The Sunday News
Peter Matika
FASHION is a vital component of our global popular culture. The term fashion implies change in production, marketing and purchase of clothes . . . the change is fast and furious, if I may say so myself. Clothes and accessories share characteristics with other commodities of popular culture.
Styles in both music and clothing are incorporated not only by designers and performers in the marketplace but also by consumers in their everyday lives. Recent influences in clothing fashion may be traced to styles from a variety of subcultures, racial communities and leisure-interest groups. Elements of popular culture become fused when a person’s “trend” is associated with a preference for a genre of music such as rap, hip-hop, reggae, rock or country-western music. Like music, news or literature, fashion has been fused into everyday lives.
Everyday we are bombarded with facets of popular culture in the media, on the streets and in clothing stores. In context we behold diverse elements of fashion in appearance — in wholes or in parts. Pop culture has led to the demise of traditional categories and boundaries, as it has been polluted by phenomena such as gender bending and mixing of styles from different cultures and eras.
The origins of fashion can be explored by looking back in time, with the changing trends and marketed products varying throughout each generation. Fashion and what people wore goes as far back to the ancient era. Fashion has evolved throughout society, adapting to the environment in which it has been marketed. Fashion is widespread within global pop culture but its development occurs in different places around the world. It is mostly reflective in well-developed countries.
Designers and trendsetters, such as actors and singers continuously work to advance and expand fashion and its limits. If their clothing is popular and found out to be appealing to the fashion industry it could then lead to them being recognised globally, with offered support by an international fashion labels such as Gucci, Nike, Polo and Lacoste to name just a few.
Their clothing and ideas grow to a universal level because of who they are. Other aspects of pop culture that have been blended to fashion are derived from technology.
For years technology has made commercialised the fashion industry and is now more profound than ever before. As generations of fashion grow new products have ensured that fashion and all its triumph has changed to maintain its appeal to succeeding generations. Has fashion changed the society in which we live, or has society changed fashion? This is a question we should ask ourselves. There is no doubt that any discussion of this issue will require an investigation into changes in attitudes and values in access by individuals of different classes in society. Nonetheless it has to be admitted that fashion in many ways has shaped society.
We have seen it develop, repeat, exaggerate and change. Fashion will always be a mystery industry. Looking at fashion today we should note that it has been repeated over and over, nothing is new. Typical trendsetters of pop culture are Justin Timberlake, Jay Z, Lil Wayne and Kanye West. If you look outside your window or simply walk around town you will notice that most teens and maybe a few adults dress like these celebrity icons. Saggy jeans, sneakers, leather jackets and magnified style glasses.
When we talk about stylish men, Justin Timberlake could be regarded as one of the leaders in the industry. These celebrities’s personality’s and fashion philosophies have redefined the fashion styles for men. Their names have personified fashion.
These men are responsible for innovating new fashion trends for men. Whether it is a dark business suit with white sneakers or jeans with a half done necktie their styles are more adopted and admired, mostly by the young. These icons are able to sync fashion into the music world as well as the fashion industry. These men are extremely cautious about fitting and make sure they don’t wear those clothes that don’t fit well. In Timberlake’s case, his philosophy is to do the dressing right there. He has blended modern and classic fashion trends.
