Categories: Mums in Heels|

Is fashion empowering or victimising

By |Published On: March 23rd, 2016|

I am size 36, but only when I shop in Switzerland. In the US I wear size 2 and in the UK between 8 and ten. Despite that I think of my body as relatively standard (in fact what is a standard body shape and according to whom?), I often can’t buy clothes from high-street fashion stores because I get stuck between sizes. This makes me think how many women out there feel the injustice of mass production and standard sizing, where more often than not, a piece of clothing is designed in one country, manufactured in another and sold worldwide. I don’t even want to start the topic of uniformity and how fast fashion has changed the way we feel about ourselves. Does a unique body make us feel as outcasts to the beauty ideal.

Let me return to a time when clothing was traditionally made to order and there were tailors and seamstresses who used to design clothes for women, following the curves of their unique bodies and their personal taste. Historically, tailoring was common for men, while many women sewed at home. That has shifted as more men’s clothing is sold finished and as women in the workplace have required more tailored clothing (and given up sewing).

It wasn’t such a long time ago, when my mum used to take me to her beautician and then her tailor to design her own pieces. I still remember a black lace dress which at that time I thought was the most exquisite piece on earth. What a spoil, I thought, having a whole dress made of black lace and a thin bejewelled black belt…well these times are gone now, as are the appeal and the dreamy qualities of that same dress, offered at Zara and Topshop in various cuts colours. The funny thing is none of these dresses fits me and makes me as pretty as my mum used to be when she went dancing.

But back to tailoring and fast fashion today, I wonder how hard it is for women to build their own taste and personal style, especially when fast fashion produces new pieces every single week and depletes our imagination of any ambition and creative juices. In the sea of clothes, shoes and accessories can we live and wear less but in a more personal way? Do we have the patience and the time to go for two or three fittings before a piece of garment is made for us? Do we have the confidence to keep that piece for a longer time throwing in different fashion elements and still feeling up-to-date?

I know fashion is all about reinventing yourself every day, but does that mean buying a new piece every week or giving up who you really are? No matter how opinionated or determined we are to keep our own style, every time we visit a shop, online or offline, we end up buying what’s on the hangers not what’s on our mind. As it turns out every time we walk out of these stores we end up buying something we hardly wear because we never meant to have it. Some supernatural power made us do it like in a dream.

But the questions here is what can we do to change the way we shop, wear clothes and express our personality (or present ourselves infront of others)

Trying to explore the options we are visiting a couple of places where we can create our own clothing with a little help from our friends the tailors.

Next week on Mums in Heels we’ll be meeting Clair de Fays from Personal Tailoring By Claire in Zurich, where you can create your custom suit for business.

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About the Author: Tsitaliya Mircheva

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Tsitaliya is a writer and fashion journalist for more than 20 years. She founded Mums in Heels 10 years ago and keeps growing and evolving together with her community or fashionable mums and responsible consumers. Fashion and Wellness are her most favourite topics to write about.