Let them eat cake?

So here it is, the first post. Another fashion blog is born… but before anyone questions whether there is a need for yet another platform to debate the merits of leggings, deride or praise the resurgence of that 50s fashion staple, the romper, or gush about a gorgeous pair of J. Crew flats, I’d like to make my intentions for this blog clear. While the inspiration for its title, “a fit in the fitting room” comes from a Florence Eiseman quote imploring us not to have a fit in the fitting room (“your fashion life begins there”), my aim is to shake up the complacency that has fallen on much of the fashion and commercial clothing world when it comes to important issues like the industry’s effect on the environment, use of fur, sweatshop labor, and so on. This is not to say that I won’t occasionally write a frivolous post or two – I wouldn’t take the time to blog about a topic that I don’t enjoy – but I think that many valid concerns have been blithely ignored of late, especially because of fashion’s ability to distract and entertain us with beautiful design, to obscure any problems with a sheet of silk or taffeta.

One more thing before I move on to the first topic: I am not in any way an expert on the topic of fashion or the fashion industry. An admirer and enthusiast, yes – but I don’t claim to be an authority on any of the issues that I cover, and I realize that, as with any issues involving art and controversy, there are bound to be ten people who have a different opinion for every one who wholeheartedly agrees with me. Therefore, I’d welcome and encourage comments of any kind. Please tell me if you think I’m off the mark about any particular topic – or let me know if you love my point of view.

So, on to the first topic: fashion and the economy, a huge issue recently, and one that I’ll likely cover more than once. There were a lot of articles around New York’s fashion week last September (including this one from the Wall Street Journal) about the industry’s fears that shoppers might not buy into the idea that they had to completely update their look this spring. One woman in the Wall Street Journal article confessed to budgeting $15,000 for a new wardrobe each season, but suggested that she would be cutting costs to $10,000 while the economy is weak. Personally, I was shocked by the amount of money she admitted to spending, and by the fact that many fashionistas probably spend more each season. Where does the impulse to discard piles of clothes every six months and stock up on new ones come from? Does fashion’s short attention span spur creativity, or is it just another way to convince consumers to part with their money? Is funding the fashion industry like funding art, or could all of that money be put to better use elsewhere? Sometimes it’s hard for me not to feel a little bit revolted by the cost of a designer purse, and, especially now, even $10,000 for an entire wardrobe seems extravagant. 

Spending large sums of money on clothing seems to me to hearken back to the days of monarchy and aristocracy, when the goal was to make wealth apparent. In times of economic hardship, the fashion industry's continuing high prices make them seem out of touch with the majority of the country. Nevertheless, I can understand that designers consider their work to be art, and, accordingly, it will be more expensive than mass-produced, factory-made clothes. Designer clothing also inspires cheaper versions for the rest of us to wear, so it's not an entirely elitist industry. The question, I guess, is does the industry do more harm than good? I'd like to see more appreciation for the beauty of well-made clothing and less frantic trend-hopping and buying new clothes for the sake of having new clothes.