H O O K E D - Fashionable Elites or Elitist Fashion?

Fashionable Elites or Elitist Fashion?

Written by Rohaizatul Azhar

Years ago, when I was in secondary school, I remember claiming the top spot of the bottom tier in my Mathematics and Science classes with alarming regularity. I could never understand what my tutor was droning on about and it bore me to death. However, I knew even back then that there is only one thing that would make a difference to my life. Ok, I might be exaggerating a wee bit but I think you get the idea.

Fashion is my (YSL) opium - it is my antidote to the otherwise mundane repetitions we all like to call school life. I never thought twice about spending my miserable allowance on the various fashion magazines – or anything fashion related for that matter - that I could get my hands on instead of assessment books, or a new calculator.

To date, I believe I was right. I mean, unlike having a complete Dior Homme wardrobe, knowledge of covalent bonds is hardly ever going to make me look good.

With technology advancing faster than Nicole Richie’s post-pregnancy weight lost, pictures from the various runway collections each season seen on editorial spreads of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, turned into up-to-the-minute pictures splashed across the screen from sites like style.com. And with YouTube being all the rage now, watching the actual runway show is made possible and accessible.

        So every three months or so, I’ll track down the different fashion week (New York, Paris & London – well, those are the three that matter anyway) on YouTube and take in the genius designs each designer has to offer every season.

        And so, when Fashion Week finally arrived in Singapore a couple of years back, I was beyond ecstatic because finally, I can try to wrangle my way for an invite or two and be part of fashion’s elite.

        Let’s face it, if you’re not part of the elite crop of socialites, celebrities and industry power-players, an invitation to one of the runway shows is hardly ever to come by. So with ‘try’ being the operative word, it would not be years later - last year in fact - that I finally got myself a few invites to some of the big shows at The Tent @ Orchard. I thank my then-best friend, a writer for Arena, for that invitation and my first foray into the glitzy world of fashion and style.

        Seated just four rows away (it’s really not that near) from the runway and opposite some of Singapore’s fashion elite, I observed – with great intensity – at the invisible caste system existing in the fashion circle.

        Yes, fashion is elitist and it’s for the elite. The system of inviting editors and prominent fashion power-players to see a new collection has been in placed for decades and, despite the public access created by the Internet, has encouraged a kind of rigid caste system, with front-row chiefs, art directors, top photographers, socialites, top celebrities and, farther back, the stylists, junior editors, lesser-known starlets and now, bloggers.

        Mere mortals can only dream of being in that side of the runway where the view is unobstructed and so close, you can almost touch supermodels Ai Tominaga and Anne Watanabe as they sashayed down the runway in the latest Matthew Williamson or Woods & Woods.

The shows lasted for a good twenty minutes. The waiting time for each show to begin was at a grand total of 2 hours. It was almost as if going to a fashion show was not about the collection itself, rather, it was to see and be seen.

Anyone who complains that fashion is like one of those American high school dramas (read: The Hills, The O.C, Gossip Girl) where it’s all about who you’re seen with, what you’re wearing and which clique you sip your Moet with is very much correct. The reason people go to fashion shows, as I observed, is to see other people and to see where they are in the industry, based on where they are sitting.

        So really, does this make fashion all that elitist?

        A chat with a girlfriend of mine over coffee sheds light on why, for the masses, fashion seems to be only for the superficial and elitist. According to her, everything in fashion is chosen for us by “a group of fashion knows-it-all”.

        "If we think about it properly," she went on, “what we choose to wear – no matter how fashion-apathetic we might claim to be – was hand picked for us indirectly by the big time fashion power-players from editors to buyers. We are influenced by the lifestyle of the rich and the famous and we try to emulate their style in an attempt to get recognized for being in-fashion. And what they wore, funny enough, was chosen for them by the very same industry power-players. It’s a vicious cycle to make the masses spend money.” Touché.

        However, being elitist has its benefits.

        Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of the fashion bible Vogue, once claimed that people either “know fashion, or (they) don’t” and therefore, we need all the help we can get.

        Most of us read Vogue or attend fashion shows not with the intention of buying the wildly expensive clothes – at least I don’t have such intentions - but because doing so educates our eyes and hones our taste, similar to the way eating gourmet food refines the palate. To deny that privilege is to deny us the privilege of fantasy in the form of beautifully constructed couture.

        Thus as I see it, Fashion is elitist only when one refuses to allow themselves to be fully submerged into it; to surrender one’s self to the very thing that governs one’s daily life.

        Fashion is elitist only because it has to be.

        And speaking of elitism in fashion - of which I am not yet a part of - I am once again trying to snag myself an invite or two to this year’s Singapore Fashion Festival. *Fingers-crossed* HOOKED

Visit The Singapore Fashion Festival website for more info on who's showing this year and how you can get your hands on the coveted tickets. This year's confirmed guest supermodels are Emma Pei and Erin O Connor, as well as international male model Marcus Schenkenberg.

Comments
Written by Guest on 2008-03-31 17:20:17
"Most of us read Vogue or attend fashion shows not with the intention of buying the wildly expensive clothes – at least I don’t have such intentions - but because doing so educates our eyes and hones our taste, similar to the way eating gourmet food refines the palate. To deny that privilege is to deny us the privilege of fantasy in the form of beautifully constructed couture."
This point of view in your article is beautiful.
Written by Guest on 2008-04-01 06:03:43
Nicole Richie is spelt without a 't', fashionista.
Written by rohai on 2008-04-01 10:30:13
Hey to the above reader! Thanks a bunch for spotting that.

that's a big oops from me!
Written by Guest on 2008-04-02 11:11:15
excellent writing. fantastic read. you are one of those talented writers. i've enjoyed every article you've written thus far.
Written by Guest on 2008-04-03 01:48:31
Wow! i enjoyed reading this! the writer's wit interspersed throughout the text makes this article very engaging.

i was at the Matthew Williamson show last year as well! It was pretty fabulous. But was rather disappointed that he didn't come down!! he did come down this year right? i didn't go for this year's show.

So did you manage to snag some tickets this year? BRING ME!
Written by Guest on 2008-04-13 10:54:29
awesome read!
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Written by Guest on 2008-07-01 09:17:00
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