The SA fashion scene

Paging through many of our fashion mediums today has become a daunting monotonous reveal of  the same faces, the same stories, the same hype that's told by the same people... and most sadly the non-stop promoting of "untalented-talented" people.

To make good cake, one requires the correct measurements of the suitable ingredients. Right? Ok, so, what then is required towards being a commendable face or contributor in the fashion industry? And to go as far as being deemed the voice of fashion?  With more and more social media apps coming to play within the fashion, technology and marketing industries, it has become a typical dilemma for brands to motivate, promote and sell through 'tastemaker-fan following' rather than through brand truth, quality and history. Unconsciously many of our fashion heads are thunder-clapping along with the masses, promoting the ideology that says it is ok to be uneducated (in a particular field), talentless (in that very field) and celebrated(by the consumers of fashion culture). We are subjected to hail consumerism and financial privilege  as fashion brilliance, more above people who actually showcase unexampled talent.

These past days I have been looking particularly at the art of being a stylist, and comparing that to the ridiculous numbers we have allowed to self endorse as stylists in the South African fashion scene. Then following that, the number of people who actually play the part of a true stylist, and again those who purely love the concept of holding the fashion crown but tip towards uncertainty when it comes to the industry at its large. What makes a person a worthy fashion stylist? What brings them to page 15 on that September issue of that magazine? Browsing through instagram proved many points towards how we tread deeper into the mind of consumerism and beauty over real fashion talent. Yes, the power of the crowd through sharing on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and Instagram goes undisputed as thousands of hundreds click to 'like', it comes together like a social media group hug that doesn't necessarily share true love or knowledge. We have become those who consume numbers before our true preferences. Sad to say flocking head first into fake identities.

With fashion bloggers and wardrobe gurus on the rise, lets quickly learn to draw the line. A visible and bold line. Putting together a look of luxury brands and posting them up on instagram doesn't deem one a fashion stylist -at least not in the old original sense of the word. There are those who dress well due to a good budget and having seen international street lookbooks, those who have acquired the art of styling clothing through keeping up with S/S or A/W seasonal trends (probably looking like everyone else who bought that months magazine). Others I call the style influencers, the people who dress outside what is currently trending and therefore set trends of whats to be the next look for the duplicators of style. Creative ability and good visualization skills are key in the art of fashion styling and to see our editors randomly pick from the poor crop is very disheartening. Next time I come across a person who self proclaims being a wardrobe guru/stylist, I will be sure to judge their true knowledge of the craft.

[illustration by Garance Dore]