societal-reflections
I have tagged 1 blog post with societal-reflections:
Fashion Forecast: Reflecting Our Mood through Monotones and Vintage Vibes
As I sit here constrained within the iron belly of my daily commute, my breath fogs up the glass, creating a hazy mirror against the stark backdrop of winter morning. Outside, everything is still. The trees are bare, standing tall and solitary like sentinels under a withering sky. It's 4 degrees Celsius. It might as well be -40. The cold penetrates deeper than the layers. It reaches into your bones, and perhaps even touches the soul.
Just moments ago, I read the grating news of a high-ranking Iranian military leader, Qassem Soleimani, being killed. The strike prompted by a mandate from the U.S and confirmed by Pentagon was set in motion as a response to an Iranian orchestrated attack on the US embassy in Baghdad. The weighty knowledge of it tugs at the corners of my brain, painting yet another grayscale hued thread into the tapestry of our gloomy world.
Today, the melancholy I feel translates to my blog as I dive into fashion trends, or the lack thereof, that seem to be reflecting our collective aura these days. Our clothing, undoubtedly, is a manifestation of our moods, our identities, our defiance, and our concessions. As I look around the train, hunched bodies cloaked in hues of cold grays, blues, and blacks seep into my consciousness. Surely, we are what we wear.
The omnipresent oversized silhouette, cloaking the body like an armor, seems to be a popular retreat these days. It protects us from the penetrating chill while perhaps metaphorically veiling our vulnerability. Bind us in textiles, shield us in wool and monotone; the world is too much with us.
Likewise, the regeneration of vintage items speaks to our collective hankering for the past - simpler times when the world did not rattle our existence. The '60s, '70s, '80s; we pirouette in the epochs long gone, swaying in mom jeans, retro prints, and chunky sneakers. Our outfits echo the decades past and we hide within the folds of time.
Then there are those who rise against the gloom, a bright neon fabric encasing their determination to fight the gray, igniting tiny sparks of warmth within the frosty insensibility. It's a marked rebellion, a shout of resilience in the draped landscape. The sartorially brave, their defiant palette only strengthening my belief in fashion as a medium of self-expression.
Today's fashion, then, is a mirror of our society- a grim, tired reflection that wavers between hope and disheartening realities. Despite all, we trudge forward, our fashion choices serving as our artful armor. But as I pack my thoughts and faces the gray morning, I can't help but wonder, will there be a spring in our wardrobe when things around remain forever frozen?