But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter?
Capitalist Realism Is Making Us All Fashion Zombies
It’s one of those rare times that reading a non-fashion book can further impact how angrier I get about the current fashion and social media zeitgeist. And for the revealing reading of “Capitalist Realism” by Mark Fisher, I credit no other than the mighty Eugene Rabkin and his ever-useful book suggestions often posted on his Instagram.
Now, according to Fisher, Capitalist Realism flourishes when beliefs have collapsed at the level of ritual or symbolic elaboration, and all that is left is the consumer-spectator trudging through the ruins and the relics. Today more than ever every scroll reminds us that are left with Debord’s Spectacle modernized as visual content for the sake of content.
”The fact that capitalism has colonized the dreaming life of the population is so taken for granted that it is no longer worthy of comment longer to outrage or even interest” explains Fisher. We don’t outrage, we don’t rebel, we don’t dream. And when we do I add, capitalism realism is here to securely colonize our creative efforts.
Fast forward to fashion: today fashion trends are shaped not solely by top-down directives from luxury houses but by an often networked community—social media influencers, virtual fashion platforms, and consumers who dictate demand in real-time. During this process of interaction, it’s crucial to remember that EVERYTHING, even Vetements-level irony, and subversion is commodified as content.
A piece or a creation that mocks corporate culture or questions societal norms can itself become a trend, reinforcing the very structures it seeks to critique.“The most Gothic description of Capital is also the most accurate. Capital is an abstract parasite, an insatiable vampire and zombie maker; but the living flesh it converts into dead labor is ours, and the zombies it makes are us” warns Fisher.
Or to quote the prophetic Death In June song: But what ends when the symbols shatter?
And most importantly, what are we left with?
We are left with meta-irony
We are left with a Jaguar rebrand
We are left with a fashion void, where anything goes but nothing matters.
