How do you know you're a fashion victim?

Georg Simmel was a contemporary Social Theorist who wasn't preoccupied with macro structures, such as economy, government, or religion. He was micro oriented studying individuals and interactions. He believed that there were different multiple levels of social reality and that interpersonal relationship and interactions made a component of social life. Thus believed that society is made up of people and the interactions of individuals. He wrote an article "Fashion", which he said that norms of fashion (today's "fad's") are a product of social demands. Type of clothing an individual wears is an easy way to conform with a group. (This is seen in high school cliques: Goths wear all black, athletes wear athletic gear, 'preppy' students wear oxford button ups, and etc.-Thus fashion provides norms the individuals can deviate from). To Simmel, Lady Gaga wouldn't be so out of the ordinary, because both conformists and anti-conformists are both shaped by fashion. Lady Gaga chooses to go against the norms, thus she is also grouped into another category.

Therefore, we are all fashion victims. Even if you shop at Bergdorfs or Walmart. What's the difference in buying a leather CK belt from Bloomingdales for the name to buying that spiked belt to not conform to the norm? There's a message in both articles of clothing. This is also evident to guys- why is it important to choose athletic gear from Nike/Puma/Adidas/etc?

So how do you know you're a high end fashion victim?

1. You pay more to appear poor.

-You buy fabrics that are prewashed and grayed out to appear less new. Jeans have slashes and holes (and you think, no. it won't look the same if I did it yourself). So what's the difference between jeans that are acid washed to jeans that were passed down to you by your mother? Remember that Louis Vuitton bag I blogged about a while ago? The one made from trashbags and retail price was over $1,000. One place says it all: Thrift Shopping.

2. You own minutely different variations of the same thing.

-You know you have a fashion victim friend, when you go shopping and she buys the same shirt in 4 different colors. Or your friend who has a endless pairs of sneakers. Justifying one pair is for running, a pair for walking, and a pair for shopping. Or the friend who has a million black pants saying each are so different.

3. You clothes not only define who you are but also your lifestyle.

-The brand of your bedspread evokes the image of affluence. Why is it Lacoste only made bedsheets for Twin XL and there's tons of Tommy Hilfiger sheets that exude young girly feel. Who else would have Peace Sign sheets? A girl in college. This was a strategic way to up sales too. Look at pre-teens and the Victoria Secret Pink line- it went from bras to underwear to street clothes to pjs, to lotions and perfumes. The affluent want to be different from common people so they don't have cell phones like us, instead they own the thousands of dollars diamond encrusted Prada, Armani phones. A documentary that demonstrates this is Valentino: Last Emperor.Valentino's passion is making dresses, not sunglasses, bags, and all that stuff, but the fashion empire and market is expanding so in order to keep up and make money he is forced to make these products to help the buyer portray a lifestyle.

4. You dress vicariously through your children and pets.

- Babies outgrown their clothes quickly. So why do many mothers insist on dressing their child in little ralph lauren polos? When I was in Orlando, in the Burberry Outlet, I saw this couple buy little Burberry print shorts, skirts, and polos for their baby girl that looked like a couple months old. They spent over $1,000 on clothes their baby would outgrow in a couple of months. Dogs are also similar. I'm not talking about the cute clothes found in pet stores. I'm talking about louis vuitton doggy bag holders, gucci doggy raincoat (for $117), and for the middle class- Old Navy doggy line.

5. athleticism

- I always found it funny when it came to looking 'sporty'. From lacoste sweatbands to nike sweatbands. To buying the Rugby line from Ralph Lauren. Fashion victims try to pull of the athletic look ,rather than just wearing a team jersey. Designer line names are also changed: "Gap Athletic Line, Polo Sport, etc."

6. Walking Billboard

-I have written about this soo many times, so refer to my other blogs about parading around with the LV initial bag to the Nike swoosh to the A/X print.