Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Fashion [Unfold]: How is wellness and image defined in Fashion?

Another seed was dropped and I'm thankful to have been the 6th element to open the bridge this week for what has become a new fashion online phenomenon called "Fashion [Unfold]". An initiative brought from concept to reality, via Tweets by Noƫlly Sam @MissSly, Fashion Editor at MissSly! and Marcus Kan @fusionofeffects, Toronto based Photographer.

Every Tuesday, a fashion topic is selected, and the discussion gates are open to everyone, to weight in their two cents via Twitter and comments.

Allow me to give you a little taste and enchant you with this week's file! Don't be still, let's get to work! Once you've read this week's topic, feel free to join us on Twitter to share your thoughts and opinions, adding the tag #fashionunfold at the end of your tweets. If you're not on Twitter, you can share your opinion by leaving a comment right here on this post.

I am eager to hear your take! Lead the way and share what you have to say...
Follow us: @WithinEssence @MissSLY @fusionofeffects @FashionCrazy_

Topic: How is wellness and image defined in Fashion?

Synopsis...
Wellness is a word that encompasses different attributes of health and over the years, health has been an all around prominent subject matter that the great majority tends to bring forward in the fashion industry. We're constantly faced in within our reads about advertisement concerns and meticulous industry standards, such as models and their weight, not to mention their overall appearance etc. This goes without saying, since in "today's society" image is everything, especially in such trade, image has become a dominating selling factor but many wonder how this form of projection "speaks" to the mass.

What looks good as an industry standard doesn't always seem to be positioned as a feel good mentality if what is projected looks unhealthy and if there seems to be an ongoing duality between the need to leave room for the zero sized model vs. the plus sized model on runways.

Questions...
It is often said, that models need to be an look a certain way but wouldn't that be considered a stereotype that the media portrays? Are people missing the point that models need to be healthy and look the part? Do today's designers feel the need to incorporate "any" sense of empowerment within their collections? Meaning, do these related issues even come across as a concern when selecting models? If so, how does it correlate with an overall sense of wellness?

My two cents...
It doesn't matter whether you're skinny, average or plus sized. Health should be the number one concern because only such a factor can promote an entice and individual's appearance and attract ones attention. Sure you can be skinny and some may say you need the extra curves, but having the extra curves doesn't necessarily mean nor validate you as being healthy looking. So who's really empowered? And how do we position ourselves...

Be sure to check out Marcus Kan's (@fusionofeffects) webpage for the final updates of today's discussion :)