“Round and round it goes: culture and fashion” (ESE)

It is often said that there is nothing new under the sun. This is especially holds true in the industry of fashion. How often did one find oneself in the situation that the clothes which lay in closet suddenly became the hip look this season? For instance I have taken from the closet my grandmothers scarf and hold it as precious possession for this season. So it is true that “round and round it goes”. Still it should be mistaken to think that fashion industry no longer provide anything new. Far from it! It is the details, elements, fabric witch are reused in new and creative way. Something new and unseen before this moment comes to life. 

Still the question is where these gurus of the fashion find their inspirations. Where does their road to the “eureka” moment starts? There are many paths and many roads. Nevertheless there is one “highway” of the inspiration: culture. 

Often fashion designers look intently to the traditions and culture of a specific country or region. They search for ideas, elements or details. The past and the present culture are put under the microscope. Let me provide with a concrete example. The fall collection of Alexander Mcqueen was inspired by the visited to India, Funk and the Victorian age of England. When you look to this collection all these competing influences can be seen and it seems as they can be even pinpointed. Many examples as such can be found. The fashion is charged with these influences. As such not only present experiences are greedily taken in, but also past are continually piece by piece searched. Collections come from the culture and from the catwalk are brought back to the cultural context. 

The need for convergence in the society and the touch of globalization allows for the collections shown in Milan, Paris, New York and London to be absorbed in to the every day life of a country pretty easily. After all we are the flock. The flock tells us how we have to behave, how we have to talk, how we have to dress. Many people travel and become familiar with other cultures. While the Indian wear few centuries ago would have shocked us now it could become casual dress wear. 

Still sometimes culture do not accepts some of the elements. The fashion “advices” becomes culturally rebuked. The foreign elements sometimes are more easily absorbed than the historical elements of ones own culture and vice versa. This issue arises from the abundance of the stereotypes. I would use a recent example. D&G in fall collection have used scarf which is tied under the chin. Most of the Lithuanians would not wear in this way the scarf. Why? This style is left under the care of our grandmothers. The ideas which were taken from the culture can be rebuked by the same culture. Still the fashion becomes more and more universal at the same time mixing and matching the styles from around the globe.