Hello! You're a horrible person because you read fashion magazines. No, I'm totally kidding, I love fashion magazines. But isn't that the message we get from so many people these days--that reading fashion magazines makes you stupid, shallow, and superficial? It's like there are two sides in the world: the people who read fashion magazines, and the people who think everyone who reads Vogue is a high heel dawning, makeup wearing droid. Well guess what:
FASHION IS AN ART FORM. “Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.”- Coco Chanel. Fashion provides an outlet for creative expression.
It doesn't make you any less intelligent if you prefer reading Vogue over reading Scientific America. You'll probably learn better things from Vogue anyway. Compare how often you need to know what to wear, as versus what molecules are polar and what sort of space-and-time machine you can make with a pop can and a cardboard box. That's what I thought. Knowing designers, their collections, their creative director, and whether you like them or not takes just as much skill as memorizing the periodic table of elements.
Speaking of Anna Wintour, sure, you may think that all people in fashion are just skinny, air-headed, long limbed divas, but I just want you to ponder some of the following names: Coco Chanel, Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Michelle Obama. Four examples of highly successful, intelligent, female leaders in society. All who have a large connection to the world of fashion. Chanel being one of the most prominent designers... ever... Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington: the unbeatable team at the helm of American Vogue; and Michelle Obama, First Lady known for her promotion of emerging designers [and that of already known designers.] So there. Some of the most powerful women in our society are [or were, in Chanel's case] directly related to the world of couture.
Many people think fashion is about fitting molds. I beg to differ. Fashion is about breaking molds. Do you think people would walk around in five-inch heels, and tartan ball gowns to fit in?! Every season designers strive to stand out, and to set standards for the season. It takes creativity, knowledge of the business, and just a touch of prediction. It takes just as many [or more] business smarts to get a label up and running as it does to start a medical practice. As Anna Wintour said "Fashion is probably the only industry in the world where its fledgling talents are expected to be as creatively adept at running a business as they are at design".
So for those fashionistas out there:
Chan[n]el your inner [Mc]Queen. You're the Chanel Iman on the runway that is your life.
And for those of you who look down upon those of us who take interest in such 'superficial' things such as fashion:
We can do anything you can do... better... while looking FABULOUS.
