I'd say it's impossible to get rid of a competitive superiority complex in fashion, because that is what created fashion in the first place. It's always been about appearing richer/of higher birth/more sophisticated/more serious/closer to the queen of France - take your pick, depending on era and circumstance.
And nowadays it is impossible to wear anything without someone judging you for it. Even the most normie outfit will make someone think, "goodness, how boring". You might as well do as you please.
Btw I've always particularly hated the "basic bitch" label, because the media constantly tells girls and young women how they should look, dress and consume. And then, when they do, they get insulted for being normal in the actual sense of the word.
I think you’re right that fashion has always carried some kind of social signalling: status, belonging, aspiration, even resistance. It’s hard to separate clothing from identity or from how people read hierarchy into it, whether that’s historical court dress or modern streetwear.
But I’m not sure it’s accurate that a competitive superiority complex is the only thing fashion is built on, or that it’s impossible to escape. There have always been parallel currents that actively reject that logic (subcultures, anti-fashion movements, normcore, utilitarian dress, even minimalism) taken to the point of refusing signalling altogether. They don’t erase judgment, but they do complicate the idea that fashion is only about climbing a social ladder.
On the judgment point, though, I fully agree. I’m also guilty of judging someone based on what they wear. You really can’t fully opt out of interpretation, people will read meaning into something whether you like it or not! But that doesn’t necessarily mean the meaning is fixed or universally agreed; it shifts depending on context, community, and intent.
As for the “basic bitch” label, what I love about its current iteration is the women and girls who are reclaiming it as a sort of f you to those who tell them how to look, dress, etc. I think there’s power in that!
You make an interesting point about subcultures and anti-fashion movements, and in a way I think you're right. But competitiveness is not always about appearing to be the wealthiest. It can also be about moral superiority, which is where the judgement factor kicks in. In my experience it is often the "anti-fashion", normcore or alternative style wearers who judge those they perceive as shallow fashion victims particularly harshly. And I don't think they refuse signaling at all, their message is just a different one from someone who is dressed in mainstream designer clothes. We all judge others for what they wear, and to an extent that's ok, because we all dress a certain way to be seen as a certain kind of person. This is particularly true for subcultures. You can also dress to signal that that you reject society's conventions, or that you have no interest in clothes and just want to fit in and not look weird. Whatever you wear, someone will have an opinion about it.
Yeah, I think that’s a fair pushback. “Anti-fashion” doesn’t sit outside the system as much as it sometimes claims to; it just swaps one kind of signalling for another. Like you said, it can become its own form of status, which begs the question: what makes it any different?
And the moral angle is a big part of that. Judging someone for being “too into fashion” can easily turn into its own kind of superiority, just framed differently. We still draw lines between us and them, just with a different set of rules.
I guess the tricky part is that self-expression and social signalling are kind of inseparable. Even choosing not to engage is still a statement... So maybe it’s less about escaping judgment altogether and more about being aware of how and why we’re making those judgments in the first place
I'd say it's impossible to get rid of a competitive superiority complex in fashion, because that is what created fashion in the first place. It's always been about appearing richer/of higher birth/more sophisticated/more serious/closer to the queen of France - take your pick, depending on era and circumstance.
And nowadays it is impossible to wear anything without someone judging you for it. Even the most normie outfit will make someone think, "goodness, how boring". You might as well do as you please.
Btw I've always particularly hated the "basic bitch" label, because the media constantly tells girls and young women how they should look, dress and consume. And then, when they do, they get insulted for being normal in the actual sense of the word.
I think you’re right that fashion has always carried some kind of social signalling: status, belonging, aspiration, even resistance. It’s hard to separate clothing from identity or from how people read hierarchy into it, whether that’s historical court dress or modern streetwear.
But I’m not sure it’s accurate that a competitive superiority complex is the only thing fashion is built on, or that it’s impossible to escape. There have always been parallel currents that actively reject that logic (subcultures, anti-fashion movements, normcore, utilitarian dress, even minimalism) taken to the point of refusing signalling altogether. They don’t erase judgment, but they do complicate the idea that fashion is only about climbing a social ladder.
On the judgment point, though, I fully agree. I’m also guilty of judging someone based on what they wear. You really can’t fully opt out of interpretation, people will read meaning into something whether you like it or not! But that doesn’t necessarily mean the meaning is fixed or universally agreed; it shifts depending on context, community, and intent.
As for the “basic bitch” label, what I love about its current iteration is the women and girls who are reclaiming it as a sort of f you to those who tell them how to look, dress, etc. I think there’s power in that!
You make an interesting point about subcultures and anti-fashion movements, and in a way I think you're right. But competitiveness is not always about appearing to be the wealthiest. It can also be about moral superiority, which is where the judgement factor kicks in. In my experience it is often the "anti-fashion", normcore or alternative style wearers who judge those they perceive as shallow fashion victims particularly harshly. And I don't think they refuse signaling at all, their message is just a different one from someone who is dressed in mainstream designer clothes. We all judge others for what they wear, and to an extent that's ok, because we all dress a certain way to be seen as a certain kind of person. This is particularly true for subcultures. You can also dress to signal that that you reject society's conventions, or that you have no interest in clothes and just want to fit in and not look weird. Whatever you wear, someone will have an opinion about it.
Yeah, I think that’s a fair pushback. “Anti-fashion” doesn’t sit outside the system as much as it sometimes claims to; it just swaps one kind of signalling for another. Like you said, it can become its own form of status, which begs the question: what makes it any different?
And the moral angle is a big part of that. Judging someone for being “too into fashion” can easily turn into its own kind of superiority, just framed differently. We still draw lines between us and them, just with a different set of rules.
I guess the tricky part is that self-expression and social signalling are kind of inseparable. Even choosing not to engage is still a statement... So maybe it’s less about escaping judgment altogether and more about being aware of how and why we’re making those judgments in the first place
“why do we need taste to be a competition at all?” YESS!!
right?! can we just let people liveeeee!