Explanations on a Theme

Most people have never heard of my line of work. Most people don't even really understand what I do. "What's a fashion culturist?" they ask. True, "culturist" is not a word. Nor is "culturalist", but the dictionary defines the suffix "ist" as being a few things:

-ist |əst; ist| |ɪst|
1 denoting an adherent of a system of beliefs, principles, etc., expressed by nouns ending in - ism:: hedonist | Marxist.
2 denoting a member of a profession or business activity : dentist | dramatist | florist.

I study the culture of fashion. Therefore, I am a fashion culturist.

I do not study the design of fashion. Although that would be cool, and I do have a whole crop of designs stuck in my head, I have no formal training and therefore am not a fashion designer.

The closest I come to that, is the effect aesthetics of fashion have on its wearers.

People don't really understand what I do. Maybe I don't articulate it well enough, but I think there is something deeper to the matter.

Everyone wears clothes. People taking wearing clothes for granted, just like we take driving a car or owning a computer. People don't seem to understand the underlying meanings of clothing because the media and consumerism have blown it so out of proportion, the only semblance of understanding people associate with clothing is what the magazines tell us. And the magazines tell us "BUY BUY BUY or you won't fit in!". We associate fashion with money, and with looking good.

Oh, people, there is so much MORE TO IT.

Have you ever stopped to wonder, why you look so good? Or how that trend developed? Or where in history it might have been inspired from? Or who you become when you slip on a little black dress, a baseball uniform, a bikini?

That's where I come in.

It's fashion culture people.

It's why we wear, what we wear.