The reason I start this Blog is twofold: first I want to address issues about fashion from either a philosophical point of view as well the point of view from a couturier. Since I am both a philosopher and a couturier, these two viewing points merge continuously.
Philosophically I like to address issues concerning fashion. There are many issues, amongst which are the phenomenological point of view about the forming and keeping of ones identity withing moving fashions, the semiological issues about communication through fashion and types of clothing in general, the ethical issues about the fabrication of fashions and more generally the textile industry, the anthropological view of the spreading of new fashions over the world, the sociological view about the forming, merging and dissolving of subcultures, and the esthetical view that allows us to compare fashion with a form of art.
As a couturier I like to comment on the fabrication process, of how this differs for a small-scale couturier from a worldwide company that produces large-scale fashion. Of how the process involves a lot of time in designing, working out the patterns and the following handwork. But since the world is starting to open its eyes to the horrors of the still existing slave industry that keeps the world of commercial fashion running, I want to turn to the big companies who are actually making work of making fashion more endurable. This change can involve the re-use of old fabrics and fabric scraps, from earlier productions, into new products; the use of recycled ground-products to fabricate new items; to the people who do the fabricating of the textiles and sewing the products. This means that both the environment and the treatment of the human beings involved in the process are issues I deeply care about.
I will also post interviews with other philosophers and couturiers about one or more of these various topics. The first of these interview will not be entirely a fair interview, since I own my own brand: Fabula Vestimenta (it started out in 2004 as Faerytale Fashion). This will be about my own brand and what it stands for. Off-course this will be the first of many interviews, so in time there will be a range of perspectives visible.
much of love and thank you for reading!
Natasja Dymphina