Empowerment vs Entertainment

Fashion vs Fashown

If fashion reflects how we are seen, then what will our clothes say about us?

Whether we enjoy dressing up or couldn’t the least bit care, most of us need to put on clothes as we go about our tasks outside the home. And how we dress, whether we want to participate in this game of “Guess Who I Am?” or not, signals and communicates who we are to others.

Avery Trufelman of Articles of Interest says,

“An outfit is a sentence that says, “This is what I am doing today, this is what the weather is like, this is who I am.”

Brother Vellies designer, Aurora James, in an interview for The Cut, sees clothes as anthropological pieces,

“Who is this woman? What is her story? What is she saying about herself, her culture, her dreams or fears when she puts this garment on?” James remembers. “This is how women have archived their own history: through apparel.”

Obviously, people who are immersed in fashion take clothes seriously. This is something we have been preoccupied with since we were little. We know and understand the power of clothing. We also recognize who is chic and has style, and who is dressing for themselves more than anyone. But for others outside this subset of people who see clothes as interesting artifacts of expression, clothes can just be stuff that need to be worn for different reasons, let’s break it down into 3 categories:

1. out of necessity (to look decent for the occasion, or to dress for the weather)

2. out of duty (ie uniforms)

3. to fit in (a religious group, a tribe, etc)

How these categories serve as a basis for honing in on a person’s identity and personality is not fool proof, may even put people in boxes and see them as cliches, but somehow provide clues about who a person is.

1. Necessity: The first is subjective and comes from the lens of the observer’s exposure and life experiences. It is also a function of the wearer’s interest in clothes, and other variables such as time, money, and location. A person may look disheveled and sloppy at first glance. But look closely and you may notice the rumpled shirt is linen, the joggers are made from French terry and cut differently from the usual baggy sweat pants. The sneakers may look like it has seen better days, but is actually Golden Goose. The observer who is not keyed into these finer details will probably dismiss the wearer as just another lazy dresser. Meanwhile, they see someone wearing a cheap acrylic knit dress with Gucci sneakers (worn with short colored socks with cartoon characters that look like they were bought from a market stall in Bangkok) and a Gucci cap as someone aspirational. This manner of dressing is simply prone to misinterpretation when presented to someone not attuned to subtle signals.

2. Duty: Uniforms are an obvious identifier, but only goes as far as placing someone in a role or position in society. This person is a student, works in a bank, or is a police officer. It doesn’t say much about personality or personal story until you dig deeper.

3. To belong: Some people don’t want to stick out too much and find comfort in blending in with the crowd or the circles they move around in. They just want to belong, which means, adapting the same dress codes and wearing the same type of clothes everyone else wears, even at the risk of looking homogenous. This makes it more difficult to know who the person is, but at best can point out where this person lives, studies or works and is telling of the kind of lifestyle they live.

This is why people who use clothing as tool for identity exploration and self-expression make them very interesting. It shows curiosity to understand one’s self and a desire to assert their originality and uniqueness. Because the reality is, people can really reinvent themselves if they are brave enough to leave who they are taught to be and take on the identity of who they chose or are choosing to be. It also invites others into their world, as if saying, “I have stories to tell, come and get to know me!”

And it is in this group that you stumble upon the people who find joy in dressing up. But as many street style accounts on Instagram show, there is also a difference between the people who dress up to feel empowered and those who dress up to entertain and yes to even escape their daily reality.

As Leandra Medine, wrote in this Substack post,

I'm still thinking about Tory Burch

“One thing I have been thinking about a lot lately as it relates to fashion consumption is the difference between clothes that excite you because they empower you and clothes that excite you because they facilitate escape.”

Or to simply put, FASHION vs FASHOWN. FASHION is empowerment, FASHOWN is entertainment and in a sense, a form of escape. Many people mistake one for the other but they are two different creatures.

From my observation, people who are FASHION are like Leandra Medine and Amy Smilovic. There is a craving for newness yes, and they get it by buying something new. But more often, finding new ways to wear what they already have. The love for clothes, fabrics, interesting cuts and a desire to look current or modern is a given but somehow they appear timeless through the years, because they remain who they truly are throughout.

You see people like them in Scott Schuman’s street style photos. Regular people on the street who convey a sense of ease in who they are, evident in how they carry themselves with confidence. Without knowing their photo would be taken that day, they set out into the world dressed as if ready for a sartorial snap at any given moment. But they don’t wish for attention or external validation. They just do it for themselves, day in and day out. Dressing up at any given day has nothing to do with hoping to get snapped on the streets. They just happened to go about their day, and “Click!”, they look good. They’ve always been ready, plain and simple.

Meanwhile, people who are FASHOWN, are the peacocks of the bunch. They are literal peacocks, wearing attention grabbing outfits like how a peacock would unfurl its tail. You cannot not see. They wear stuff you wouldn’t normally see on the streets, because they want to stand out. They dress up to be noticed. That is why they are entertaining, their presence facilitating a form of escape from reality.

Two different ways of dressing, but they both tell a story through their clothes. Of course, not everything is black or white. There are instances where we buy clothes to entertain ourselves and escape into a world we want to be part of (cue quiet luxury/old money style accounts on TikTok). But in the interest of sustainability, I hope we are able to make the distinction and we acquire new clothes for the right reasons - to empower us into being who we truly are. Like my Hawaiian shirt which I realize facilitates escape, because it makes me feel like my life is on a perpetual vacation. But! I’ve worn it a lot since I bought it and I love that it reminds me to have fun, such that printed short sleeved button downs have become part of my identity over time, so it’s become who I am.

Generally though, I’m more into the FASHION school of thought. I like the quiet confidence of those who understand what they like, what suits them and what makes them happy, without needing to draw the attention of others. Because they have found themselves and that’s what matters. Now, that’s chic.