The Issue of Identity. From Urban Tribes to Political Consumerism to Sharing Fashion

Identity is acquiring a new importance in fashion studies that goes beyond the sphere of personal consumption. The aestheticizing climate of postmodernity has justified consumer activity in the name of a flexible identity, while clothing has been confirmed as an aesthetic resource for self-presentation. Some young consumers – the so-called urban tribes – have made their mask a flag, creating peculiar ways of dressing during leisure time. For particular cultural minorities, a true political antagonism is at stake and the flag stands for a declaration of an open will to eman¬cipate from the dominant culture. Increasing consumers’ awareness of fashion-sustainability problems and their expectations towards the production system have led to the necessity of consider¬ing together the different actors in the fashion chain. In fact, the reflexive identi¬ties of late modernity are concerned dialectically with the construction of a social imaginary that does not exclusively pertain to consumers or producers; nor does it concern the mere aesthetic enrichment of the image, but rather the complex arena where meanings are built. In this same frame, a very recent variation of responsible fashion aims at reducing the distance between production and consumption in view of a sharing of practices, technologies and products. The ethical dimension of fashion widens to include values that transcend individual self-presentation to encompass images of collective identities and convivial communities.