Plato was wrong: fashion is not pointless

There are two worlds. One matters and the other doesn’t. As it turns out, we live in the one that doesn’t. So said ancient Greek philosopher Plato.

“The Idea World is more real than the world of the senses,” Dr. David Lopez lectured in my philosophy class.

Plato’s view of reality is based on his “Two Worlds Theory.” The two worlds Plato speaks of are the “World of Forms” and the “World of Appearances.”

The “World of Forms,” according to Plato, is an alternate universe of sorts where our souls came from. Dr. Lopez drew a picture of a soul: a smiley-face with wings. The “World of Forms” is reality, true being, a heaven-like place where there is only truth and ideas, like the idea of beauty, justice, or even a triangle. The other world, the flawed world we live in now, is the “World of Appearances.” This is a place where beautiful things like sunsets or flowers are all fleeting to the senses. Only our minds can grasp “beauty” itself, while to the senses, it eventually fades away. The smiley-face with wings can only wait for death so it can return to the “World of Forms.”

This makes fashion useless, I thought as I struggled over what to write for my usual Fashion Minute column. Fashion is nothing but a pleasure for the senses. It does nothing for our souls, nothing to help us get back to the “World of the Forms.” If anything, it just deepens us into our trivial “World of Appearances.”

Plato also has a Theory of Reincarnation, which poses that if one should get too stuck in the senses, he or she will never graduate to the World of the Forms with death, which according to Plato, is where you want to go. Rather, you will be stuck in another body, reincarnated so you will be stuck in the “World of Appearances” for another lifetime as punishment for being so superficial.

While learning about this in class, I began to think about appearances, and what they were good for. This struggle made it difficult to write about fashion which is based on nothing but appearances. My typing was halted by a weight of superficiality and self-absorption. I felt like a creature of vanity, like everything I wrote would be seen as petty, nothing but fluff. The questions kept popping into my head: why does it matter? Does fashion really count for anything? And is fashion something substantial and respectable enough that one can write about while still maintaining a person of substance who doesn’t believe that you are what you wear.
One of my professors from last semester who regularly read my articles kept telling me that fashion was something I would fall out of, and encouraged me to consider other things, like broadcasting, or to write about topics or movements more worthwhile. I can’t say I completely disagree with the man.

And now, realizing I’m stuck in the World of Appearances, I’m faced with the blaring insignificance of it all. So where has fashion gotten us? We’ll be reincarnated into sloths, we’re broke, and we’re phonies.

Although if I were to believe Plato, who’s to say that I can’t enjoy my time here in the World of Appearances? I’ve already been punished by being stuck in the “World of Appearances.” I’m already here. And you know what appearances are good for? Feeling good about yourself. That’s worth something. Confidence is perhaps the most important ingredient of any mission in life.

And I like fashion. I enjoy seeing other people with unique looks and being attracted to a person by being able to tell what he or she is like. It’s not a judgment call; it reflects our background, our region, and our values. Besides dressing appropriately to where we want to get in life, fashion is a means of communication.

I don’t know if the fashion industry is going to be “it” for me. Maybe it is too superficial. But it’s no sin to get a high off fashion magazines or to blow your paycheck on a shopping spree every once in a while. As long as we work on the smiley-face with wings every once in a while, I think we’ll be O.K.