Fashion and the Couture of Everyday Life

by Kim, September 17, 2009 at 6:00am

Fashion Week is wrapping up in New York, and at at first glance the event seems like nothing other than a ritual in conspicuous consumption. In her "Story of Stuff" video, Annie Leonard described fashion as a sort of conspiracy to get us to buy--and discard--more stuff to keep in step with the trends. A couple of years ago I certainly thought that clothing was another area of life where the durable had become disposable for no good reason, and where stuff had become confused with identity. The fashion industry is admittedly somewhat bizarre: a Through the Looking Glass world where the models' size is inversely proportional to that of a society in the throes of an obesity epidemic.

Nevertheless, last year I went to a couture show at Fashion Week and was surprised to find it a moving experience. Couture means every stitch is hand-sewn, so each dress was like looking at an intricately-carved sculpture. It's always uplifting to see people doing things from scratch and imbuing a product with intentionality. There could just as easily have been an organic farmer or artisan cheesemaker trotting their wares on the catwalk, and it would have been arresting in the same way. In an ersatz culture, craftsmanship tugs at your soul a little bit, causing you to appreciate the skill and wisdom behind any made thing, and realize that consumers so often settle for the inauthentic at a high price to themselves and the rest of society.

Of course, I couldn't relate to the use of fur or to the price tags, but the experience drove home the idea that each thing we do can be a work of art; and that on some level every garment is couture because someone, somewhere, labored upon it by hand. Buying fair trade and/or organic is so important because it ensures that the people laboring over our clothes are not poisoned or exploited in the process.

Becoming more familiar with the fashion world taught me to see that many people involved in the industry are sincere devotees of beauty. Of course, beauty is not necessarily to be bought, nor is it trademarked by one brand. Shopping second hand is a neat way to benefit from others' castoffs, but even the most astute thrift shopper must break down and buy the occasional new article. When you do so, make sure your dollars are going to support makers of organic, fair trade and/or recycled clothing. Fashion is fickle and it's only as powerful as consensus, just like the fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes." If one by one we stand up and say that conspicuous consumption, unsustainable materials, and exploitative labor practices are not beautiful, the fashion industry experts, with their refined nose for beauty, might start devoting their couture craftsmanship to eco-friendly fashions just like the many talented people at Etsy. After all, everyday life is the most enduring source of beauty and everything about that life is worth doing with the patience of a couturier, one stitch at a time.

Treehugger has a great article on 7 reasons why you should care about sustainable fashion.