by Nina Gudz

foreword
When clothing stopped being just a protection for
human body from external factors- that was the
beginning of fashion. Now clothing is a way of
communication and expression.
This book explores the relationship between fashion
and identity. Is fashion helping us to express our
personality, or is it erasing our individuality? How
can a person remain individual in the contemporary
culture of mass production?
Unique, different, exclusive, individual, one and
onlythese were the words leading me as the book
evolved. To explore the subject, I talked to people
who love fashion and who hate fashion. They shared
their thoughts and opinions about the abyss, or an
agreement, that exists bewteen fashion and selfexpression. All the conversations we had were
spontaneous, and are presented in the book unedited.

Designed and produced by Nina Gudz

This book is a non commercial visual research project for
Southampton Solent University,
BA (Hons) Graphic Design course
Year 3 submission.
All the copyrighted images have been referenced.

05

A nastasia S m o la ka
Student of Latin American Studies

N ina G udz
Graphic designer

P e d ro j o rg e
Fashion Design student

P
ni ko la C la r k e
Head chef,

N
Ma rv in m addi x
fashion photographer

S tua rt poth e ca ry
Tattoo artist

R e nata G a rcia
Fashion Stylist

06

IN FASHION,

I F Y O U DO N T K N OW

W H O Y O U A RE ,

Y O U W I L L L OO S E

YOURSELF

R: I think when you love fashion, you kind

of are a fashion victim and, as well,
because we all look at the trends, we
look at whats going on and you always
want that new thing, yes, I think so.
I think people who say, no, no, Im not,
I think they are trying to, you know, kind
of hide, cause its hard...
: But fashion is a little bit... I think its
two sides of fashion. Its like, the beauty
of it and the ugly side...
R: Yeah, like everything. We have an ugly
side of it and a pretty side of it. Pretty

side of it is like, yeah, wellwhat we

see, like pretty clothes, pretty people
and all this glamorous parties and
stuff like that. And the back side of it
is like we have so much pressure on
everyone, because they trying to create
the perfect, I think it changing now,
I think they trying to bring this idea now,
something can be beautiful, beautiful is
such a relative concept depending on
people. AndI still think, people who
dont work in fashion, but look at it they
still think that they are trying to get the

10

I N I T.

perfect image, especially for women.

You know, you have to be that size to be
perfect all the time and it shouldnt be
that, you should just have fun and try to
be yourself, not a copycat, you know
: Yeah!
Cause, I think in fashion, if you dont
know who you are, you will loose
yourself in it.
: How do you mean?
R: Because youre a follower, you are just
a follower, and you shouldnt be just a
follower, you should be yourself.

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13

W H E N E V ER Y O N E L OO K S T H E S A M E

14

15

16

A: This is more human, again, the

feeling of belonging, it makes
more sense, but when someone
in Italy or France comes up with
something beyond comprehension
and then everybody copies that
something, I think, what the hell,
cant understand it at all and
when it reaches the countries,
which in cultural sense have an
absolutely different mentality,

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19

when everyone dresses the same,

this concept scares me, dont know,
anything to do with situations
when the human face is erased,
when everyone is the same, it
scares me when everyone is the
same. I dont like standing in line,
in that sense, when everyone is the
same like a sheep, like sheep, and
thats all there is to it. A sheep is
what you are.

20

I think th e r e is t w o si d e s o f f ashi o n ;

th e b e auty o f it an d th e ugly si d e . . .

21

When I am
naked standing
in front of
the mirror,
then the only
thing I have is
my honesty

,
,

23

: Stu, I have a question for you, what

makes you-you?
S: What makes meme?
: Yes.
S: To be honest my style, I think.
: Really?
S: Yeah, I like, honestly I think if
I couldnt dress quite well, then I
probably wouldnt have anything.
But when you are naked standing
in front of the mirror at your home,
at your room, are you still you?
: You still have your tattoos, which
are part of your style.
S: Yeah, obviously my tattoos, I was
gonna say, they like a, they like
a, false screen mmm you can put
above yourself. You know, I mean
I am covered in tattoos. I can look
at them and just scream. But when
I truefully, look at my eyes, when
I am naked, when I realize its just
me, I think the only think I have is
my honesty. And I am stupidly far
too honest.

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: OK, next look, next look What do
you think?
P: I think it looks very, very niceWalk!
: Ha, towards you?
P: Yeah, very fresh.
: Yeah...
P: I dont know, if the waist is in the
right place though.
: I know, it kind of needs to be
a little bit...
P: Yeah, needs to be a little up. Show
me the backThe back looks nice,
but the front is not right.
: The band is a bit wrong.
P: Looks very fresh.
: It looks good online as well.
I just think the waist is not on the
right place. Its very 1920s, but its
very fresh. The back is nice.
: I feel like myself.
P: Ha-ha, yes, you look
very comfortable.
: Yeah its nothing like new, its like
my comfort zone. OK, next dress. Haha, I am like cat walking here.

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24

I
FEEL
LIKE
MYSELF

your
clothes
sp e ak
for
you
M: Fashion definitely help people
to portray who they are, if they
understand who they are on the
first place, cause of course they can
pretend, cause a lot of people are
wearing particular clothing, cause
their friends are wearing it, but
actually if they are old enough and
mature enough and they understand
who they are then you get to a
certain point when dont care about
what other people think about you
and you dress how you feel and
you dont care whether you fit in or
not, cause naturally you will fit in
to where it is right and where your
style takes you, so I think, thats
definitely that.My style defines me
at this very moment, I dont know
if I will wear same clothing ever
again, it is just how I feel now.
Style and clothes are all about
the development of personality.
Your clothes speak for you, and
people see that, unless you dont
have a need to tell to prove or tell
people anything, because you are
comfortable with yourself.

29

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31

R: I mean, what even is beauty?

Who decides what is beautiful?
All this magazines are trying to
create a perfect image, but there
is no such a thing as perfect, they
only are making women feel bad
about themselves. It is a lot of
pressure, because beauty standards
are so high, you know, you have
to be that size to be beautiful,
you have to wear make up, shave
your legs, its a lot of things. It
is all dictated to us by society.
Magazines create beauty standarts,
but it is so wrong, you can not
create a standart for beauty, it is so
individual! For me beauty is always
inside, to be beautiful you have to
feel beautiful, be comfortable with
yourself. For me, everyone has their
own beauty, so what is the point
of creating a standard and making
people look the same?

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33

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34

: Do you think it is hard to be a

fashion rebel?
R: Yes, because, you know with
all that story about bullying in
schools and if youre not the cool
kid, you know, everyone wants to
be a cool kid. And the cool kids
are -the coolest clothes and the
coolest gadgets and the coolest
everything. And of course what
they want now, they just want the
cool, they just want to be popular,
they dont wanna be different,
they just wanna be normal.
Theyre afraid to be different, they
prefer to blend in. Fashion hooks
them up. They are like the little
fishes. They just get hoocked on
it. They are like a big ocean of
consumers and they consume so
so much, I think fashion industry
makes tons of money out of them,
they just use them, because they
dont have a personality yet, and
they dont see that they are being
played, they are like puppets.

35

YOU
THINK
YOU
ARE

UNI
QUE

BBB U
T
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YYYo
u
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a
r
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r
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NOT
N
O
T
NOT
BUT
You
are
NOT

N: I am a fashion victim in my own

right. Even years ago, when I was
a teenager, I went through phases
and I tried to be individual and I
you knowmy dad used to have
a go at me: you are following a
particular line, fashion anyway,
probably following a particular
subculture, so you think you are
individual but you probably not,
subconsciously you are following
you know a particular subsection
of society anyway, what you want
to identify with maybe, you know
what I mean? Everything comes
from something doesnt it? I
guess everything has been done
before That is the bottom line
I dont think individuality really
exists, does it?
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39

40

41

42

FASHION
I S A WAY

TO FIT
IN
43

y o u c an
e x p r e ss
y o u r s e l f,
w ith o ut
saying
a word

: What is your favourite ever thing

about fashion? Why did you decide
to go into fashion?
M: Whats my favourite thing?
: Yeah...
M: I think it is the fact that you can
express yourself without physically
speaking, you know and its a way
of expression and its something
that I felt, has made me who I am.
Fashion has definitely helped to
mold me and not loose track of
who I am, and actually helped me
to keep a track of who I am, you
know sometimes you take a photo
and you kind of go yeah, you love
it at that moment, when you look
back, you go: oh, my god, that
was so crazy, but its truly down
to fashion of that time, it shows
you how much you developed and
I fucking love that. Looking back
and seeing, how much, just trough
my fashion sense, how much I
developed. And I love that.

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P: Being skinny is cool.

: Yeah, but why?
P: I dont know.
: Why do you have to be skinny,
I dont understand, well, I do
understand, because the clothes
look beautiful, when you dont have
any curves.
P: Yeah, because the eclothes look
just Like if you see it You can
see it this way: when you have
curves and you put clothes on, it
is instead of clothes getting on
your body, its your body getting
into your clothes , so the clothes
will get more shape, and thats
when they loose the original shape.
If you can see that this is ugly , you
cant say that your body is ugly,
because its your body changing
the clothes and you only can see
clothes fit beautiful on you if it
keeps the same shape.So you are

it stops
being beautiful
when you are

there
there, but it doesent matter, cause
the clothes are the important thing.
The clothing is there the same
way you would have it on a hanger.
Looks like this on a hanger-looks
the same on you, it is perfect, you
dont even exist, it is the dress you
are buying. But if a dress looks like
this on a hanger, no shape at all,
you put it on, your hips give shape,
your boobs give shape, you see it
on and you dont like it, cause its
not the same thing you saw. Thats
why models are skinny, because the
designers dont want the clothes to
loose their shape, its just needs to
fall, like its a hanger. If you want
to do the same thing- it is because
you wanna be a hanger, your not
a person, your a hanger, you are
walking around in this dress, you
walking around to show this dress,
it is not like, it is not like you are
walking around to show yourself in
this dress.
Does it makes sense? It stops being
beautiful when you are there, it
is only beautiful when you are not
there

48

it
is
o nly
b e auti f ul
when
you are
not
th e r e

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That is the bottom, line, I dont think individuality really exists

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