Why I love fashion

Ah, fashion week!  Scouring Style.com for updates on the latest shows, amazing looks on the streets, working out what I'm going to wear next season, (although with my budget, it's more like what I'd like to wear next season!)  I just love it.

I work in a very practical, male dominated environment and I'm often told, 'What's the point of fashion?  I mean, some of those dresses are really stupid.  You couldn't go to the supermarket in them.'  This is missing the point spectacularly.  Fashion, (and by this I mean couture) is not about covering your body in order to perform the practical mundanities of life.  It's about transcending the everyday banalities.  It's about using the human form as a template to create breathtaking works of art.  You need to look no further than the late, great Alexander McQueen for this.

Image courtesy of oodora.com

Fashion, (here I'm talking about all aspects of fashion - couture, high street, ready to wear) allows you to fleetingly experience states of existence that you wouldn't normally - one day you can be a Hollywood siren, the next a hard-nosed businesswoman.  It allows you to escape, to dream & to explore.

It's been suggested more than once to me that as an intelligent, educated woman, I should be above such superficial things such as appearance. I strongly disagree with this stance.  Let's face it - we all make snap judgements based on the way someone comes across visually.  Fashion allows you to control those judgements to your advantage.  According to mental health professionals, one of the signs of mental illness is not caring about the way you look.

Do we need fashion?  We need fashion in the same way that we need Beethoven, Shakespeare and Warhol.  It may not be necessary for our basic routine of eating and sleeping but it elevates us and makes us more than just field animals.

I leave you with this gorgeous creation by Chanel to feast your eyes on...

Image courtesy of mimifroufrou.com