We often say that fashion is not just about “making clothing”, but also about “creating stories” and “carrying inspiration”. However, we often feel that inspiration is exhausted and unable to give clothing a timeless vitality.
Regarding inspiration, I remember a joke that goes like this: a girl giving you a thousand paper cranes proves that she likes you, but if she gives you a thousand paper cranes, it proves that she really likes folding them.
Looking at the fashion industry, how many people are repeating the behavior of folding paper cranes? How many “thousand paper cranes” truly embody their love for fashion and carry those moments of inspiration?
When we sit in a corner, observe in the well, and pretend to be fashionable, we are often amazed to find that our fashion inspiration seems to have been taken away by something.
Homogenization of inspiration comes from a single perspective
People who frequently engage in fashion trends know that inspiration often exists in the process of emotional shock to existing experiences triggered by unfamiliar things.
It’s like living in a sandstorm for a long time, suddenly seeing a vast expanse of water. Although the two sides are magnificent, the heroic mind instantly returns to a peaceful state of unity for thousands of miles. This kind of experience and mood is rare.
People who have lived in the Yellow Sands and Gobi for a long time, even if they see the long river setting in yen every day, their hearts will not have too much ups and downs.
Perfectionism brought by the information cocoon
Today’s Internet era will bring another kind of lack of insight. The era of short videos, integrated media, and self media has greatly enriched the sources of information and greatly compressed the path for people to obtain information.
On the one hand, the uneven information sources have forced people to accelerate the flattening and evaluation of information. And what often leaves a profound impact are those highly sophisticated and cutting-edge designs with unparalleled popularity.
This gives many fashion professionals an illusion that only those are called fashion. So they are unable to independently complete their designs better and often feel that their designs are not up to par.
This perfectionism greatly hinders the confidence and action of fashion designers.
So sometimes it’s really helpful to emancipate the mind and inspiration to put aside the convenience of mobile Internet and go to a place where we can get resources and information independently.
Mental exhaustion and resistance to creativity
The Analects has long mentioned that “learning without thinking is useless, thinking without learning is dangerous.” This profoundly points out the operating mechanism of the human brain, where the brain has the same needs for input and output.
Whether it is long-term output without inputting new knowledge or long-term input without thinking and practicing cognition, our brain will become exhausted.
At this point, there is no difference between the 999th paper crane and the 2nd paper crane. They are both hopeless rumination and tired replication.
A tired brain should only think of relaxing and resting, without coming up with any better inspiration. Human beings are a joint product of genes and environment, and there is no better way to alleviate boredom and fatigue than by changing to a novel environment. This is also why it is recommended that fashion professionals go on fashion study tours more often, because only designers can inject soul into design, and tired and dry designers do not have such strong willpower and vitality.