ARTISTRY
75. Myths and Archetypes
According to American mythologist Joseph
Campbell. exploring myths is about more than
the quest for meaning. It is founded in the desire
to align ourselves with experiences that resonate
most with our true selves.
Fashion plays a major role in the definition of any
univ ersal archetype. When romanticizing the
girl next door, what types of characteristics are
attributed to her? How do virtue, wholesome
ness, and purity translate into the design details
and make her immediately recognizable? Her
identity might be summed up by modest silhou
ettes that suppress her sexuality, combined with
fresh, bright, happy colors and sweet details such
as buttons and bows. Snap judgments may be
timesavers, but there is a downside. You're left
with generic, prefabricated labels with little or
no depth. Who wants to run off carbon copies of
someone else's ideal? The trick to using type
casting in fashion design is to do it creatively, to
mix it up. What kind of fashion do you get when
you shuffle the traits of the Earth mother and
femme fatale? Or the damsel in distress and the
trickster? In fashion, there are certainly many
shades of style.
156 Fashion Design Essentials
To ugh = Leather
