Finsk 116-97 style sandal
Everyday, barraged with images screaming from billboards, ads pleading to be noticed, I like to take a step back and remember why fashion interested me in the first place.
As a voyeur of humanity, nothing signals how a person feels more than what they choose to wear on a given day.
I tire of the scoffing I get, the ribbing, when I defend a hand-beaded dress that took twenty people three months to make has a matching price tag in the tens of thousands of dollars. When something is changed from a flat piece of material into a 3D spectacle meant to be worn on a body, it is a Pygmalion miracle that transforms the garment and the wearer into art.
The same people who would not flinch to spend $20,000.00 on a paint-splattered piece of cotton stretched on a frame roll their eyes in disgust at a garment that costs as much. No one says to a fine artist, "What did the supplies cost you?" but to a costumer or fashion designer that is very often the first question.
I am learning to value process as much as progress. I hope to live long enough to see couture receive the same respect as all other mediums. When you ask why a garment costs so much, look for the germ of the idea and the difficulty of the execution...those are priceless.
-JFA
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