Taking trend off track

What...? Somehow, what was intended to be trendy seems to a total disaster. So, should we pretend that all is OK in the name of fashion? Originally, before the celebrities influenced the fashion industry, the designs were decent. But today, what is apparent is that the celebrity influence has dominated the world’s fashion industry, and designers are using it as an advantage to market their collections. They [celebs] have got it all: A sense of style, beauty, power, and money—the combination has made it possible for them to be recognised as fashion icons. They are the world’s celebrities and their fashion choice definitely influenced the international fashion industries. Their lifestyle says it all that they are suggestive and seductive. They are what some call ‘superstar’. They spread their unique dress styles from America, Europe, and Africa. Several female celebrities, including Beyoncé, Ciara, and Madonna, have appeared in fashion magazines when they are half naked, whilst 50 Cent, Eminem, Busta Rhymes and Lil Wyne have turned their skins into an art gallery for attention seeking, and fame. According Jean Baudrillard, a famous French sociologist, cultural critic, and theorist of post-modernity, fashion corrupts morals, because it gives it dynamism. It has no value-systems, nor criteria of judgment: good and evil, beauty and ugliness, the rational and irrational.Young people have embraced the trendy. They look to celebrities for fashion direction, and tattoos seem to be ‘a must-have’. They wear them on their backs, arms or ankles, and they are designed differently, with different meanings. The power of celebrities is very influential, and young people will not only imitate the fashion but whatever celebrities do, including imitating their walk, and accent. Today, rocking the streets or parties in ‘Adam’s suit’ (naked) is no longer scandalous, because this seems to be the newest trend. Celebrities, like Britney Spears seem to enjoy the free publicity they earn. However, when it comes to media coverage and fan attention, revealing too much becomes the ‘deal’. Jackie Umutoni, a fashion boutique attendant in Kigali city says that everyone is entitled to fashion. Dressing sexy is not an offence, especially when your conscious is not guilty. “I dress to please myself not anyone else. However, I avoid dressing against my conscious,” Umutoni says. When does fashion become offensive and depraved? Paris Hilton knows very well the power of seductive clothing. After constantly appearing on celebrity television channels and on magazines wearing her frontless Donatella Versace bikinis, she thinks that it’s the best way to go. Meanwhile, Jackson Kamanzi, 59, a retired teacher says that it’s so uncultured for people, especially women to reveal too much of their bodies. “In Rwandan culture, it’s immoral for a woman/girl to expose too much of her skin. Any body part from the knees to the chest shouldn’t be exposed in public,” Kamanzi says. Ends

Leisure

Taking trend off track