Perpetual buying incentives: Things to watch out for.

Being Fashion Forward

by Roland Kriewaldt

The term "Fashion Forward" sounds flattering, but is it? It describes someone on the cutting edge of having the right clothes to be considered one of society's better people. Better than who?

Fashion manipulates our competitive nature. In the wild, the most elaborate plummage or biggest antlers are what potential mates favor. But do our beholding eyes see the true qualities of the person beneath all that distracting beauty? Are they a better person just because they look so good? Not at all.

Yet advertisers exploit our primal prejudices to keep us perpetually buying "better" clothes year round to avoid falling behind in the race for attention. Their motive is to keep the garment industry profitable, whether that means more sweat shops in poor nations, or keeping us perpetually feeling insecure about our appearance.

We may judge others to weed out the "losers," but our criteria may be an illusion. Fashion looks "fun," but it's just another competitive sport that creates fake women. Sure, she's anorexic and addicted, but her look is to die for. And maybe she will. Personally, I'd prefer it if she were smiling...

[need a reality check, anyone?]