FUTILITY AND FORTUNE OF FASHION (part 2).

 This is the concluding part of Futility and fashion for those of us following,this is the concluding part. Enjoy Below.


1. Fashion creates varieties and expresses creativity. 

Fashion benefits the society by creating varieties. If everyone were to wear the same thing, it would amount to a very boring society. Fashion shows what type of person someone is, and without that one is the same as everyone else.

2. Fashion exemplifies freedom. 

It allows people to express themselves in an individual way. It provides diversity in society which can only be a healthy thing. It shows that people have freedom and therefore allows them to relax and feel comfortable for who they are. Overall it makes for happier individuals which results in a more prosperous society.

3. Fashion is showing people new ideas and, as such, cannot be dangerous to society. 

Fashion is something new and, thus, brings new and creative idea to people's lives. It enriches them, and makes their lives more interesting. Without fashion, we would be stuck into dull and boring behaviours. However, excessive obsession or sybaritic behaviors about fashion is not healthy, just like any other kind of obsession.

4. Fashion merely sets a standard that people may emulate if they want to. 

 Fashion is not ever going anywhere, so even the question is a bit preposterous. But, fashion is a lucrative business. It has made people millionaires, and provides jobs and a certain sense of enjoyment of life for millions of people. Therein, it should be left alone. Besides, how could one ever enforce anti-fashion initiatives in a free society?

5. Fashion is the driving force behind the clothing industry.

 Without fashion there would be very little reason for companies to invest money into research and development of newer and better fabrics, styles and blends of clothing.

6. Fashion is a form of art, and art benefits society.  

Fashion is a form of self-expression, like art. And as in art, there is no real measure of what is "good", because "goodness" is determined only by current aesthetic values. Fashion is the most powerful art there is. It's movement, design and architecture all in one. It shows the world who we are and who we'd like to be. Summing it up, fashion is a daily way to embrace art and express who you are or who you want to be.

7. Fashion expresses culture and identity.

 It is walking art, it inspires to not only to express yourself but also your culture and identity. Fashion designers search for inspiration from cultures, different eras, cities and nature. Fashion is not harmful to society it is keeping us in-tune to history, culture, and ourselves. But is there any end or purpose of Fashion?

PURPOSE/ END OF FASHION

Your dressing or fashion is both part of your STORY and GLORY. This is because your fashion carries within it, your Character, Culture and Creed. Every fashion or clothing has a unique end or purpose.  One must discover what suites the moment or occasion. Just as you can’t wear Jeans or Suite for swimming exercise, in the same vein, common sense demands that one doesn’t wear a swimming trunk to the Church, mosque, school, work or party. Just as there is time for everything, there are different fashions or outfits for different purposes. Some clothes are meant for sports, some partying/ clubbing, some for religious ends, some for casual wears, etc. For instance: “What modes or forms of dressing come to your mind when talking about a barrister, banker, nurse, engineer, cleric, Christian or Muslim?  What about a prostitute? Or an Indian lady or a Muslim woman?” How can one know or identify that you are a fervent Christian?

Hence, it is pertinent for one to dress the way one wants to be addressed. It is good and modest to dress affordably, conscientiously, considerably, charitably and christianly.” Catholic Church teaches that one’s mode our dressing should be modest. It must be SET – that is, it must not be too Short, too Expensive or too Tight.

Your appearance at any point in time shows your mood, entails the occasion of the moment and portrays your identity or cultural ideology; yet, can either be evangelical or scandalous. This implies that it can either draw souls to God or lure others into sin. That is why Scripture speaks against the person that will lead his neighbour into sin. “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come” (Mtt18:6-7). This implies that fashion may lead to sin.

FASHION MAY LEAD TO SIN

Negatively, some fashions may constitute a “social sin” – the expression and effect of personal sins that lead their victims to do evil in their turn (RP, 16; CCC.1869). Since what one wears is first in the mind, than on the body. Some fashions provoke others into crimes or different forms of sins, like rape, lust, frivolities, etc. Although, sin is a personal act, among the 9 ways we can share with or cause others to sin; that we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them by participating directly and voluntarily in them; by ordering, advising, praising, or counselling, approving them; by not disclosing or by not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so, by protecting evil-doers (CCC.1868). Hence, if your conscience condemns you, then discard such fashion or dressing. In fact, for the sake of others, one can decide to relinquish a particular fashion. Thus, be considerate about the others; be mindful of "sin of negligence and carelessness." These call for examination of personal and collective consciences, identities, lives, and responsibilities.

FASHION EXAMINATION

Psalm 69:5-6 as our guide: “You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you.  Lord, the Lord Almighty, may those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me; God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me.” This leads to examination questions: What drives your fashion passion – what is your motivating factor?  What type of dress or fashion do you wear to Church or Mosques, parties, sports, dinners, cultural festivals, offices, at home, at business? As a clerics, monks, religious, or seminarian, how often do you cherish and wear your mode of identification – your cassocks, Habits, clerical attire? As an Islamic head, are you faithful to your attires? As good Christians and Muslims: Do you put on moderate, modest and adorable clothing? Or, do you wear scandalous dresses – too short, too tight, too exposed or transparent, and/or too expensive? Do we realize that as socio-cum-religious beings our lives affect that of others – that we are to be mindful of them? Mahatma Gandhi beautifully says that: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Remember that a loving heart is a vigilant heart. Be at alert, vigilant, sensitive, sympathetic and empathetic about the plight people around you. It is a heroic virtue to dress moderately, modestly and adorably.

By and large, following a middle course: Fashion, per se, is culturally, religiously and creatively plausible and not harmful to society; but the epitomic and eudemonic emphases and obsessions placed on it are. Fashion can be a great thing; however, the way that it has been exploited as being very important, especially in the lives of female youngsters, has really began to destroy women's self-confidence. Fashion also begins to leak into what women believe about themselves as their self-image. Fashion cannot be the focal point of women's attention, otherwise it will continue to damage self-esteem. Hence, fashion may be good or evil depending on where one places the emphasis, or what one’s the priority is! Nevertheless, precaution and moderation is sine qua non! In as much as fashion can be delusive and evasive, it may also serve as a medium of evangelism.

By: Norbert Oparaji 
M.A Bioethics
Trinity International University, Illinois, USA.