The fashion world is a place of vast diversity, where people with colluding ideas and contradictory points of view can coexist. One way or another.
There are those who create stunning evening gowns and those who make oversized t-shirts and one way or another, everyone is “in” the fashion world. The reason for this is because the audience for fashion is so diverse.
However, when looking at the fashion world from a distance, one can notice that in fact there are only two major ways of looking at it – both valid and great in their own ways.
Everyone, in the fashion world or let’s say almost everyone since there are always exceptions, from designers and bloggers to consumers and stylists falls more or less in one of the two main approaches to fashion. These can be described as the “stern” approach and the “relaxed” approach. This terminology might not be the best or the most accurate, but we will work with it.
The stern approach to fashion can be described as a very strict and clear approach. In many ways, it can be compared to a mathematic approach to style. People who take this approach like to have everything cleared out impeccably: from concept to delivery –regardless of whether we’re talking about a garment or a look. High-profile people that can be considered to fall in this category are Karl Lagerfeld or Anna Wintour of Vogue. Those who fall in this category see fashion as more of a connector between themselves and the outside world; for them fashion is a way of interacting with others. This should not mean that they don’t take emotion or joy in fashion.
The relaxed approach, as one may already imagine, is pretty much the opposite of the first one. Those who have a relaxed approach to fashion go more for what looks right in the moment; they base their choices more on instinct and on trusting their own aesthetic sense. For them, clothes are not something that should be approached like rocket science, but as a fun thing. Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele or model Caroline de Maigret seem to fall in this category. Now, this does not mean that they don’t take fashion seriously: any good artist or creative person knows that even the most relaxed and fun thing can be taken with the utmost seriousness, but they have a different outlook on fashion, where style is not so much about connecting with society as it is about connecting with yourself.
An important remark that needs to be made when discussing these fashion directions is that people don’t have to fall in one specific category or the other. Someone may very well land in a gray area between the two.
These two approaches to fashion are to be found both in menswear and womenswear, although it is harder to identify them in men’s fashion, which is more structured and thus harder to work with than women’s fashion.
Identifying what your approach to fashion is can help you have a better understanding of yourself and of everything you do, your motivations and goals and thus can help you change things for the better and think of and implement the measures that need to be taken in order to make positive change.
It can be said thus, that fashion is a great tool that can help you help yourself.
Fraquoh and Franchomme
Further reading:
The two categories of fashion designers
P.S. We want to hear from you! What approach to fashion do you have? Why? Who are your main inspirations in terms of style? Share your feedback, questions or thoughts in the comments below! For more articles on style, fashion tips and cultural insights, you can subscribe to Attire Club via e-mail or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!