I entirely agree with both you and Rachael in this, which echoes a greater critique of culture right now around agency and the Internet. There's massive irony with the proliferation and fetishization of "subcultures" in trend and style, a superficial scraping of past scenes' aesthetics without diving deeper into the nuances of their codes and histories, and never actually having to embody the labor, emotional and of research, one had to do to find out and join those subcultures. One had to, as the saying goes, "touch grass" to find them.
My greater worry is the lack of intuition we have culturally. There's very little tolerance for discomfort and no vulnerability which is so crucial for genuine curiosity to be acted upon, which is fair when you're constantly being observed and judged, and trained to make oneself into a tight "brand." It's wild that in 15 years we've been trained to think social is the only means of discovery and sharing oneself, of performing both our productivity and also creativity. That, despite fashion literally being about the body, it's become so bodiless.
I also just wrote the dreaded “fashion think piece” but also think the issue is too many people trying to manufacture influence from personal style, not the algorithm. The algorithm is a reflection of ourselves and our wishes, not some external corporate agenda coming down from Zara
I entirely agree with both you and Rachael in this, which echoes a greater critique of culture right now around agency and the Internet. There's massive irony with the proliferation and fetishization of "subcultures" in trend and style, a superficial scraping of past scenes' aesthetics without diving deeper into the nuances of their codes and histories, and never actually having to embody the labor, emotional and of research, one had to do to find out and join those subcultures. One had to, as the saying goes, "touch grass" to find them.
My greater worry is the lack of intuition we have culturally. There's very little tolerance for discomfort and no vulnerability which is so crucial for genuine curiosity to be acted upon, which is fair when you're constantly being observed and judged, and trained to make oneself into a tight "brand." It's wild that in 15 years we've been trained to think social is the only means of discovery and sharing oneself, of performing both our productivity and also creativity. That, despite fashion literally being about the body, it's become so bodiless.
I also just wrote the dreaded “fashion think piece” but also think the issue is too many people trying to manufacture influence from personal style, not the algorithm. The algorithm is a reflection of ourselves and our wishes, not some external corporate agenda coming down from Zara