So What's the Point?

I bought Fashion Babylon a month or two ago with my Christmas bonus from work--I never thought that it would be in my local Barnes&Noble, but there it was. It's a rather quick read (I finished it in less than a weekend), but it was both entertaining and informative.

The most important thing I learned actually didn't hit me until last night when I was looking through it again: Fashion is mostly a sham. Everything is fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants. Shows are concocted at the last minute, sometimes without much thought; inspriation is stolen from different places; designers blatantly rip eachother off. I think that's what hit me the most. Designer X can pick up a vintage YSL dress at some market, and send it down the runway, claiming it's theirs.

What's the point, then? What's the point of keeping up with the lastest trends, and buying the new "It" bag or the latest Balenciaga shoes? Fashion is one big wankfest--occasionally new materials are forged, but the rest is just recycled. Only the stupid people are blind enough to get sucked in to the frenzy of buying this season's trends. Oh, certainly there are some pieces which are just plain amazing, and of course those are going to be snatched up, but the rest of it, the "pink is the new orange," that's not even worth paying attention to.

All the really stylish people follow their own drummer anyway.