Good Morning My Loves,
I hope you are all having a great start to your weekend. I spent yesterday evening and the greater part of my Saturday morning painting for this post, because it is inspired by a topic that I have been DYING to discuss with you all here on Travel Write Draw!! Fast fashion is a contemporary term that has been tossed around these past few years, to describe the crazy phenomenon of quick runway to retail turnaround of high end designs made accessible to the masses. Usually Zara and H&M are names that follow closely in the same sentence. But Fast Fashion for me is a MUCH more loaded term than one just used to describe the $1,500 sweater on the runway today, made available for $15 tomorrow.
For one, this past February saw some of the biggest designers turning to the culture of fast food and lowbrow everyday grocery shopping (MOSCHINO and Chanel respectively) for inspiration for their collections. Not to mention that every blogger in attendance was already wearing the now infamous golden arches of MOSCHINO to the show, before it even came down the runway. And another prong of the term concerns the mania of instagram where I get my daily dose of anxiety scrolling through my fellow fashion illustrators posting new works everyday, upwards of 5 times per day. All the while, I'm sitting at my full-time job, 5 days a week, wishing I could just run home to sketch, paint, post, repeat.
For me, fast fashion describes today's zeitgeist, the spirit of the industry right now. Go FAST or go HOME seems to be the sentiment. Maybe I'm just being sensitive and should ignore the noise, but it is almost deafening for me considering I live in New York, work full-time in the industry, and spend every other waking hour talking, thinking, illustrating, and referencing fashion. Even my boyfriend works in fashion. For me fashion is fast and there is no other way about. But it begs the question, is fast all that matters?! Have we all become totally immune to detail and precision in exchange for the one trick pony highs?! Is anyone else out there as bemused as I am over the lack of concern for the craft?!
I am as guilty as anyone for loving some great on trend stuff at Zara. I buy what I can afford, when I can afford it. And of course looking good and feeling confident trumps all in the workplace. But when it concerns my passion for fashion illustration, thats when I get upset. Artists and illustrators used to have years to harness their skills and build a body of work they felt represented their voice. Now, if you don't have one out of the gate, you orbit out of the industry's peripheral until you do. There is less room for exploration in the narrow canon of fashion. But guess what, I want to explore. I want to get better, and grow, and challenge myself. Life is had between the lines, not in an instagram.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Am I being sensitive, or do you feel the whipping wind of fast fashion too?!
Much love,
Meag xx
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