“Three guests I have, dissenting at my feast,
Requiring each to gratify his taste,
With different food.”
Horace, Epistles 2
On the dilemmas of entertaining for a range of guests, the poet Horace gave us these three lines to reflect upon. In reality however, we have come to learn that taste is a sense that extends beyond flavours and textures, and into the realm of abstract preferences. Whilst having a particular taste in film is very much a different concept altogether to enjoying the heat of a curry, or having an aversion to the rubbery texture of octopus; they do center around one thing in particular: what brings us pleasure. And so recognising that having a ‘taste in fashion’ means having a set of preferences that dictate what you derive pleasure from, we can see that Horace’s difficulties in being a good host can translate into the world of clothing.
Imagine this: the fashion industry is no longer a collective network of designers, producers and outlets, but rather an over-generous host who’s duty is to make everyone happy. How could someone recognise the plethora of different tastes, and truly believe that they could satisfy them all? To do this, our benevolent host would need to look at our tastes, and derive from them what makes them pleasurable to us.
Understanding Your Palate
Walking through a city, you are bound to encounter people that will prompt the question: “what on earth are you wearing?” This question is too simplistic. What you should ask yourself as you pass them is not what are they wearing, but rather why are they wearing such an outfit.
Our personal tastes often fall in line with what we identify ourselves as, and so our tastes are reflective of our innermost desires, ideals, aspirations and fears. While these are the driving forces dictating what tastes we will be drawn to, it is often painfully obvious that we are not aware of what our true selves often want to achieve in leading us to whatever tastes we take favour to. The group of teenagers you saw only minutes ago may in fact realise how ridiculous they look in your eyes, but nevertheless persist in keeping up their appearances.
The saying “dress to impress” is often stated within the realms of fashion, but is a saying that I believe to be counter-intuitive. The reality we all face is far more complex that the saying suggests: that we are all deeply misunderstood creatures that desire more than anything else to experience mutual understanding from another human being.
As children we are raised into the world via a near infinite number of variables that all eventually impact who we are, and as we continue to grow, we evolve and come to realise that our identities are dynamic, and constantly changing. How then can anyone be said to truly understand us? The conclusion we can derive from this is that our reality is one of perpetual loneliness and confusion. When met with ignorance and dismissiveness, our loneliness and confusion can bring us great pain and sorrow. On the other hand, when met with empathy and kindness, our reality can seem to be not so bad. It is through empathetic, kind and understanding contact that we can experience the best the world has to offer: Friendship, a virtuous and fulfilling relationship in which our loneliness and confusion are calmed, and we are able to take in the beauty of life.
It is with the virtues of a friend then, that we should look at other people in order to understand them, and through a little bit of kindness and empathy we can learn a lot about people just by looking at them. Clothing can be understood, beyond its practical use, as a method of communication that we use every time we dress ourselves and can be very telling of who we are. Psychologically we are drawn to things that we find beautiful: the view from a mountaintop, the hysterical happiness of a child’s laughter or the deep, fortified hum of a Cello. But what we define as beautiful is something that appeals to our needs as individuals. We may find the view from the mountaintop beautiful because for once everything is laid out in front of us, the child’s laughter may provide an antithesis to the grudging facelessness of the corporate world to which we are employed, and when we are pensive and tired of living in a world so flawed and corrupt, the righteous, impenetrable strength of a Cello, guided by its masters hands, may offer hope and security for us.
It is through this very human understanding that we must view our own, and others tastes in fashion in order to gain proper insights as to what the strangers we pass on our day to day lives want to tell us as they dress themselves every morning.
The Failings of Fashion
It seems cruel that for simply trying to connect with others by wearing particular clothes, that we can be made to look so silly, incoherent and even at times; ugly. As an art form, fashion often fails us. If the benevolent host were to look upon us, in seeing how often we are failed by its efforts, it would weep.
Undoubtable, yes, the failings of fashion have and will continue to cause unhappiness and confusion for many, but at the heart of fashions troubles is simply a break-down of communication. If clothing can be seen as a means of communicating, then someone wearing clothes that render them a spectacle, rather than an individual trying to tell the world a little bit about themselves, can be compared to someone with a speech impediment desperately trying to communicate their ideas, but impeded from truly doing them justice.
To know all of our wants and needs, what makes us tick, and what we want to show off to the outside world would be an incredible challenge, even for a benevolent host that wants the best for us. Looking at the Fashion industry as it is, a competitive, individualistic and fractured system; its failings can easily be seen and forgiven. In fact, the failings of the fashion industry are inevitable and ubiquitous; and it is how we perceive these failings that should make all the difference.
The Rest is Silence 