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Does Fashion Define You?
By: Mary Elise Chavez
Posted Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

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Women + Fashion are a natural match made in heaven. After all, there's no denying that we all love the excitement of discovering a stunning pair of vintage shoes, or that dress that fits like it was made for us. But when does Fashion become obsession? When do clothes gain power over the woman and begin to set the course for her self-esteem?

Fashion, in it's current state, has been suffocated by labels and logos. Every designer under the sun has gone the route of plastering their name or initials all over a canvas bag or tee, and I believe it's ruining the future of designer labels. Guilty parties like Louis Vuitton and Gucci have had enormous mainstream success because the public cannot stop purchasing these hideous logo-ed items.

These products are intensely successful because they appeal to such a large group of consumers; from the girl who buys the imitation just to "look rich", to the girl that uses it to her social advantage by stating her supposed financial status before she peeps a word, and lastly, the only woman actually wealthy enough to purchase one of these without her wallet turning into a ball of fire afterwards; all are guilty of bad fashion by association.

You see, this influx of social identity through materialistic gratification, serves as both insulting to the future of fashion, as well as to the very woman carrying that "definitive" bag or pair of sunglasses. Fashion is then transformed from an artform of celebrated independence, into a mass-produced, mass-marketed, parade down the street. Women are cutting themselves short by falling into the trap of self-definition through fashion. They are telling the outside world that they are that LV bag, or Marc Jacobs purse.

Closing Thought: If you are appreciating a designer for their craft, for the product you purchased, that is what Fashion is all about and we commend you.

But if you are waltzing into Neiman's, Barney's, or Bloomingdale's in hopes to increase your social status, as someone capable of purchasing a $1500.00 handbag, then darling, please wake up. Get over yourself and realize that to everyone else, you look like a shallow, insecure, carbon copy of the last Gucci girl that pranced by us. That handbag is more of a burden than a pedestal.

Respect Fashion by creating your own style, don't follow suit just because everyone in the tabloids or on 5th Avenue says to.
Work towards defining yourself by your interior, as exteriors fade and crumble away. Let Fashion be Fashion, thus, a creative and unique approach that everyone has to dressing themselves.

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