Fall fashions bring style alterations
Fashion trends are usually determined by the big names in the business such as Alexander Wang, Proenza Shouler and Marc Jacobs. But at Santa Monica College, where the beach is on the horizon, backgrounds are diverse, and students are often on a budget, style cannot always be categorized. "You will see almost everything [this fall],” says Fereshteh Mobisheri, department chair of fashion design at SMC.
Mobisheri cites the paradigm of “fast fashion” as a major contributor to today’s style. Popular retailers like H&M and Forever 21 produce clothes so frequently and at such cheap cost that consumers view these clothes as “disposables,” and buy for the short-term rather than for sustainability.
Currently, in sartorial mass-market retail, styles can be cut and put on shelves in as little as two weeks. In this way, companies can keep up with demand so that consumer “taste is satisfied,” according to Mobisheri.
The rise of “fast fashion” also means that there are many options from which to choose.
“You name it, they have it,” Mobisheri says.
Students who are often on stricter finances cannot always afford pricey fashion pieces.
“Money plays a part in [fashion],” says Frida Lindstrom, a fashion merchandising student from Sweden.
Lindstrom reasons that SMC has the advantage of a large presence of international students.
"People are from so many different countries,” says Lindstrom. “They bring the trends from their country that might not have come to the U.S. You can tell where they're from by the way they dress."
Despite the ubiquity of styles, SMC fashion merchandising instructor Christopher Griffin suggests sticking with one aesthetic and keeping it simple.
“I think there’s a tendency to overdo looks,” Griffin says. "Pick a certain look, get behind it, and don't over-adorn it. I think the SMC student is pretty much on trend. They do a lot of retailing.”
Griffin predicts bright colors, shorts, and asymmetrical dresses for fall, as well as wristwatches as an accessory.
The comfortable size of the main campus allows for easier wardrobe experimentation, according to Mobisheri.
"The campus is not that big, so students can walk around with platforms," she says.
Mobisheri flips through paperwork on her desk. She seemingly contradicts herself in her next statement, but it is definitive of SMC’s sartorial success.
"Fashion is always something that is taken from the past,” Mobisheri says. “Fashion has to be change. I have seen quite a lot of change on campus. I see it constantly."