This project shows four fashion items in layers that move from product to meaning. Each section starts with the item as it appears in stores, including its name and price, illustrating how it is made to be bought and worn as a trend; this impermanence is further shown through the “Sale” sign that subtly looms above the pieces. Under that, short marketing tags show how these pieces are described in fashion terminology, turning specific cultural references into broad and appropriative labels like “boho,” “festival,” or “oriental”. The final layer shows the clothing being worn as a way of bringing awareness to where these styles originate and their significance within their respective cultures.
Instead of treating these as separate examples, the structure shows a repeated process.
Cultural styles are turned into watered down items, then into marketing words, and finally into products that circulate as trends. The last layer is important because it slows that process down and shows what gets lost along the way. It asks viewers to think about the gap between what is sold in stores and what these clothes mean outside of fashion trends and advertising. It also engenders questions of individual participation in these trends, as fashion indicates self-expression, but so often individuals are influenced by simplified presentations completely separate from their own identities. Yet, this compulsion to mirror these different aesthetics is easily disregarded, as cultures are relegated to mere trends. Because of this, the labor from fast fashion, different heritages, and to some extent, parts of one’s identity are seen as fleeting and subject to waste.
