The Style Files: Fashion isn’t frivolous, it matters!

Fashion is the front line of identity politics, it’s something I’ve had many an irate discussion about, with non believers! With the popularity  of Instagram and Pinterest  on the rise– communication has become so much about pictures. How people look and how they use their image to communicate something about themselves has become incredibly important and it’s something that people have to overtly think about and deal with in a way that maybe 20 years ago they didn’t, or could pretend that they didn’t.

Watching public figures use and manipulate clothes, be it politicians, celebrities or socialites– just watching them learn this vernacular and employ it has been really interesting to watch and learn from. Also the rise of the red carpet and fashion as part of that business; the way actors, singers or even reality TV stars are using image to build their careers in a very conscious way; it’s become a revenue stream for them as much as or beyond their actual work. Take the Kardashian empire for example, they have taken their signature look and converted it into a multi-million dollar business. Jessica Simpson’s clothing line hit the billion dollar sales mark early this year. It’s been extraordinary to watch the rise of contemporary high-street fashion too and to understand how people situate fashion with their personalities and what’s going on in their lives.

The lessons people are taking from the growth of the fashion industry combined with the psychology of fashion and how people use clothes to communicate is fascinating. If you think about it, in the past  30 years, some of the biggest wealth creation has come out of fashion – the richest man in Spain, Amancio Ortega (aka known as the man who founded Zara)  the richest man in France Bernard Arnault from LVMH, [one of] the richest men in Japan, Tadashi Yanai of Uniqlo fame. It’s all through fashion and it’s certainly not frivolous!