Nature has four seasons. All things natural must therefore have four reasons. Here are ours — why we think we can be among the fasion vanguard by being fashionably late.
The first reason is personal. Greta has had an ethereal attachment to fashion since her childhood. Fashion holds part of the meaing for her life. For me, she is the whole meaning of my life. So that is the reason of spring – la raison de printemp.
The second reason is “gymnastic” which I touched on yesterday. It is worthwhile because it is hard. All easy paths point downward. Taking them for too long or too far, it is a descent to Hell. So that is the reason of summer – la raison d’ete.
The third reason is artistic. Greta and I both love arts. She is an excellent amateur painter, whereas I, other than self-supervised dabble in Chinese calligrapghy and sketches when young, am more deft in moving words on paper, like a chess master moves his pawns. Those who do not know me well know me as a talented writer. That my birth place is China adds to people’s amazement about this skill. Yet, I am not polymathic or polyvalent — there are things I cannot do at all, such as music, such as dancing. So for a long time, I value performing artist as practicing the highest and most difficult form of arts, as all is live; margin of error is small; environment is not perfect; and emotional connection with the audience can be tenuous and must be maintained while the drama is in motion… Lately, this view has changed. I now think fashion is the most difficult and hence most enthralling form of arts. After all, performing arts are executed by professionals — training and familiarity makes what seems to laypeople as Herculean blase to the pro. Fashion is different. The actor – the consumer of high fashion – is an amateur. She comes in all shapes, sizes, tastes, and idiosyncracies. To design and make something that expresses and accentuates her beauty is a challenge from which even Hercules would shy away. No one has fancies Hercules as a fashion designer, for good reason, because the art is too subtle even for Socrates’s sophistry. So that is the reason of autumn – la raison d’automne.
Then there is the fourth reason, the cold, hard business case. Getting into a business where thousands strive for success, where no stone remains unturned, seems foolhardy. But, as in all insanity, there is method to the madness. Fashion predates almost all other industries we are familiar with today. Before man doned clothes, he wore primitive jewelry to decorate himself. Therefore it is not going to be the typewriter; it is not going to be the VCR, certainly not going to be the true faddish New Coke. It is enduring, despite the many faces; every new birth is a potential customer. From a macroeconomic point of view, the fashion industry is one of the closest modern-day approximations of free market. There are famous brands, but there is no monopoly or oligarchy. If getting into fashion seems irrational, compare that to the proposition of starting a car manufacturing business, a software business for operating systems for PCs. Although Gucci and Prada are famous, they are not as powerful as Toyota and Microsoft. The sling shot of David has a chance against the club-wielding Goliath in a free market. David would have no chance against the affable Bill Gates. Voila, the reason of winter – la raison d’hiver. Despite the many thousands who toil, the creative can still win.
If a scientist is a slave of reason, four of them liberate him to be his own master.
