By Ojelabi “Quintessence “ Olumuyiwa
What is fashion? Who determines what it is & what it’s not? How come some people have appointed themselves fashion police, seated on moral high grounds poking fingers at what they perceive as fashion mismatch, misconduct, or outright misdemeanour.
Who are these fashion umpires and where do they derive their powers from? These umpires sporadically appear judge “cases” that are presented to them by nobody, where they assume the offices of accusers, prosecutors, judge & jury armed to the teeth with laws unanimously aggregated, fine-tuned, revised, amended and passed in the legislative Chambers of the self-appointed unilateral umpire.
In the fashion universe, who decides when a trend is initiated, how it should be deployed and to what extent? When an individual comes up with a fashion idea he thinks is great without infringing on other people’s sensibilities how do you explain castigating my idea because you think you know better than me, “excuse you” it’s my idea, not imposed on you.
The “crazy jeans “is a good example of how opinions can be so divided and biases become even more bias. Growing up wearing a torn or ripped Jean is seen as a sign of lack or refusal to pay attention to personal grooming and these “infractions” are frowned at and “offenders” tongue lashed as reprimand by the then fashion police who may or may not be part of the team “crazy jeans” of today who now adorn ripped jeans with glee, and the now moral fashion police, who are against it are those who may or may not have suffered punitive measures at the hands of the then police who may now be on the receiving end, such is the way of life, such Is the way of the world wherein what comes goes around, comes around, we go around in circles chasing our own “tails”, it’s cyclical, it’s all a merry-go-round, the end is also a beginning.
The alternation of “roles” between the “fashion offender” and “fashion police “ in the “crazy jeans” illustration suggest and support the white and black theory, wherein the self-appointed “fashion police” of the day sees himself as White and the “fashion offender” as Black, full stop. He reigns supreme in all matters of fashion, how it is done if it’s done well, and how it can possibly be tweaked. He can do no wrong as he was trained & forged in the fires of “fashion hood” by impeccable tutors from the prestigious school of public opinion that bestowed upon him the degree that helps to do no wrong while spotting all form of wrong in what others call fashion.
I hold no grudge nor attempt to judge, only wonders fill my heart upward to the brim of my hat. Like power, I feel fashion is at best transient, at worst “grey” (a little bit here, a little bit there). Nothing new springs up from nothing, it’s either a modification of something, improvements of something, or a combination of several other things as not before combined. Same goes for the fashion of today which is either an improvement of the previous era, or combination of different styles, and as these styles evolve, the “police” shifts grounds to accommodate the new trend and may soon find himself endorsing version 2.0, while the one who he “policed turnaround to now “police” him knowing fully well that the version 2.0 the then police now propagate is predicated upon version 1.0 which was what earned him the flaks then. That’s how the fashion table turns.
These gatekeepers don’t just police, they also arrogate to themselves powers to allocate. Having powers to allocate, they are also empowered to name and shame those who appropriate. I mean the world needs not just a “fashion police “ but the “fashion Interpol”. God forbid they fail at their duty, the world would be engulfed in the chaos of “transatlantic fashion theft”. What would we ever do without their immense contribution which has ensured cultures don’t crash and those who dare err pulled by the ear or hair and thrown out of here?
We thank thee our dearly beloved fashion enforcement agencies, we will forever be in thy debt.
Ponder on the subject of my wonder.
Peace Easy.
Well written and a good read. Well done.