Do you trust? Do you care? Tell me are you really free?
The lyrics echoed in my ears during my Marathon training, and I thought – that’s it! The design process is such a tricky thing, just as life itself! You have to decide which way to go.
So what is your goal in creating your own persona? Do you wanna others to decide for you? Or create a more hands-on look for yourself? Consumer, creator, or in-between? Or do you even care?
The first option involves a lot of indulging into what I call fashion propaganda – trying to fit into an illusion of images and products provided by huge fashion brands. (The smaller ones you probably never ever hear about. They neither got the money nor means to promote themselves to a general public.) They feed on you, while you feed of their ideas of how you should look. You have to trust them to know you.
The second choice is a more complex one, I would say. It involves you looking into yourself trying to figure out who you really are, in detail – and who you want to be. And then create that look with help of friends, family, craftsmen and other underground clothes-lovers. It craves practice and time. Lots of time. No instant gratification here! It’s a process.
In both options money is of course needed. But the last one, the creative solution, I would say could be painted in broader strokes, and would have a more long-lasting effect in your own personal development since you actually could end up in designing your own looks, as well as others! Create a network of knowledge. You will trust and learn, from each other.
So are we buying into the idea of a hidden treasure? Or do we want to create our own fortune? Tell me, who would you like to be? The decision is yours. And either path is fine. The question is just, who are you?
– Sten Martin / DTTA
(Thank you to Body Language’s 2016 song Free.)