There is a certain issue I wish to address and discuss furthermore, and that is the radical approach we tend to pursue in some aspects of our lives. As I usually do, after all the majority of the blog is focused on fashion, I shall keep it within the same subtopic. Hence, the issue I wish to talk about is how radical one can become upon following one specific style, and how that radicalism in total becomes a manner of judging those that are on the opposite side. One of the meanings of the word ‘radical’ is “thoroughgoing or extreme, especially as regards change from accepted or traditional forms.” As I will try to expand the topic based on two camps of the fashion addicted group, and the opposite one that follows ascetic minimal lifestyle, I will focus on the first part of the meaning-the extreme perception of the rules that one decides to follow.
A completely normal desire of a human being to belong, to be a part of a certain group, however, sometimes acquires traits of a radicalism where one does all possible to become a part of a group appealing to him. Later, to protect that privilege of belonging, one starts suggesting that only one style, that one group deserves respect and appreciation. Now, if we assign that statement to everyone on the street, we can quite easily acknowledge people who belong to the same group merely by the way they are dressed. Therefore, if one desires to be acknowledged as a part of a group, one must wear a specific uniform. I do not want to say that the modern world looks as close to the literature world of utopia where each person wears blue overalls or a suit. Not at all. It is much deeper. Yet, we see people who desperately want to be considered fashionable, and they carry the latest it-bags. We also observe people who are as far from fashion as possible, and they live in whatever appealed to them as the most comfortable attire. We have a group of people who wear round vintage glasses and order only certain types of coffee, thus we get hipsters, and we have a group of business-driven people whose attire is focused on seriousness and class. Since clothes are the easiest way of expression without the necessity for an actual speech, we as different people and groups use it with much enthusiasm. The whole issue starts when all that drives us is the fashion of a certain group. When looking down at those who take different paths, we forget that their idea of style, education, life, after all, could differ from ours. I know the issue from the inside out as I work in the fashion industry, and time after time, I ought to remind myself to stop trying to change outfits in my mind on the people who walk towards me.
What I wish to address is the common narrowness of the mind that comes when one’s brain decides that you reached it all and can finally be as comfortable as you wish in that group you choose for yourself. The issue is in that stagnation that follows after. As soon as the brain decides that from now on you only buy for example minimalist clothes, you only shop once a month, you only wear those certain colours, that you will only read a certain type of literature, and listen to the only type of music, the rest of the world automatically becomes ‘people with the bad taste.’ Does that sound familiar at all, or I scribble words that make no sense in them?
The same misleading manner of looking at other people can apply to the professional identity of the one and ruin relationships with close ones. I no longer even care whether my friends read Chekhov, if they know what is the colour of the season, or if they love Chopin music as much as I do. With the understanding of the ridiculousness of my radical approach to the range of my interests that I assumed everyone else shall have, I got rid of expecting much from conversations and merely started enjoying it. The goal from now on is to become free of those assumptions that we make about other people, whether it be their old-fashioned shoes that I might not understand, their choice in food, or their political vision. The idea is to let those opinions free, as we are all different and I am convinced as one stops being a victim of a certain fashion one finds pure joy in passionate discussions, and lessons we can find and learn from different groups of people as well as styles opposite from ours.