What is Fashion? A philosophical Look....

   

     Can anything be called " Fashion" ?  How come some styles of Fashion can be "in style" forever and some " Fashion"  can be out tomorrow.  Can both types of  still be considered "Fashion".  While I observe shows .. day in and day out and looking at how fashion designers are being influenced and from what years they have used to make their piece .. I observe trends and see .. some are just either trying to be  nostalgic + modern or completely cool+ absurd.  

I am not trying to disrespect fashion designers or the " going trend" but what divides the line to a "going trend" and to what can last us "forever".???

 There are magazines such as elle, harpers bazzar , vogue .. telling us that snake skin is out and elephant skin is in. Double breasted jackets are in with point shoulder pads but brown leather vests are out .. But  do any of these magazines say why they are in and why they are out .. Or give some sort of reason for their decisions to why I should possible wear anything they are suggesting... do they have the skills that enable them to make that required decision ..???

While I was in the University , I took a Philosophy class in which helped classify what defines " Art" what defines " beauty" what defines " fashion" ..believe me ... just because a designer or a artist says it is fashion or art does not necessarily " Mean" it is ..
Its up to you to make the decision.....   But offcourse your decision making skills must be trained ... 
Ladies and Gentleman welcome to the Philosophies of David Hume
                The Standard of Taste

Hume starts of on the focus of comparison .. Let compare 2 designers .. lets say you say.. Designer A is better that Designer B.. How do you know???? What are your judgments based on?? if they are based on anything they are just based on your personal preference .. You prefer A to B...

We can say that you are reflecting upon some sort of taste you have acquired ... but there is a problem to this .. because taste involves a response to something besides just the preference.. Your choice is based upon the pleasure that you receive when you shout out " Designer A is better" Looking at "Designer A" gives you more  " Pleasure" than B .. Thus providing you the understanding that "Designer A" is better...  You are claiming that "Designer A" is better is actually wrong .. even though everyones taste is actually legitimate .. and everyone has a style and taste of their own.. but when you claim that something is actually aesthetically better then something you have to explain why .... 

But what if I said to you .. that there is no such thing as everyone's taste is correct or legitimate .. What if there is a standard of taste?
A precise rule or principle that shows whose taste is right and whose taste is wrong ..

Why I am bring this up is that most people, bloggers , magazines, fashion commenters .. ect .. They treat " Fashion " as if it is Ice Cream .. That it is a pleasure .. they can not explain why something is aesthetically correct or pleasing to their eye .. ..
You see when these rules of standard taste  are applied to various cases .. the resulting pleasure can be used in an educated way...and your decisions can be made in a correct way..

Hume advises that people should be educated in their art .. but when he means educated you have to be able to be rich in knowledge about everything .. Music, Art, Books, Movies, Fashion , Language.. a sever intense  education on the " History" of all these subjects ...  Because Fashion does not just mean something that appears to be cloth hanging on a model .. you must know the history of couture , the history and uses of fabric , cuts, styles, ways of drapping.. the eras of fashions- the cuts , styles, fabrics of every era... the history .. the history of the time of the fashion the particular food they ate at each era,  the going trends, the beauty techniques , the music, the literature .. Basically you must know everything .. more then  just fashion .. because its is this knowledge that will help you in your understanding the designer and being able to make your  choice ..

He also suggests that if you do not have these vast areas of knowledge you are not refined enough to make a decision or a claim that something is good .. because you are treating something that is Fashion lets say like a preference to the type of Ice Cream you like .... Fashion is not like Ice Cream ... Fashion can not be that you like Vanilla more then you like Chocolate .. or that you think Strawberry is better then Vanilla...

Hume believes that education is not enough for the aesthetical judgment that " Designer A" is better then " Designer B because you need practice in refining your taste and judgment for a long people of time ..  the element of practice for Hume is Key..to make a good judgment ..  A small number of people can notice the small little details to why something is beautiful or better then another thing ... and those claims need education and experience ..
The element of experience is very important to making those judgments because  to Hume it is a learned skill that needs fine tuning.. A skill that without practice can go away ...

Hume says " Education aside, not everyone is even capable of noticing some of the important things that are important to the experience. It's like wine tasting -- some people are simply more capable of tasting what is there. If you cannot "taste" an artwork because you cannot perceive what's in it, you are in no position to make recommendations to others about it."

So it is more then just being able to pass your time .. and getting experience you have to really be able to be capable of perception and poses some kind of awareness to what you see... As Fashion is in deed a type of Art .. one must be able to possess the fine skills to distinguish what they see and be able to articulate what they see..

Hume believes that there are a few that possess the required delicacy of taste .. and that this will be a major obstacle because Education, Experience and Perception  just is not enough .One must be able to deal with the obstacles of change because Fashion like Art changes ..Styles , Perceptions they are subject to change and flux ..

Through lack of delicacy , practice .. you have to be able to not be prejudice ... Prejudice , Hume finds to be the fault that people are just not giving a chance to new things or new perceptions because people find it is unfamiliar or not related to one's social situation at a present time .. or some kind of distortment  of taste.. These people are not good candidates to be judges..  Another aspect that Hume finds to be prejudice is that we want " Art" or " Fashion" that reflects ourselves .. people can not respond appropriately that  is an irony to themselves..  Another problem will be the difference in Morality .. If we feel that it affects our basic senses of what is right and wrong we can not give an appropriate decision to what is the right view to have ...

  Now that we have our principles down ...
              Are you a candidate to judge ?