority of our food is grown/produced by large agrocorps and they get paid just fine. Where are you getting this idea that we ‘need [farmers] bad’? We have so many that the government pays some farmers NOT to grow things.

By: Unknown

Unknown — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:11:33 +0000

And yet farmers (We need bad) get paid very little, these fashion jerks get millions.

By: Becca

Becca — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:02:54 +0000

The Nazis did however have great fashion. Hugo Boss put a whole gorgeous aesthetic out of reach when he designed those uniforms. It gives me pause to think that a style that shines across fifty-odd years, that reaches even across horrible, awful crimes against humanity cannot be worn without hate. Is it so bad to lose a well cut suit? Of course not. But it’s an interesting thought into deep associations that fashion, like any other art, can have.

By: Gordon Levine

Gordon Levine — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:25:41 +0000

Gunn clearly recognizes the distinction between clothes and fashion: that clothes are necessary and that fashion is not. Fashion, to Gunn, communicates “a context that’s societal, cultural, historic and economic and political [and] of a time and a place.” How else would you define art?

Clothes are certainly “so much more than art,” because they have utility in addition to being a vessel for fashion. Fashion, however, is nothing more or less than an art form. Whether or not a person reacts to a given piece of art — a Picasso or a pair of Seven For Mankind jeans — doesn’t change its nature as art. It might make people think it’s better art, or worse art, but the piece’s nature remains unchanged.

I’m not criticizing fashionistas; I’m criticizing rigid fashionistas. (Gunn’s doing the same thing, albeit obliquely.) What’s appropriate for a situation is negotiated between everyone with a stake in it. Moreover, just because something’s inappropriate doesn’t make it bad.

I love fashion, too. I love it so much that I don’t want individual style bowing to it all the time. I think Gunn feels the same way. Nobody’s criticizing anyone for being fashionable; I’m saving all my criticism for anyone who overvalues social convention and undervalues individual style.

By: vintageviolet

vintageviolet — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:40:50 +0000

I interpreted the quote a little differently.
I don’t think Gunn was trying to even get into the “art” aspect of fashion, instead just just the clothing aspect and that what is available at a time represents that time period and that is why it’s important. I mean I look at a pair of bell bottems and I think 70′s, tie-dye…60′s, poodle skirts…50′s. And it’s that kind of nostalgia that makes a lot of people smile.
It’s so much more than art, because some people can look at a Picasso and have no idea who he is, further more what the picture is about. But people can look at clothes and know exactly what it is and what era it came from, because they lived in it.

Your stab at “fashionistas” is a little ridiculous. It’s a passion for these people. I appreciate their love and precision in a busniess that is a part of our every day life.

I agree. Dress how you want. But don’t criticize others for doing it better.