When I talk about fashion...
Razorback Runway
Natalie Johnson
Issue date: 3/25/09 Section: Lifestyles
Fashion's role reaches beyond wardrobes and into people's lives. Fashion can be hilarious, entertaining and enlightening, yet so innate.
When I talk about fashion, I imagine more than the style of garments and their modern exposure. Sometimes I think runway, but then I think of the funny T-shirt my friend wore in high school, the beautiful kimonos of "Memoirs of a Geisha" or the mascot Sooie in her Razorback costume at football games.
In the book "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running," Haruki Murakami said he was not writing about how to be healthy or fit, but about what running personally meant to him. For 180 pages, Murakami kept pace by revealing the significance of a mundane exercise that people seem to dread. His simple understanding of running as a Japanese novelist turned into the mindset of a successful tri-athlete when he looked beyond the surface of running.
As people expected Murakami to tell them how to get in shape, fashion writing can be expected to tell someone how to be fashionable. Just as a runner has to think beyond the publicized image of running as an effort to lose weight to enjoy it fully, people can think personally about fashion and experience a similar effect.
Classes in many subjects such as history, psychology, anthropology and business teach about clothing and its role in each discipline. Clothing and its significance throughout time as a means of exposing culture, lifestyle and much more cannot be left out of history books.
Social and cognitive processes also affect the way we dress and why. The status and role of people is shown through clothing and studied by anthropologists. Business is defined in part by the person and how they present themselves. Proper attire is often taught to job seekers so they can make good impressions and represent their employer.
The concern in school tells us a lot about the many roles of fashion beyond aesthetics. I enjoy the fun of fashion the most. One of the funniest people I know can make me laugh simply by the way he dresses. His clothes are not terribly odd, yet his humor seeps through the seams before he says a word. Of course, there are the eclectic friends who have a story for every crazy garment or accessory they wear.
The mere closet of an individual can share a lot about a person. Clothes are not always representative of who a person is, but they have the ability to reveal so much. Do you have a bad-day shirt or a feel-good outfit? Think of some of the most significant people in your life - there is probably a style associated with each of them. The emotions and roles of characters in movies, books, magazines and television are reflected by their fashion.
Natalie Johnson is a staff columnist for The Arkansas Traveler. Her column appears every other Wednesday.
When I talk about fashion, I imagine more than the style of garments and their modern exposure. Sometimes I think runway, but then I think of the funny T-shirt my friend wore in high school, the beautiful kimonos of "Memoirs of a Geisha" or the mascot Sooie in her Razorback costume at football games.
In the book "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running," Haruki Murakami said he was not writing about how to be healthy or fit, but about what running personally meant to him. For 180 pages, Murakami kept pace by revealing the significance of a mundane exercise that people seem to dread. His simple understanding of running as a Japanese novelist turned into the mindset of a successful tri-athlete when he looked beyond the surface of running.
As people expected Murakami to tell them how to get in shape, fashion writing can be expected to tell someone how to be fashionable. Just as a runner has to think beyond the publicized image of running as an effort to lose weight to enjoy it fully, people can think personally about fashion and experience a similar effect.
Classes in many subjects such as history, psychology, anthropology and business teach about clothing and its role in each discipline. Clothing and its significance throughout time as a means of exposing culture, lifestyle and much more cannot be left out of history books.
Social and cognitive processes also affect the way we dress and why. The status and role of people is shown through clothing and studied by anthropologists. Business is defined in part by the person and how they present themselves. Proper attire is often taught to job seekers so they can make good impressions and represent their employer.
The concern in school tells us a lot about the many roles of fashion beyond aesthetics. I enjoy the fun of fashion the most. One of the funniest people I know can make me laugh simply by the way he dresses. His clothes are not terribly odd, yet his humor seeps through the seams before he says a word. Of course, there are the eclectic friends who have a story for every crazy garment or accessory they wear.
The mere closet of an individual can share a lot about a person. Clothes are not always representative of who a person is, but they have the ability to reveal so much. Do you have a bad-day shirt or a feel-good outfit? Think of some of the most significant people in your life - there is probably a style associated with each of them. The emotions and roles of characters in movies, books, magazines and television are reflected by their fashion.
Natalie Johnson is a staff columnist for The Arkansas Traveler. Her column appears every other Wednesday.
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