But the word ‘fashion’ also means something popular or in style, something ‘of the moment’ – a zeitgeist. What’s ‘in fashion’ at any one moment speaks to wider trends in society, politics, and the arts. Trend forecasters like WGSN and others look at what’s happening in culture, to whether or not countries are becoming more nationalistic, or fluctuations in the economy, and relate that quite directly to the length of skirt hems and the silhouettes of garments. The clothes we wear represent who we are and, more importantly, who we want to be
Fashion speaks for us. It’s almost like a language. Rae Tutera, now a clothier and partner at Bindle & Keep, a bespoke suiting company based in New York City, knows this more than most. His job now sees him working with the LGBTQ community to create suits for his trans clients that help them mirror on the outside who they are on the inside. These visual cues not only provide self-affirmation and a confidence boost for the wearer, but provide visual cues to others as to how to approach and identify them. Having gone through the experience himself as a trans man, Tutera, who is one of the subjects of the 2016 documentary Suited, feels a certain connection with his clients.
