"No one has succeeded in making clear how the relation of the individual consciousness to the collective consciousness is to be conceived," wrote the British social psycologist William McDougall in The Group Mind (1920-21, 30). Sigmund Freud thought that collective stuctures like the "group mind" and the juxtaposition of individual and society were unnecessary constructs.
Fashions are ways of behaving which, when they are new, one can exhibit in public without isolating oneself but at a later stage one must show in public to avoid isolation. In this manner, society safeguards its cohesion and ensures that individuals will be sufficiently ready to compromise.
Fashion's playful charecter makes it easy for us to overlook its great seriousness, its importance as an integrating social mechanism.
It is always touching to read in market analyses how wistfully consumers answer the question of what, above all, they aare looking for when they buy a new dress: "It should not go out of style," Here, if anywhere, we witness a genuine resentment against the "coercion to consume,"an anger about having to compromise one's own inclinations to the demands of fashion in order not to be ridiculed or rejected by contemporary taste as a scarecrow clad in the clothes of yesteryear. But the reasons for this "coercion to consume" are misjudged. It is not the storekeepers who pull the strings of these processes, as angry consumers tend to believe. They don't set the stage, steering the trend of fashion in one direction or the other. If they are successful, it is because like good sailors they know how to trim their sails to the wind. The outward garment is too good a means for expressing the signs of the time, too good a medium for the individual to exhibit his obedience to society.
Taken from, The Spiral of Silence by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann
By the way, "coercion" is using force or authority to make a person do something against his or her will.
I truly agree. I used to feel intimidated by my well dressed counterparts. I always wanted to match up to their standards. I spent a lot in the course of investing in "IT" stuff. Today, I'm 36. A mother of 2 beautiful kids. Just like the title of your blog, I'm self-styled. Thanks to the confident and support my husband fed me with. I believe that i create my own style and i'm do not feel inclined to follow any alternative. When you're here:) you'll know. Have fun with your communications.
ReplyDeletei didnt know you can read so much from fashion. now i see more depth in fashion than just pretty clothes and expensive price tags.
ReplyDeletei find myself following the trends or dressing on the safe side most of the time. i dont want to look odd. i guess the individualists develop their own styles while collectavists like me dresses like our peers to fit in.
to think i ever dreamt about being a fashion designer. i should start developing my own styles instead of just following what my peers wear.
An insightful post!
ReplyDeleteI think what fashion is all about depends on the individual mind. And that's one of the basis we use to judge people occasionally too, from the way they dress, etc.
Otherwise, I think the "Spiral of Silence" paragraph is meaningful (: Makes you think.