The new and emerging technologies of the sweet fifteen years of the 21st century brought on the ch-ch-change to the structure and role within the fashion industry. Cable and digital networks providing increasing amount of consumer information on fashion trends. After authoritative peer reviewed digital newsletters and ‘street’ blogs, came narrative tweeter with 140 characters of text, and finality the Pinterest replaced text with the visual information. Today, contemporary creative micro-businesses are using the new approach of open sourcing or crowd fitting sourcing where we all are now both consumers and designers.
We only can see the tip of the iceberg, because only 1/7 t 1/8 of an iceberg can be seen above the water and easily observed. The rest of the significant mass of ice is hidden below the surface. Majority of people are very much as icebergs, the individual skills, talents, and true identity are hidden behind the mask. Using the international cultural anthology, the talented young people followed the imaginary dream, “the yellow brick road” from Wizard of Oz entering the Fashion Art Institutes and Fashion Institutes of Science and Technology. The young generation, the generation C, where ‘C’ stands for communication, used their enthusiasm, creativity, and individual talents to acquire professional skills for the betterment of our society and dedicated their careers and lives to serve the great Greek God Apollo, the God of sun, light, art, science and healing. The Fashion education brought, respectfully, brain, heart, and courage to expand the A to Z list of fashion designers and join the competition from the fashion leadership and elite.
The pathway to the knowledge requires to evaluation of information at the interpretation stage and together with critical thinking the researcher develops the personal meaning and in the process – the knowledge of learning. In fashion, the visual literacy skills the same as textual information skills, equip the learners to understand and analyzed the unknown from contextual, cultural, ethical, aesthetic, intellectual, and technical components involved in the production and use of the visual sources. The visual literate individual comprehends both the consumerism of the visual media and the body of knowledge and cultural traditions. The visual literacy defines the ability to understand and convey through various media, visible images and actions. Since 2011, Association of College Research Libraries (ACRL) recognized the need and launched out the Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. The core of it based on the philosophical belief that any artwork can be taught to be understand in today’s image-saturated culture the same way as the traditional text.
Teaching visual literacy throughout art empowers students of fashion art sciences; as they learn critically analyze their own creative work, and manipulate the data of visual culture for consumers. The John Berger’s Ways of Seeing continues to be on the list of reading for the students in humanities disciplines as young and talented study and learn how art and culture embodies the individuals’ intellectual liberations while establishing themselves in the place of the world around them, because “seeing comes before words.” As “the child looks and recognizes before it can speak,” (Berger,1990) observation, another great research method, comes one of the primary research tool for any fashion-trend-watcher. The observer always had a great sharp eye for the CEO ‘design for success’ look, the street casual look, the perfect fashion tips for the curvy girls, and the endless fashion guideline possibilities for petite, or not, girls.
The fashion infusions come from many sources, the researcher with use of instrumental tools such as observation and trend-watching, uses the data, statistical and factual, historical and geographical, etc. The best way to obtain it, beside research, is on the go in our own neighborhood and local communities, by traveling the world or attending a fashion show. The inspiration can come from various places, facts, and events, but the only compositional interpretation of the data and events, will bring us to the ‘ah-ha moment’ to create the new with creativity, confidence, and hard work.