BE SEEN
Every year thousands of people in New York City wait anxiously for the month of September to arrive so that they are blessed with the presence of that year’s fashion Bible (Vogue September issue) and the masses of fashion designers that make their way to the tents of Bryant Park for New York’s Fashion Week. This much-anticipated phenomenon seems to be only taken seriously in New York and because of this, it has been labeled as one of fashion’s iconic cities. In order to understand how this city has been able to attain this label, it is important to understand how consumerism has shaped the built environment of New York City. Examining the investments that people made in order to create shopping malls and other shopping venues and their goals behind supporting the idea of ‘consumerism’ is critical to understanding the way in which people ultimately look at fashion as an investment and a way to be seen within this city. Within the built environment, being able to analyze the motives and creative processes behind the designs of the buildings and the accessibility of main streets and commercial areas is important in order to promote and facilitate commerce and institute a desire for people to be there. Zoning in on Fifth Avenue, Soho, and the Meatpacking district will show how fashion has shaped consumerism to improve these areas, and simultaneously launching New York into a fashion city that is known to the entire world.
This looks great - it definitely fosters a narrative that will take us from the time of "Mrs. Consumerism" that Isenberg talks about and the development of urban space for this type of shopping into the NY streets of today that certainly stem from this history but take on a very new culture of their own. I would make sure to bridge this narrative well and with lots of supporting evidence (and maybe you'll find that they were not of the same movement but that this kind of intense high-end fashion world in NY was a very different strain that branched off on its own). Also, I'm interested (and think its important) to distinguish between the shopping malls/department stores that were found on many US Main Streets with the couture fashion industry that exists in New York, which certainly seems exclusive in contrast to say, a Woolworth's.
ReplyDelete"Zoning in on Fifth Avenue, Soho, and the Meatpacking district will show how fashion has shaped consumerism to improve these areas, and simultaneously launching New York into a fashion city that is known to the entire world."
ReplyDeleteZoning is kind of an awkward term- firstly because it immediately makes me think of zoning regulations in a city, and also because I think you might have meant "zooming in," as in "focusing on." Has consumerism improved areas? Make sure you define improved. Also because that is such a blatant value judgement on something that may be more subjective, you might want to consider a different word. Also, I wouldn't say that New York was launched into a fashion city. Either it was launched into the fashion world, or it became an iconic fashion city. I'm interested into how you'll tie in fashion week into the built environment.
The connection between fashion week and the built environment is incredibly stunning and surprising. Everybody takes fashion for granted, without realizing that it is a 300 billion dollar industry. It aint just about clothes! Be sure to connect the history of the Meatpacking District, etc., to the resistance to change in these areas, and all that.
ReplyDeleteI'm not clear exactly what you are asserting in this introduction. Are you saying that zoning and the built environment in NYC created the opportunity for the fashion scene to set in, or that fashion shaped consumerism patterns that then were responded to by changes in the built environment?
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