The First Insight

I got the pleasure to ask Ayfer, a fellow business student, about her interest in fashion. She told me it all started when she was in secondary school. She started noticing her older sisters experimenting with their styles and since she looked up to them she tried to imitate them until she found her own. She told me how she always prepares her outfits carefully the day before to make sure she feels comfortable getting dressed in the morning. Whether she wears it or not depends on her mood in the morning. She told me it's all about communicating your mood and feelings to others.

I asked her to explain fashion in one sentence. This she could hardly manage, but she said something that I can't stop thinking about. "Fashion is a state of mind which people seek to reflect by combining accessories with different outfits". If fashion is a state of mind it would certainly explain how it turned into the industry we see today. She also touched upon the subject of how consumerism affects us in terms of fashion, how people now seek to express themselves through fashion in a society where standing out is essential in order to be seen. 

When I asked her to describe her own style, she found it to be a very difficult question. However, she did put emphasis on going for outfits that are unsold and trying to use what you already have in your closet in different ways. I thought this was a point well made, being concerned about the sustainability of fashion. Another thing she pointed out was how fashion gives you the possibility to be whoever you want to be (or feel like) for the day, but with the consequences of people judging each other on a daily basis. In spite of this, fashion is a big and important part of Ayfer's life, it's a way of expressing who she is.

"Fashion is a state of mind" - Ayfer