Fashion's Wings

"They say couture is dead. Maybe for them, but not for us."
- Karl Lagerfeld

I've been meditating on the concept of impermanence, on progress, on endings and beginnings. A big reason has been inspired by a challenge presented: change now or be stifled.

After personally feeling the crunch from retail jobs being taken over by computers (such as cashiers being replaced with kiosks, live agents with chatboxes and sales associates with online shopping), I have woken up to the fact that my job too might be on thin ice. But I recall what my yoga teacher said to us well over a decade ago, before the 2008 recession and before a time when our communities really started to feel the heat of job performance being outdone by AI - Figure out what it is that you can bring to a job, that a computer can't.

Fortunately I have the privilege of in fact being in a position to offer a service that a machine can't, and that is establishing human connection by selling something that in its purest form is emotion-based, because in its purest form it is both basic and creative. And in the raw-power of helping people find suitable garments I am indirectly a part of the fabric that helps them make decisions in their daily living. This is because working with fashion is so much more than selling "over-priced" merchandise - it is offering people ways to start their days with romanticism and confidence which in turn can affect the entire way they work and go about the world.

I used to think that fashion was only for a select blessed few. The tall skinny models and the rich who could afford to keep up with trends that need wardrobe rehauling every six months. But now I know that fashion evokes feelings through story-telling. I watched the Netflix documentary Seven Days Out where one of the events was the Chanel Spring-Summer 2018 Haute Couture show, and I got to learn a new side of fashion - the hope that it evokes. Amanda Harlech, Chanel's Creative Consultant says:

Given where we are now (political, economic climate), a first response might be shelter, or take up arms against, or defense, and what Karl is offering up is a vision that is so full of light. In a sense that is the power of fashion, because it is transformative, because it can make you feel uplifted, empowered, given wings. It's a dream realized."

To believe in the power of transformation, to see an ending as the necessary exchange for a beginning and not as a tragedy, has provided both the inspiration to progress and change with the industry, and also to remain loyal to the spirit of fashion, which is to connect and create through the imagination a limitless world of intrigue and possibilities.

It is possible to advance with integrity, to adjust rather than abandon, to be committed than to be fair-weathered, and to be inspired instead of fearful. What I can bring to a job that a computer can't is the same passion that Karl showed which comes from finding a genius, and then having the confidence to tend to it and see it through.

May hopes and dreams and possibilities give wings to all that your talent has to give.

Finding Passion in Fashion