Fashion, Television and Everything In-between.

Hannah Smith
Aug 13, 2020
4 min read

Style, it’s a form of expression of one’s identity, their personality, their values, morals, likes, dislikes; it is a crucial medium of creativity and imagination in today’s society. The idea of ‘just putting on clothes’ no longer exists; the individual simply cannot cover themselves in cloth purely to avoid indecency without expressing a form of style or choice. There is no better way to explain this theory than the great Miranda Priestly monologue from the 2006 hit ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, in which the character explains to the new fashion abstainer assistant, that every clothing choice reveals an aspect of their personality: “you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back... it’s almost comical how you think you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry, when in fact you’re wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room”[MCKENNA.2006.][1]. So, even the choice of not choosing, is a choice! As confusing as that seems, it all comes down to the idea that style choices are a way of self-expression and choices that conclude how one wants to be perceived by others. It acts as a form of cultural currency: “a knowledge that creates a perception around a product that elevates it beyond reductive notions of cost and quality”[2] [DILEON.2020]. From music, books, films to education and academia, this is all currency in cultural terms, things worth trading in any given social environment for a return of social acceptance or acknowledgement.

Image. Pinterest. 2020.

The idea of style is often personal and is inspired by secondary factors like the obvious culture, environment, weather (especially in London) but also television, film, and music tastes and commonly the 21st century social media platforms. Enter: The Influencer. The social media influencer, is meant to do exactly that, act as an influence to encourage consumers to commercially invest into a clothing item and subsequently, buy into a brand.

However, with this form of encouragement, the consumer is left powerless with little room for creativity or self-expression as self-expression needs to do exactly that, express ourselves not everybody else seen on socials.

Image. Pinterest. 2020.

The consumer has always looked for this inspiration from others. For decades, the role of the influencer has been played by film stars and music icons: Hepburn, Monroe, Bogart, Dean, Bowie, Cobain, the mods and the rockers. So, this individual style has always needed an inspiration and with the technological developments of today, the social media influencer is just the next step of progression. However, could those stars and icons be described as ‘influencers’? Arguably there is a difference between influence and inspiration. And that is the root of all our styling problems, feeds are flooded with influence, i.e. a mass number of products, and not a lot of inspiration. Enter, Television.

Well, not the actual Television, but the styling seen on the screens. Television has been an extremely importance player in the last 10 years in terms of inspiring fashion choices and styles. A character, an emotion, a story is sold to the audience along with the styling that accompanies and therefore a more organic form of ‘influencing’ has taken place; this is inspiration over influence.

Image. Pinterest. 2020.

In a recent survey carried out by 177 participants, the second most watched/liked TV show (annoyingly) was Love Island out of a list of 51 TV shows, clearly and uncultured bunch. Reality TV and social media influencers go almost come as a pair, one couldn’t exist without the other and they thrive off and fee each other. Therefore illuminating the impact the styling on TV (reality TV excluded) could have on its audience; there just isn’t a suitable platform to do so, yet.

Image. Author. 2020.

After extensive research, ‘Devastatingly Obvious’ was created. The platform takes form as a website, blog and app for users to gain insight into, and ultimately inspiration from, what is seen on the screens on Television. Arguably consumers are seduced into this world of social media influencers and shows such as Love Island simply due to the ease of it all. The products are seen on these young individuals one evening, its posted all over Instagram with the links to purchase it and the consumer can look like the desired young blonde that everyone wants to couple up with, the very next day!

However, with the introduction of this alternative platform that showcases products, and their cheaper versions, that are seen on Killing Eve for example, the individual can confidently take inspiration from other sources and create their own personal style with guidance, rather than being consumed by the over saturated market of ‘The Social Media Influencer’.

“’Fashion fades, style is eternal’ Yves Saint Laurent once said” [HARPERS BAZAAR. 2015][3], which summarises this idea that the longevity of style will always triumph the ever- changing society of trends and fads in the fashion industry. The consumer might as well get comfortable in their own personal style while they can, they just need that inspiration (not influence) we have all been so desperately craving. Enter: Devastatingly Obvious.

Image. Author. 2020.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] MCKENNA, Aline Brosh. 2006. Screenplay. ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. Page 45-46. Online. ‘John August’ Available at: https://johnaugust.com/Assets/DEVIL_WEARS_PRADA_Full_Script.pdf [Accessed on: 08/07/2020] [2] DILEON, Jihan. 2018. HighSnobiety. ‘How Streetwear Infiltrated, Then Defined, the New Luxury Market’. Online. Available at: https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/the-new-luxury-whitepaper-highsnobiety/ [Accessed on: 08/07/2020] [3] Harper’s Bazaar. 2015. Online. ‘Yves Saint Laurent: Style is Eternal’. Available at: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a34938/yves-saint-laurent-style-is-eternal/ Accessed on: 22/07/2020