This guy faked being a model to get into London fashion week

I don't know why people have such a problem understanding fashion. It's the same rules that apply to literally every other art-form.

Yes, it's not just about what looks good, for the same reason that autotuning a song isn't all there is to music, or how mechanically perfect strokes aren't all there is to painting.

The point of fashion, as with all art, is to leave an impression on the viewer. Just being a nice looking dress isn't valuable if it looks like every other nice looking dress the audience has seen. (the same way generic but catchy pop-songs are often forgettable).

Naturally, no one piece is ever going to have universal appeal. Nobody will ever make a song that everyone likes, only songs that many people like, and the more specific you target your work the less appeal it will have to people outside that group.

High fashion is often criticized, and it's for that exact reason. Every artist creates products that have mass market appeal, because they want to make money and that is what actually gets sold in stores, but that can be very restricting on their creativity and can often make it difficult to stand out (think of it like painters being forced to make paintings of the same yellow flower every day).

So high fashion (which is by it's very nature not meant to be mass-marketed) provides a way for them to do things they wouldn't be able to normally, letting the artist express themselves more freely AND serving as a way to potentially attract new clients. (maybe you wouldn't wear the weird avocado-toast dress, but if it stands out you'll remember the artist, and might be willing to buy some more down-to-earth clothes they make later).

This process is wildly creative and experimental, and as with all such processes it WILL produce flops, and it WILL attract haters, because that is the price we always pay when trying something new. - The same is true of postmodern or minimalist paintings for instance.

And the people who complain are right, just as the people who complain are wrong. - That's the rub when it comes to art, it's all subjective. If you say postmodern art is bad, you're right, because from your perspective it is, but that still won't change anything for the person it DOES speak to. Just as people not liking it wouldn't stop you from enjoying your favorite movie, their preferences are irrelevant.

High Fashion is a combination of advertisement and that one experimental song every band makes, and while both those things might be disliked, they are necessary for the industry to keep moving forwards.

And at the end of the day, after they put away all the weird experimental passion projects, those plain clothes you are talking about are still available in stores, they are still the product that makes money. So why bother complaining about art you don't like that has no effect on you? Just admit that it's not for you and move on.

/r/ActLikeYouBelong Thread Parent Link - youtube.com