This time, we have turned our attention to the consumer. The book offers insights that, taken together, help us understand why we consume fashion, how we make decisions, what role technology plays in today’s consumption patterns, and why everyday consumption practices influence the formation of identity.
When the consumer is placed at the center of the discussion, it becomes clear that the explanations are not straightforward.The research is not easy because the study of the consumer ultimately leads to a more fundamental question: who is the person who consumes fashion, and what are they like? For this reason, there are three themes that run throughout the research in this book: first, the impact of fashion on the formation of personal identity; second, the relational dimension of fashion and its connection to the ability to interact and communicate; and third, the role of emotion in fashion consumption practices.
A panoramic view of the studies that link the phenomenon of fashion to the formation of personal identity reveals that explanations often fall between two equally distant poles—the individual and the social—and focus on the possible relationships between them. This approach has begun to show signs of exhaustion, and it is therefore necessary to adopt a different perspective. The book the reader holds in their hands addresses this issue within the following framework: the formation of identity is a task, an unfinished process that unfolds in everyday life, where each person’s unique individuality is personally articulated alongside more or less conventional sociocultural trends. This articulation does not follow fixed rules, and the process itself influences all elements, which are neither static nor fully defined.
This framework aims to move away from a binary line of reasoning that separates basic elements and excludes intermediate ones. For this reason, reflection on the fashion consumer acknowledges that there is no such thing as an individual defined once and for all, nor are sociocultural conventions imposed in a rigid, closed, and unchangeable manner—conventions from which one cannot distance oneself or influence in any way. Due to their relational nature, individuals cannot become who they are apart from sociocultural conventions and their consumption practices, nor apart from who they are or what they have at their disposal. The permeability of these elements yields certain results, which—if they are to be effectively explained in the case of the fashion consumer—require attention not only to the space for freedom, creativity, expression, and authenticity inherent in their exercise but also to the influence that interaction with others has on this process and to the power of trends in the mass public sphere.
The second issue that forms the basis for the research in this book is a consequence of the previous one. Fashion consumption is rooted in the individual’s inalienable capacity to appropriate objects by giving them and recognizing their meaning—their capacity to interpret—and in the social nature of this process. For this reason, the inherent openness of human nature to initiate the process of interpreting objects that become fashionable—those that are offered and consumed—places fashion beyond a mere codified and crystallized language that individuals adopt or express unilaterally, and transforms it into an instrument of sociocultural mediation in which each person’s participation adds to its meaning.
The expansion of fashion into all kinds of goods and services, and into every available space—both in person and online—has made it a phenomenon around which a great many forms of everyday interaction revolve, serving as experiences of self-discovery, interpersonal relationships, and relationships between brands and consumers. For this reason, the symbolic or relational dimension of fashion must draw attention to the conscious or unconscious, intentional or unintentional processes of expression, interpretation, and sometimes communication that are triggered and exercised in its wake; and to the influence these processes have on the definition of identity.
The third topic of interest that runs through the research in this book isthe growing role that emotions play in social life and, consequently, in fashion consumption practices.The ubiquity of emotions in today’s culture means that everyday practices are evaluated primarily based on two criteria: the intensity of emotional experiences and the public expression of one’s particular mood. Fashion consumption and emotional culture are realities that feed into one another. The consumption of novelty inherently involves an exciting moment: participating in the dynamics of change is a form of entertainment that pulls the consumer out of routine and elevates them above rational arguments and needs.
Digital culture and the use of social media as common means of interaction have amplified this trend to the point where it has become a defining feature of our times.In the current context of the fashion industry’s mediatization, the consumption and sharing of new trends take up a significant amount of time in daily life and are also laden with emotional content. Social media transforms images into visual stimuli, into elements of an emotional conversation, and into a form of recognition or endorsement that is rewarding and satisfying for the user. Within the logic of approval—common to both the dynamics of fashion and digital interaction—what is shared and how much is shared are equally important. Digital media thus offers a renewed opportunity to understand—as was the case in the non-digital environment, but now with greater influence and reach—that what is shown in fashion images are not simply products but entire worlds imbued with resonance, where one need only virtually join in to feel the joy of belonging. Emotional appropriation is gaining ground over rational arguments and material possession.
