3 Zen Principles of the Fashion Industry
Powerful times guys, we’re in powerful times in the Fashion Industry. 2019 may become one of the most centering years for the industry’s history. There are so many of us working on the new industry, so many of us are envisioning the new world, brewing magical potions and creating portals for our industry to ascend through.
Excuse my new age language, I’m back and back at it. We’re completely up-leveling here and I’m TIRED of playing in the climate conversation game, I’m tired of seeing videos like this one and wonder how deep can the deep state go. And articles like Whitney’s Fashion Brands Are Claiming to Be ‘Carbon Neutral’ — But Is It Greenwashing? have to go detail by detail explaining that this is NOT what authentic sustainability is about, yet of course, has a place to be in building the new fashion industry. But all these murky waters of the climate talk and lack of CLARITY and SIMPLE solutions.
Having said that, I want to say: it’s enough. I’m coming out of my spiritual closet and I’m standing with my Truth. Climate Change is a hoax and I’m on the global team of entrepreneurs and industry veterans who have woken up to this depth of truth and now focus on developing and supporting solutions, and not speaking and manifesting the collective fears, embedded by someone else who has $$ in their eyes instead of a soul.
Take a few deep breaths now, check-in with your own truth and keep reading.
Came across this not so popular yet POWERFUL Preston Chaunsumlit’s Ted Talk called “Fashion and worlds imagined” from 2014, at the end of which he is sharing his Zen of Fashion Casting concept that inspired me to write this piece. When he used to work as a casting director, Preston had an open-hearted, yet no-nonsense approach to fashion’s “image-making part of the industry”, the part where we tell stories about fashion brands that make people want to buy stuff. He started his talk being truthful and vulnerable, sharing that he’s afraid of public speaking. That’s the start of the TED talk I want to listen to further. He then said that he’s faking it by pretending he’s not afraid of speaking publicly and then referred to the whole fashion industry as being an expert in faking things. That made me laugh for what seemed to be longer than what I’d consider a norm. He’s so right. Fashion is fake.
Preston shares his reservations about the fashion industry after he asked himself back in the days (just like when I did when I left fashion for tech): “Is fashion superficial? Is it shallow? Does it promote materialism? Is it disposable? Is it dehumanizing?” Maybe, so it’s not making the world a better place, Preston continues, but “what we are experts in is imagining worlds. In Fashion industry, we imagine worlds constantly”. The images and actors in these worlds did not include Preston, they actually didn’t include most of us.
Let’s be honest with ourselves — fashion has always been the experience of creating fantasy worlds. I remember myself 15 years ago scrappbooking my own ideal fashion magazine…my new ideal life — and no joke: it looks exactly how I live now… Then an image in my head comes up of what happens when a powerful fashion visionary is to create a new aesthetics-based game, but there’s a plot twist because that power is reversed back in people’s hands… so they create the ideal [fashion] world… (oh wait, it already exists: New Life Ai) — and more about this elephant in the room later.
Back to Preston — thanks Universe for people like Preston who get out there and share publicly not only to their trusted circle of friends… He says, the fashion industry is in the business of telling you that “the grass is greener on the other side of the fence”, while the truth is as Preston explains, that there’s no grass on the other side. Or I'd add — maybe there is, but it’s not real. It used to be literally fake like drawn on paper and cut out, but now it’s digital (so that it looks more real).
With an influence of early days’ young fashion bloggers & total industry outsiders such as Tavi Gevinson, followed by a visual social media craze, accelerated in the past 7+ years we are here. We are on the verge of complete shift, Astrologically confirmed: Uranus, the planet responsible for innovation, awakening to multidimensionality, the Internet, and societal system advancement had gone into Taurus in 2018–2019, which means we are moving from the area of Aries — the fiery, creative, passionate, image-maker persona dominating the industry, now into Taurus — much more grounded, actually FROM this Earth and connected directly with the earth, wisdom and beauty-filled, aesthetically enticing industry ruled by the power of individuals coming into their own consciousness maturity and embrace their superpowers. The fashion industry is rebirthing now into a new age like it did 7 years ago. How do we want to grow that baby? As a cool auntie of 2 little nephews, I’d say: consciously, of course. I’m not here to promote any religion but help us find the most relatable way to practice mindfulness and be present and respectful with ourselves and the world around us.
Preston says that the new generation of fashion creators do things on our own terms, where we don’t play by the rules of the old fashion system not only because many of our generations didn’t get to learn them, but also because we know building the new is more effective than destroying the old. “You’re taking personal responsibility for the world you’re imagining” — Preston says and continues that increasingly, the imagined online worlds and IRL (in real life) worlds are merging in all ways, from the way we dress to the way we interact with others and do business. What we do online directly affects the world we live in — we have so much power as internet users! Let’s not forget that.
Preston continues that in order to create the new and better world, the world we want to live in we need to have “tough skin” because building the new industry for the new world is not easy, it’s raw. And oh, I know what he means, after working with some of the top industry professionals. Think Devil Wears Prada moments — yes, many of those. I don’t know of any better way to develop touch skin than working in the industry back in 2012.
Preston shares his “Zen of Fashion casting” — 3 universal truths for our industry, which applies to wherever field of fashion you’re playing in. In his own words:
- Seasons change and they will always change. “Fall winter is coming, and spring-summer is following”. “You have to be dressed whether appropriate to make a difference”.
- You are at a thread of being replaced at any moment. You have to implement your talents and advantages. You have to adapt to the seasons and keep morphing, you have to change with the change
- You will be forgotten — eventually many seasons will pass and maybe your changes will be taken for granted…but you’re so well connected that it takes individuals working together to make a huge change happen.
“We are sharing the power and collectively using the power to create a legacy.” And that’s a legacy that Preston (and many of us) hope that we can wear all seasons, that is so stylish it becomes classic, an undeniably beautiful and unforgettable.
“What if we can make this imagined fashion word together, one for all of us, and one that can a reality.” This talk was made in Dec 2014. Almost 5 years after, there are still about 2000 views in this video that has a potential to be perspective-altering for many of us who are still stuck in the old paradigm due to years of programming imposed on us.
Let’s stop steering the climate chat without knowing what we’re really promoting and start focusing on our own craft — there’s so much magic to emerge from there. Remember that we are living in the Transition Phase /a Paradigm Shift, so instead of distracting each other from expressing our own talents and shaming each other by leaking our energy into negative climate and “armageddon talk”, let each of us start naturally supporting the greater whole movement of New World by investing energy in own story and weaving it into a big picture of the New World, where what we wear doesn’t have to be directed by our ego’s, fears and guilt but rather by our core values and priorities.
Thanks, Preston for sharing your wisdom with us and inspiring me for this piece. Thanks all for reading. I love you.
