This thread is annoying me way too much not to intervene...
I'm a recent graduate of fashion, currently in the process of applying for jobs, interviewing and trying to break into the fashion industry. I like working in retail, but it's just a stop-gap job. I need to start my actual career, in the place I want to be.
I've been an intern and an assistant, both unpaid and overworked. Every person I know, serious about trying to get a job in the fashion industry has worked their ass off for free. I'm not talking a cushy 9 - 5 job either: Long hours, sometimes until after midnight, or even starting work at 5am. It's something you have to really love, live and breathe. It's not about popping into the office, sitting on a desk all day, and getting paid for the work you do. It's everyone being part of creating something together as a team, and you'll go to whatever lengths it takes to do that.
My graduate catwalk collection was shown in London this summer. Being not just involved but in charge of every single aspect of the process of making that collection wasn't easy. I was expected to have the vision, concept, top sewing abilities, pattern cutting skills, illustration, graphic design, print design, create textiles, fabric knowledge, trend awareness, blood, sweat, tears and drive. Not to mention more hours than there even were in a day, and the money to fund all of this myself (about £4000)
It's hard for me when people laugh at fashion and say "well who would ever wear that?" without even considering the conceptual or performance aspects of it. Art gets its fair share of criticism too, but fashion only
seems more ridiculous because it's an art for the body. And if you don't believe art can have a purpose to entertain, inspire, frighten, shock, mock or amuse... Well, I'm sorry, but you're totally ignorant.
I've seen my friends and peers have their work laughed at in a similar way, even made into internet memes. People make jokes like "It's fashion, look it up!" to take the piss out of people like me who would even care about or try to defend something clearly so "pointless" that actually "offers nothing to the world".
I'm sorry if my art makes you feel excluded, confused or alienated. I'm sorry if you watch films like Devil Wears Prada and think we're all totally pretentious airheaded snobs who only care about wearing whatever dumb thing a designer puts out that season - We're not. Fashion is
SO MUCH MORE than you think it is. It's escapism, it's optimism, it's political and social commentary. It's also about pushing the boundaries, whether that be through something so obviously out-there (like the examples you guys have posted and poked fun at), beautifully mind-blowing textile developments, or extremely complex origami like silhouettes... or even by doing something simple, but unexpected. A new twist on something old is always brilliant to me - Nostalgia is something that rules me somewhat as an emotional and creative person.
And yeah, I'm going out into the industry with the hope of landing a job in high street womenswear design. Yes, those are clothes that I'm sure all of you actually wear every day. Many take for granted.
03.12.2015 12:11:49
HAS LEFT THE SITE! 
