A New View

In fashion, appeal lies greatly in the supposed message of clothing. A good designer tends to have a vision of the ideal wearer and their perfect attitude to fit and display their art. The girl who is "geek chic" or the Ralph Lauren country club man. In this way designers are able to display themselves and their values in their clothing, making it their art. Even before a contemporary fashion industry, the fashions of men and women were used to show status or occupation in society. Clothing is no different now in that it still shows one's place in society, however with many more categories, more specific categories. Our occupations still direct our clothing, yet more and more our individual attitude and lifestyle shine through our garb. The comfortable and average look, the business/sophisticate attire, laid back and outgoing is even a style. But don't think we can now judge a book by its cover, there are so many different mixtures of clothing which has created even more categories; more styles. That's the word, style. Then, in fashion, a combination of your society status, your lifestyle, and your unique attitude creates your very own style. We buy clothing to match our styles, and in turn, designers create clothing to match a certain style. Many designers are known for one style, a targeted market of consumers. Just like certain artists or genres have a select following among their supporters. No artist of any sort can truly be said to lack a style of their own. In fact, it is those without style who have no message and no appeal that do not survive the world of the arts. So instead of art, why don't we just call it style?